Fit to be unethical: functional psychopathy in organizations

Abstract

In this article, we carry out a theoretical analysis on how the person with characteristics similar to those of Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) has the social skills to thrive in an individualistic and greedy society. We show that the ability to adopt unethical behaviors can be crucial for these people to appear as assertive, capable, and accomplishing professionals. They are not only able to achieve individual results but, above all, to lead teams aimed at achieving the ambitious goals of their organizations. Such individuals are known as functional psychopaths. From a psychological point of view, a large part of the indicators related to functional psychopathy seems to be associated with changes in the regulatory function that emotions play a part in the human decisionmaking process. Functional psychopathy represents a challenge for organizational managers and staff in human resources sections. Furthermore, the evaluation processes, primarily based on organizational results, are not very sensitive to differentiate between (1) lack of empathy and courage; (2) selfishness and zeal; and (3) manipulation and leadership. It can be concluded that only more sophisticated, laborious, and costly processes could be sensitive enough to identify those people and their perverse work strategies during the selective and evaluative processes in the business environment. So, they are all around us, and, given the cultural orientation of companies toward individualism and greed, they are probably here to stay.