Workplace crime and deviance

Is deviance a personal behavior that a person chooses, or a result of organizational norms?

 

Usually, when we hear the word "criminal," we imagine a large, intimidating person with an evil look on their face... However, not many consider that "deviance" in the workplace involves normative people, like you and me.  

The definition of workplace deviance refers to behaviors that are done by choice, by organization employees, and that violate agreed norms, ethics, or basic laws, and threaten the welfare of the organization and/or its members. 

 

What behaviors are considered "deviance"? 
* Behaviors directed against the organization - such as theft, vandalism, arriving late to work, and minimal effort invested in the work done.
* Behaviors against people in the organization, managers or team members - such as mocking people, pranks, rude behavior, and argumentativeness. 

For example, taking a pen from the workplace, or printing personal things, might sound like something the organization can "absorb," but when boundaries become blurred, taking a pen can eventually lead to theft of money or even fraud. It's not surprising, then, that theft and fraud are ranked high as types of deviance that are gaining momentum in the US.

 

Did you know? In various estimates, three out of four employees have stolen at least once from their employer, and 95% of all organizations have experienced theft by one of their employees.
The cost of workplace deviance is not limited to property, but also to the soul. Employees who were targeted by someone who behaved deviantly toward them will likely develop related problems such as stress, decreased productivity, low morale, loss of work time, and will usually be the first to resign.   

Estimates of the financial cost of employee theft from their employers in the US is about 50 billion dollars per year.  

 

So what causes workplace deviance? 

There are two approaches to the source of workplace deviance - one approach emphasizes organizational norms as a factor creating deviance, and a second approach that emphasizes the employee's personality as creating deviance. The first approach argues that deviance is a direct result of working conditions, and is related to the level of pressure applied to employees, level of frustration at work, level of control over the work environment, light disciplinary sanctions when violating rules, and deteriorating conditions.

The second approach examines the employee's character and uses their personality as an explanation for workplace deviance. According to this approach, personality determines how the employee will behave when dealing with working conditions and organizational norms. In psychotechnical diagnoses, they try to predict the personality profile of deviant behavior holder, regardless of where they will work.

According to research, we know that in practice the causes of deviance involve both approaches – there are personality traits that can increase the probability of that person choosing to commit acts of deviance in the workplace, in a place where a person with a different personality mix would choose a different strategy. However, equally, organizational norms also influence their employees' perception of what is "acceptable" and what is "forbidden".

 

In Henle's (2005) study, 151 students who work at least 20 hours weekly were examined on workplace deviance and organizational justice level, and it was found that:  

• Workplace deviance will be more common when employees are male, older, impulsive, low scoring in socialization[1], or don't perceive their conditions or organization as "just" or "fair". 
• The trait of impulsiveness increases the possibility that the person will choose a "deviance" strategy. 
• The combination of feeling that the place is unfair, and choosing deviance, will be stronger when people have low scores in the socialization trait.  
• Feeling that the place is fair will reduce the chances of choosing the deviance strategy. 

In conclusion, workplace deviance is much more common than was conventionally thought and is primarily a behavioral choice influenced by the person's personality and their interpretation of organizational norms. 

Have you encountered workplace deviance? What did you feel was the motivation for it? Tell us..    
 

Henle, C. A. (2005). Predicting workplace deviance from the interaction between organizational justice and personality. Journal of managerial Issues, 247-263.

 

 

[1] Socialization, adoption of behavior and worldview by a social environment; socialization

Daniel is a graduate with a degree in Communication and Political Science from Bar-Ilan University, and is currently studying for a master's degree in Psychology at Ruppin Academic Center. Daniel writes professional articles related to the system.

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