Question

In an organizational context, simply belonging to a group increases the likelihood of deviance.

Analyse how groups in diverse ways may contribute to a number of deviant outcomes in the organization.

Answer 1

Business ethics is rules, standards, codes, or principles which provide guidelines for morally right behavior and truthfulness in specific situations.

In the workplace many people come together and express different behaviors. Each of these behaviors has different consequences to the individuals working in the organization and to the whole organization. In the ideal case these behaviors coincide with the norms of the organizations. The organizational norms are a construct consisting of “expected behaviors, languages, principles, and postulations that allow the workplace to perform at a suitable pace”. But since reality is not always the ideal case, work behavior can also range outside the norms of the organization. Employees either lack the motivation to conform to normative expectations of the social content or become motivated to violate those expectations. The consequences of deviant workplace behavior are critical because they can affect all levels of the organizations including decision-making, productivity, and financial costs.

The terminology that is used most frequently is workplace deviance or deviant workplace behavior; hence, I will use it in most cases. Whenever I will use other denominations, they are to be understood as synonyms. Deviant workplace behavior is defined as “voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms and in so doing threatens the well being of an organization, its members, or both."

Notable deviant behaviors in the workplace include absenteeism, striking, sabotage, gossip and physical violence. Werner and De Simone (2008) create typology of deviant workplace behaviors and categorized-them into four. They include production deviance (leaving early or intentionally working slowly); property deviance (sabotaging equipment, lying about hours worked); political deviance (showing favoritism, seeming or gossiping about co-worker; personal aggressions (sexual harassment, verbal abuse, endangering or staling from co-workers). Deviant behavior may also include acts that are interpersonal in nature, like sexual harassment, aggression towards co-workers, verbal abuse, physical assault and political behaviors. Managers’ attention should not only focus on the physical deviance directed towards the organization but also take cognizance of those directed at individuals. Lawrence and Robinson reflect this when they describe workplace deviance as voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms and perceived it as threatening the well-being of the organization or its members. It is caused by provocations arising from perceived disparities between a current state and some ideal state, need, and desire which create frustration. This frustration motivates deviant behavior that is either instrumental or expressive in nature.

Although deviance may be dysfunctional and threatening to the well-being of an organization or individual, a lot of positive outcomes can also emanate from it. It can alert group members of their common interest and provide warning signals to the organization as a whole. Interpersonal deviance may serve positive social functions by assisting to build group cohesion.

Thus to conclude, we can say that change has become an inevitable phenomenon in the present age of global competition and dynamic business environment. It is not only desirable but necessary to create a vision of change and communicate same to all the stakeholders. Successful change depends on proper integration of human resource management policies with strategies. These policies have become critical facilitators in the process of change and often determine employees’ commitment and how they relate with the nature and direction of the firm. Policies on training, education, compensations, security of tenure of office are particularly critical to the smooth implementation of change. These policies should be handled by committed and visionary leadership who properly understand the firm’s culture. To ensure smooth implementation, proper explanation for the need for change must be provided and the interests of those that might be affected should be protected.