Organizational Cynicism

Abstract

What is the nature of the extremely negative attitudes expressed by so many employees toward their organizations? To respond to this question, we introduce the concept of organizational cynicism. We review the literature from several disciplines on this concept and suggest that organizational cynicism is an attitude composed of beliefs, affect, and behavioral tendencies toward an organization. Following our review and conceptualization, we derive implications of this concept and propose a research agenda for organizational cynicism.Cynicism is everywhere-widespread among organization members in the United States (Kanter & Mirvis, 1989), Europe, and Asia (Kouzes &Posner, 1993). Organizational change and quality improvement efforts particularly seem to engender cynicism (Shapiro, 1996). For example, Cunniff notes that employees are increasingly cynical about the "constant parade of initiatives that come with the usual promise of imminent improvement" (1993: 4). Employees in one company circulated clandestine copies of their firm's "adaptation" of the Deming Principles, which included "Humor all employees in phony efforts to include them in process improvement methodologies .... Provide slogans, meaningless exhortations [and] numerical goals.... Drive in fear by discouraging communicationand by instituting a policy of Continuous Layoff."These observations are echoed in our own experience by the reaction of part-time MBA students to the topic of "teamwork" (cross-functional collaboration) in organizations. These students could see the benefits of teamwork in theory but perceived it, in practice, as merely a slogan used by their organizations to appear progressive, without changing anything about how work actually gets done (cf., Aktouf, 1992). A young woman in this class was so appalled by her organization that she thought she must be part of "some huge experiment on unmotivating employees." Another young man had been invited to lunch with his coworkers by the management of his organization; he accepted the invitation but worried that management had only made the offer "to keep us off guard." Even the popularity of the comic strip "Dilbert," about an engineer whose organization plumbs the depths of unscrupulousness, suggests that many people perceive their organizations in these terms. In fact, much of the material for the strip actually is sent to the cartoonist via e-mail by frustrated employees (Greilsamer, 1995).

The Effects of Job Embeddedness on Organizational Cynicism and Employee Performance: A Study on Sadat City University

“…It is a negative attitude towards the organization where one works, which has cognitive, affective and behavioral dimensions (Dean, et al, 1998).…”

Examining the Relationship between Organizational Cynicism and Organizational Change: A Study from Egyptian Context

“…Andersson (1996) defines organizational cynicism as general or specific attitudes of disappointment, insecurity, hopelessness, anger, mistrust of institutions or persons, group, ideology and social skills. It is a negative attitude toward one's employing organization, comprising three dimensions: (1) a belief that the organization lacks integrity, (2) negative affect toward the organization, and (3) tendencies towards disparaging and critical behaviors toward the organization that are consistent with these beliefs and effects (Dean et al, 1998).…”

“…The affective dimension of organizational cynicism refers to the emotional and sentimental reactions to the organization. The behavioral dimension of organizational cynicism refers to negative tendencies (Dean et al, 1998, Stanley et al, 2005.…”

“…The researchers utilize the scale of Dean et al, (1998), Brandes, et al, (1999 and Kalağan (2009) for measuring organizational cynicism. Organizational Cynicism Scale (OCS) is comprised of the three dimensions of affect, cognition, and behavior.…”

Örgütsel Adalet Algısının Sinizm Üzerine Etkisi: Devlet Üniversiteleri Meslek Yüksekokullarında Bir Araştırma - The Effect of Organizational Justice Perception on Cynicism: A Research in Vocational School of State Universities

“…Organizational cynicism can be defined as one thinking his/her own organization is unjust, insecure, lacks honesty and because of these considerations, exhibiting critical and negative behaviors toward the organization (Dean et al, 1998). …”