The Dark Side of Behaviour at Work: Understanding and Avoiding Employees Leaving, Thieving and Deceiving

Citation

Ho, C.D. (2007), "The Dark Side of Behaviour at Work: Understanding and Avoiding Employees Leaving, Thieving and Deceiving", Management Research News, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 444-447. https://doi.org/10.1108/01409170710751944

History is littered with examples of undesirable workplace behaviours. Individuals cheating on their employers, colleagues, and friends are widespread, and range from serious criminal activity such as fraud, to actions such as misuse of time and resources, to stealing the odd piece of office stationery. These behaviours have been celebrated and moralized about throughout time, in cultures, and in the media. In today's climate, employees face ever increasing workloads and organizations confront continuing pressures for heightened productivity amid cost reductions. The opportunities for employee disillusionment are ripe. The Dark Side of Behaviour at Work is concerned with what motivates people to commit these acts of betrayal and how to minimize these acts for the creation of a loyal and productive workforce. It draws together topics from the organizational behaviour and human resource management domains to provide an illuminating look into these acts. Furnham and Taylor argue that there is a paucity of material on the subject of the motivation of betrayers and they seek to fulfil this gap. Essentially, this book seeks to shine the light on counterproductive behaviours.

The Dark Side of Behaviour at Work is written for the CEO, senior executive, the manager, and the HR professional. By explaining the motives of those who commit counterproductive acts, the reader gains the opportunity to contribute to creating a loyal and committed workforce. Not only would the worker benefit from a climate of trust, honesty, and integrity, but the employer gains a healthier bottom line through reduced costs, increased productivity and profits.

The Dark Side of Behaviour at Work contains ten chapters. Chapter 1 outlines the long road between hopeful candidate to disenchanted employee by discussing the concepts of fit, changes to loyalty and commitment over time, the breaking of the psychological contract, and the role of critical incidents. Chapter 2, Theories of Dark‐side Motivation, considers the motivations that drive the three core factors (individual difference factors, social forces, and societal factors) of counterproductive behaviour. The theories of motivation are reviewed in brief and considered in the context of this book. Chapter 3, Betrayal: The Unsettling Forces, describes in detail the motivations that influence employees when they feel the need to move on or take other undesirable action while remaining at work. Chapter 4 defines and classifies the different kinds of counterproductive activities at work. This chapter focuses on specific types of activities: theft, deceit, information leakage, whistle‐blowing, sabotage, and resignations. Chapter 5, Bad‐person Theories, is about individualistic, person‐centred explanations for counterproductive behaviour. These explanations are grounded in the fundamental attribution error, which is the idea that people like to explain behaviour by using personality trait, internal or dispositional causes, rather than external or situational causes. Chapters 6 centres on the measurements used to evaluate dark‐ and bright‐side attitudes, beliefs and behaviours. Key to this discussion is the validity of the measures, that is, do they measure what they say they are measuring? This chapter first examines the different types of self‐report questionnaires and measures of integrity, or lack of it. Second, it looks at the measurement of concepts related to integrity, such as alienation, organizational commitment, and attachment. The discussion on integrity testing is extended further in Chapter 7 through an exploration of the issues surrounding the use of tools, such as the polygraph, in the workplace. Chapter 8 focuses on the detection and underlying psychology of deception and lying. Chapter 9, Protecting Your Assets, considers the security of the organization and its employees by reviewing how to handle incidents and how to minimize the damage that can be done. Chapter 10, Fostering Loyalty, concludes by highlighting that despite the book dwelling on the dark side of behaviour, a loyal and committed workforce can be created through sound recruitment, selection, and retention policies.

The central thesis of The Dark Side of Behaviour at Work is that by understanding the factors that motivate counterproductive behaviours, key individuals throughout the hierarchy in the organization can positively influence the organization's environment for its workers. Several core questions focus the readers attention, such as “What is it about some people that they lie, steal and cheat, while others with similar experiences do not?”; “Why do some individuals embezzle, others whistle‐blow and still others simply leave?”; and “What series of historical events occurred to provoke an act of betrayal or vengeance at a particular period of time?”. These questions provide the authors with a sound launching pad to define and discuss the various types of undesirable acts to establish the context for their arguments.

The Dark Side of Behaviour at Work has several positive features. First, this book employs a holistic approach to evaluate the acts of betrayal. This theme is constantly reiterated and performed in several ways. While most books on subjects such as sabotage or fraud, or organizational trust and loyalty are unidimensional, Furnham and Taylor highlight that infidelity, like loyalty, “is a two‐way street”. It is often forgotten that the employment relationship is sensitive to how the two parties treat each other. All too often, commentators view the counterproductive act in isolation and stop at one explanation. This usually results in blaming the agitator by focussing only on the individual's characteristics. For example, Nick Leeson's actions, which caused the collapse of Barings Bank, were widely proclaimed as the result of greed. However, in presenting the multiple perspectives on the topic, the authors are able to move beyond the obvious. Furnham and Taylor include analyses on organizational attributes and historical events that contribute to the act of corporate infidelity.

This book is littered throughout with examples to good effect. These examples help to maintain interest in the subject matter. Some examples are well‐known, such as Aldrich Ames of the CIA, who sold secrets to the Russians and Jeffrey Wigand, who revealed the illegal activities of his employer, Brown and Williamson, the US tobacco giant. Other examples are less captivating, but are so common, such as stealing time and resources from the organization, that its cumulative effect can have serious implications for the overall health of the organization. Importantly, many of these stories acknowledge the shortcomings of both the employee and employer. This presents a truer reflection of the event, rather than just the media hype or organization spin.

Another strength is the integration of recent research. This book draws upon the academic literature to explain the theories and concepts underlying the counterproductive behaviours. Other studies are presented to develop, emphasize, and support the arguments. The application of contemporary research places the book squarely in the current context of organizational pressures.

Finally, in The Dark Side of Behaviour at Work, Furnham and Taylor readily admit to the limitations of the available recruitment and selection tools. They objectively evaluate the measurement tools in terms of their validity, users' reactions and objections. They fairly state that despite these limitations, it is better than having no tools for guidance to select out and select in unsuitable and suitable applicants, respectively.

Despite these positive attributes of The Dark Side of Behaviour at Work, at times the arguments are not well structured. It is unclear why the discussion of some actions, such as theft, whistle‐blowing, sabotage, and fraud, are developed more than others, such as vandalism, harassment, and violence. These latter behaviours are also outcomes of hostility to authority, impulsivity, social insensitivity, alienation, and lack of moral integrity. Furnham and Taylor should either provide a more transparent explanation or give these other dark side behaviours equal attention. Additionally, there are problems with the continuity in structure and writing style between chapters. This inconsistency creates unnecessary disruption and distraction for the reader.

Overall, The Dark Side of Behaviour at Work is a comfortable and relatively easy‐to‐read book. The issues surrounding betrayal through counterproductive behaviours at work are analysed thoughtfully with a sound integration of research and interesting examples to illustrate and support the arguments. The book is reasonably priced when compared with other management books. It also represents value‐for‐money as it shines the spotlight on the dark side of behaviour at work and offers tools to CEOs, bosses, managers, and HR professionals to confront them. Given the pressures of modern corporate life, this book is offered at a timely juncture. I firmly recommend its purchase.