Issue of Counterproductive Work Behaviour

Abstract

The forms of manifestation of counterproductive work behavior at the organization level can be very diverse.  Counterproductive work behavior leads to a decrease in the pace of production, the quality of products or services, conflicts in the team, tensions between workers and employers, and other negative consequences. Deviant economic behavior in its broadest sense is the behavior of people in the sphere of production, distribution, exchange or consumption of goods or services that violates the norms in force in the field of economic relations or does not meet the rationality requirement for economic decisions made by the subject of such behavior. A condition may be added regarding the need to condemn such behavior by a majority of the members of the group or society as a whole. Consideration of this phenomenon from the perspective of the personnel management entity allows creating approaches to solving a significant number of problems facing the organization’s leaders, its owners, personnel of personnel services, and other employees whose tasks include the development and monitoring of compliance with the norms applicable within the organization. Thus, the aim of this paper is to study counterproductive work behaviour in the organizations and offer management technologies.

Counterproductive Behavior

In the modern world, the main factor in the competitiveness of an organization and its survival is the quality of personnel and their attitude to work, expressed in specific work behavior. In this regard, in recent years, studies of work behavior have become particularly important. Changes in the market economy have actualized the study of the sphere of work behavior, because in connection with the ongoing reforms, the country's population was forced to change the usual models of socioeconomic behavior in accordance with the new requirements of the emerging institutional environment. One of the results of the transformation of labor consciousness and behavior was the widespread dissemination of various forms of counterproductive work behavior.  Counterproductive work behavior leads to a decrease in the pace of production, the quality of products or services, conflicts in the team, tensions between workers and employers, and other negative consequences. All this may ultimately jeopardize the stability of the entire organization. In order to optimize and improve the effectiveness of personnel management, the organization’s management needs an understanding of the nature of this negative phenomenon, which allows them to make decisions that eliminate or limit its distribution. (Szostek, 2019)

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Scientists use a number of similar categories of sociological science, psychological science, and management science to designate specific actions by workers that are identified as damaging for organizations. Among these concepts, the most actively used are such as “deviant behavior”, “delinquent behavior”, and “opportunistic behavior”. All of them are used to indicate the behavior of employees that are associated with a violation of the rules, regulations, disciplinary framework of the organization. The categories of “deviant” and “delinquent” behavior are used in social sciences mainly to denote behavior that violates social norms established at the level of the whole society, and not of an individual organization. Delinquent behavior is a special case of deviant behavior. It is characterized as unlawful behavior associated with the violation of the League standards in force in society. Thus, the use of these concepts in relation to forms of employee behavior that violates organizational norms does not seem entirely justified. Also, recently, researchers have been actively using the term “opportunistic behavior”. In accordance with the presented definition, this term can be used to refer to various actions of employees that damage the organization. However, it seems that the initial belonging of this concept to political science gives it some additional meanings that are not necessary when interpreting specific forms of counterproductive behavior. In this regard, to designate the studied behavior, the most appropriate is the use of the term “counterproductive work behavior”. This is also Two to the fact that almost every classification of work behavior contains a category of counterproductive forms of work behavior. Counterproductive work behavior is the externally observable actions, actions of the subject of labor activity that Prevents the achievement of the organization's goals and have negative consequences for it. In general, the employee’s behavior can be described as counterproductive if it becomes the reason for “failure to achieve the goal”. Since counterproductive behavior is a special case of work behavior, it is necessary to clarify what constitutes work behavior in general. In order to identify the essence of work behavior, it is necessary to consider it as one of the modifications of social behavior. Thus, the key characteristic of work behavior will be its conditioning by the social environment and subjective properties of the employee’s personality. The variety of aspects and functions of work behavior has led to the emergence of a large number of conceptual approaches to its definition. Work behavior is carried out under the influence of various constant and situational factors of the working environment: physical, industrial, technological, managerial and socio psychological. Understanding of work behavior in such a wide context makes this concept related to the term “organizational behavior”, which in its most general form reflects various aspects of the existence and interaction of workers in the organization. (ChernyakTwo Tziner, 2014)

