The Good, the Bad, and the Misguided: How Managers Inadvertently Encourage Deviant Behaviors

Blame the shepherd not the sheep: Imitating higher-ranking transgressors mitigates punishment for unethical behavior

“…Authorities use punishment to change the behavior of transgressors, but they also hope to inhibit undesirable behavior from others (Arvey & Jones, 1985;Treviño, 1992;Nagin, 1998). Because people consider the potential for punishment when making ethical decisions (Ferrell & Gresham, 1985;Treviño & Youngblood, 1990), the absence of punishment can promote deviance and corruption (Ashforth & Anand, 2003;Litzky, Eddleston, & Kidder, 2006).…”

A Typology of Employee Explanations of Misbehaviour: An Analysis of Unfair Dismissal Cases

“…At the organisational level, not surprisingly, employees who are mistreated indicated they are more likely to engage in deviant behaviours (Lasson and Bass, 1997). Triggers of deviant behaviour, notably within management control, where identified by Litzky et al (2006). They are compensation/reward structure; social pressures to conform; negative and untrusting attitudes; ambiguity about job performance; unfair treatment and violating employee trust.…”

“…A further development in understanding dysfunctional behaviour from an OB perspective is the incorporation of intent, that is, whether the behaviour is intended to either benefit the perpetrator or the organisation; or alternatively to maliciously hurt others or the organisation (Griffin and O'Leary-Kelly, 2004;Vardi and Weitz, 2004). Not all behaviours that violate norms result in negative organisational consequences, for example whistle blowing and innovative thinking aim to benefit the organisation (Appelbaum et al, 2007;Kidwell and Kochanowski, 2005;Litzky et al, 2006). …”

The Battle for Business Ethics: A Struggle Theory

“…It involves following orders even if it is unethical or it would be better to do other things, purely because 'this is the way organizations work' (cf. Litzky et al 2006;Milgram 1974). Another temptation comes with the authority people are given in organizations to perform certain tasks and the corresponding opportunity to misuse it (De Cremer et al 2009;Pitesa and Thau 2013).…”