Toxic Managers and Toxic Employees

Introduction

While there are a number of reasons why individuals may engage in deviant behavior in the workplace the major one is that the organization in which they work supports or encourages such behavior. While society values persons who are honest and that are not deceitful, some organizations however depend on employees that are dishonest and deceitful in order to be successful. These types of organizations have been termed toxic and are characterized by a history of poor performance, poor decision-making, very high levels of employee dissatisfaction and employee stress well beyond normal workload issues (Appelbaum, Pp. 136).

Toxic Organizations

Toxic organizations will develop under certain circumstances. The first condition is for a relatively small work unit with a high level of face-to-face interaction that stimulates interpersonal relationships. Under these conditions, the "sick organization" will develop with a high interdependence of its employees who have personal agendas that do not match with the needs of the organization. The second condition for the development of a toxic organization is an ineffective manager that is immoral or mentally unsound.

In light of this, organizations may be viewed as falling on a continuum ranging from organizations that function well to toxic organizations that are destructive to its employees and leaders. One postulate for why toxic organizations encourage workers to engage in counter norms behavior has been referred to as "bottom-line mentality".

Sims (Pp. 25) explains this type of mentality as encouraging unethical practices in order to reap financial gains. Individuals who practice bottom-line mentality view workplace ethics as an obstacle to their main goal of profit.

High Employee Turnover, Stress, Low Productivity, And Health Issues

Behaviour analysts have analysed cases where certain risk factors observed in individuals were exacerbated by an overlay of destructive supervision that engendered violence. These might be called toxic work environments for employees. A toxic work environment is characterized by: an authoritarian management style and changeable/unpredictable supervision; an atmosphere where the work and dignity of employees are undervalued; and, an environment that includes frequent invasions of privacy, a high degree of secrecy, more demands, and less support.

Authoritarian workplaces, which include those where employees have little say in how they do their jobs or environments where managers bully employees, tend to have higher rates of on-the-job violence. Some researchers have suggested that authoritarian management styles and strict job performance standards which give employees little control over their work were factors in several workplace shootings that occurred in the last few years. This article will discuss the targets of violence, workplace stress, and what organizations can do to reduce the chances of workplace violence occurring in their organizations (Vickers, Pp. 281).

Analysis of Workplace Violence and Role of Toxic Work Environment

In 1993, Northwestern National Life Insurance Company released the results of a telephone survey of 600 workers called "Fear and violence in the workplace". The company estimated that 2.2 million Americans were attacked at work during the preceding 12 months; another 6.3 million were threatened, and 16.1 million were harassed. One-in-four workers was ...