The employee’s work behavior includes the following elements: marginal actions and actions that are formed in the phases of the transition state from one  status to another;  behavioral patterns and stereotypes, common patterns of behavior;  actions based on rationalized semantic schemes translated into a plan of sustainable beliefs;  acts committed under the influence of certain circumstances;  spontaneous actions provoked by an emotional state;  conscious or unconscious repetition of stereotypes of mass and group behavior;  actions and deeds as a transformation of the influence of other actors using various forms of coercion and belief.  Counterproductive forms of work behavior can be implemented by employees of the organization within any of the selected elements.  The determination of the orientation of work behavior as constructive or counterproductive takes place in accordance with the parameters of the social environment in which it is formed, that is, organization.  The organization as a relatively independent social system has goals and means of achieving them regulated in regulatory documents.  The key characteristics of counterproductive forms of work behavior is that they impede the achievement of the organization’s goals, and also contradict the normatively established forms of achieving organizational goals.  The most common and dangerous for the organization types of counterproductive work behavior are absenteeism, sabotage, theft, and reduced labor activity (Adel R. M. Rayan & Abdelgalel, 2018)

Types of counterproductive behavior are extremely diverse. Therefore, there are many different approaches to ordering these species in order to further study them and develop recommendations for their elimination. As a rule, the classifications proposed by the authors are the result of an empirical typology, which is a fixation of the results of an empirical sociological study using the developed system of concepts. So, it is possible to distinguish the following counterproductive forms of work behavior on two grounds: according to the method of expressing a specific counterproductive behavior and to the sources of this behavior (mentally determined counterproductive behavior): aggressive behavior; narcissistic (egocentric) behavior; rigid behavior; unethical behavior; mentally determined  counterproductive behavior (due to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, depression, nervous exhaustion, etc.). This classification focuses on the least severe forms of counterproductive behavior from the point of view of legal liability. The classification makes it possible to identify not the most dangerous violations of the labor function by the employee, but they can be no less dangerous from the point of view of the economic threat to the organization. The full range of factors affecting the existence of counterproductive behavior in an organization is extremely wide. These factors can be combined into three groups: production (related to the content, organization and working conditions), social (related to group relationships) and psychological (related to personality traits). If the managerial impact on psychological and social factors contributing to the spread of counterproductive work behavior is very limited, then control by the organization’s management over production factors is necessary.  (Nawaz, Zia-ud-Din, Nadeem, & Din, 2018)

It is necessary to propose a number of measures to reduce the spread of counterproductive work behavior in organizations. It is also necessary to pay special attention to the selection of personnel, the use of various testing methods, in order to identify value orientations and attitudes of future employees that have a direct impact on the choice of the nature of work behavior. When the employee has already been hired and carries out his labor function, it is necessary to regularly evaluate his activities using various tools. This will effectively identify cases of counterproductive work behavior. You could associate employee remuneration with established key performance indicators. This technique will increase control over the employee's performance of his labor function. You could also ensure effective monitoring of compliance by the employee with job descriptions, his duties, and corporate ethics. This is only part of the decisions that can be implemented by managers to reduce the prevalence of counterproductive forms of work behavior. However, the most effective method in the fight against counterproductive work behavior is to build a personnel management system focused on compliance with the principles of social partnership. The basis of these principles is the observance of the interests of workers and employers, aimed at achieving the goals of the organization and its constructive development. (Sprigg, Martin, Niven, & Armitage, 2010)

Thus, the significant negative potential of counterproductive work behavior necessitates a detailed study of it. Creating the most complete classification of various forms of counterproductive work behavior allows expanding understanding of the nature of this negative phenomenon. Identification of the causes and characteristics of this type of employee behavior based on the proposed differentiation will allow managers detect this negative phenomenon in the early stages of its spread. A full-fledged analysis of counterproductive work behavior will help to develop personnel management strategies aimed at increasing employee satisfaction with work, whose high rates significantly affect labor efficiency and effectiveness. Personnel management, focused on harmonizing the interests of workers and employers, can significantly reduce the prevalence of forms of counterproductive work behavior.

References

• Adel R. M. Rayan, Nadia, & Abdelgalel, A. M. (2018). Organizational Cynicism and Counterproductive Work Behaviors: An Empirical Study. European Journal of Business and Management, 10(27), 70–79.
• Chernyak-Hai, L., & Tziner, A. (2014). Relationships between counterproductive work behavior, perceived justice and climate, occupational status, and leader-member exchange. Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 30(1), 1–12.
• Nawaz, R., Zia-ud-Din, M., Nadeem, M. T., & Din, M.  ud. (2018). The Impact of Psychopathy on Counterproductive Work Behavior. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(7), 208–220.
• Sprigg, C., Martin, A., Niven, K., & Armitage, C. (2010). Unacceptable behavior, health and wellbeing at work A cross-lagged longitudinal study.  Personnel Review Journal, 3(1), 40–50.
• Szostek, D. (2019). Counterproductive work behavior. Journal of Positive Management, 9(1), 3–17.