Promoting An Honest Work Culture

Antisocial behavior what a diplomatic way of describing something that is generally known as corruption. Thats the term Robert A Giacolone and Jerald Greenberg have used for corruption in their book Antisocial Behavior in Organizations.

In contrast to this diplomatic phraseology for corruption, Greenberg hits the reader with some mind-boggling figures. In one chapter he states that, according to one estimate, US industry loses annually nearly $200 billion a year. And this figure does not include major scams, grand larceny and scandals.

The book also brings out startling facts and figures that could shake the reader. Lets look at some of them:

 

n Employee theft has been reported to be 10 times more costly than all the street crimes in the US;

n Theft has been blamed for 30 to 50 per cent of all Uncle Sams business failures.

n Approximately 75 per cent of all employees steal from their employers in at least one occa- sion while many engage in theft as a regular part of their lives on the job.

n Business organisations have even been described as Schools for Dishonesty

If this is the situation in an affluent industrial society like in the US, one wonders what similar research in India might reveal. Indian scams are well known. But how much do we know about the total cost implications of anti-social behaviour by people who are employed in Indian industries?

In the preface, the authors anticipate a question which a reader might ask: What do you mean by antisocial behavior in organizations ? The authors then list no less than 16 self-explanatory examples of anti-social behaviour. These include arson, blackmail, bribery, fraud, kickbacks, lying, theft, sabotage, violation of confidentiality -- among others.

Whichever way you look at it, this is a pretty or rather ugly indictment on American employee behavior. However, what must be admired is that research is being done on this hitherto little-researched area.

The cover page does give the impression that this is a book thats written by two authors, Robert A Giacalone and Jerald Greenberg. However, it is in fact a collection of original work by subject experts, along with that of these two authors.

The titles of each chapter give the reader an inkling of what could be expected. No specific explanation is needed for those which have titles like The Role of Frustration in Antisocial Behavior at Work, Aggression at the Workplace, Lying in Organizations, The STEAL Motive, Employee Sabotage, Organizational Culture and Employee Counterproductivity.

In a chapter dealing with organisational theft, an interesting equity theory has been described. According to this, employees who believe that their contributions to organisational well-being are not being adequately compensated, make good the perceived inequity by theft thus raising their income! In evolving this theory, many employees who were surveyed considered stealing as a necessary way of compensating themselves for a pay system that penalised them for making mistakes.

The authors go on to suggest possible remedies. For instance, employers could take their employees into confidence when pay-cuts need to be made or when organisational changes are introduced. This is particularly so in these days when organisations faced with the challenges and problems of the late 90s are forced to go in for downsizing, rightsizing, restructuring, re-engineering and a host of employee-affecting practices.

In the case of informal systems leading to organisational theft, there are useful suggestions like rotation of group membership, explaining the personal costs of stealing, development of corporate hotlines to deal with employee grievances and treating employees with dignity and respect.

Much of what has gone into this book is useful. However, one can fault the authors for being unduly diplomatic in the choice of the title ,which might appeal to academecians, serious students of industrial psychology, criminology and readers of this type. Unfortunately, its not hard-hitting enough for managers of the corporate world, who could also benefit from this excellent book.