Author: Various
ISBN No: 978-1-84872-85
Review date: 06/12/2025
No of pages: 408
Publisher: Routledge Academic
Year of publication: 11/09/2012
Brief:
Is Insidious Workplace Behaviour (IWB) a way of looking at wrong-doing such as fraud in a business?
The American editor of a study on the subject says: “Beyond individuals, insidious workplace behaviour also may contribute to an organisational culture in which some forms of aggressive behaviour are condoned, potentially interfering with co-operation required for organisations to function effectively.” IWB is defined by these authors is low-level, pervasive acts of deviance aimed at a worker or the organisation. It’s stealthy, it may not be serious enough to be against the law – snide and gossipy remarks, name-calling harassment – but it may be enough to do harm to the business: pilfering, sabotage. Psychologists and the like, Greenberg points out, have paid little attention to IWB, so we know little about it. Cynics might reply that we know all about it – it’s part of working life, and it depends on what a workplace regards as normal. This is not to decry psychology. Quite the opposite; there are plenty of possible lessons, though some of this overlaps with HR (human resources). If you run a whistle-blowing line to tackle staff bribe-giving, will you get anywhere if you are going against the company norm? The bullying manager, who stamps on anyone he sees as a threat, may regard his workplace and budget as his plaything. The company may like that manager nonetheless for being successful; when does the security manager step in? Can you judge the risk of fraud in a company or on a site by how much IWB it has? Are aggressive yelling sexist shirkers more likely to do frauds?! Is bad-mouthing colleagues or throwing a cup or paperweight at someone a crime, on a par or a spectrum with violence? Or is this all politically-correct humbug giving people excuses to play the system as victims?
