Toxic workplace - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Overview

In the context of a toxic workplace, a toxic employee is a worker who is motivated by personal gain (power, money, or special status), uses unethical, mean-spirited and sometimes illegal means to manipulate

Psychological manipulation

Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative,...

and annoy those around them; and whose motives are to maintain or increase power, money or special status or divert attention away from their performance shortfalls and misdeeds. Toxic employees do not recognize a duty to the organization for which they work or their co-workers in terms of ethics

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

or professional conduct

Professional conduct

Professional conduct is the field of regulation of members of professional bodies, either acting under statutory or contractual powers.Historically, professional conduct was wholly undertaken by the private professional bodies, the sole legal authority for which was of a contractual nature...

toward others. Toxic employees define relationships with co-workers, not by organizational structure

Organizational structure

An organizational structure consists of activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organizational aims. It can also be considered as the viewing glass or perspective through which individuals see their organization and its...

but by co-workers they favour and those they do not like or trust.

The number of toxic employees in the workplace currently appears to be growing in relation to increases in workplace stress

Workplace stress

Workplace stress is the harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when there is a poor match between job demands and the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker....

. This is due to lean staffing, the stress of potential layoff

Layoff

Layoff , also called redundancy in the UK, is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or a group of employees for business reasons, such as when certain positions are no longer necessary or when a business slow-down occurs...

s and the fact that longer service employees typically survive layoffs. The issue of workplace bullying

Workplace bullying

Workplace bullying, like childhood bullying, is the tendency of individuals or groups to use persistent aggressive or unreasonable behaviour against a co-worker or subordinate. Workplace bullying can include such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse and humiliation...

is getting increasing attention from state governments. Twenty-one states have introduced a version of the Healthy Workplace Bill which provides a definition of this conduct and support for employers to address the behaviour through discipline.

The technically skilled

A toxic employees or employees often possess a particular technical skill that is seen as indispensable and thus a source of informal power in the workplace. The longer this type of technically skilled, toxic employee(s) works, the greater their influence grows. Co-workers and even supervisors watch these individuals intimidate

Intimidation

Intimidation is intentional behavior "which would cause a person of ordinary sensibilities" fear of injury or harm. It's not necessary to prove that the behavior was so violent as to cause terror or that the victim was actually frightened.Criminal threatening is the crime of intentionally or...

others and control them by spreading rumours; silent treatment and other marginalization

Marginalization

In sociology, marginalisation , or marginalization , is the social process of becoming or being made marginal or relegated to the fringe of society e.g.; "the marginalization of the underclass", "marginalisation of intellect", etc.-Individual:Marginalization at the individual level results in an...

techniques. This is an effective method that causes supervisors to hesitate to provide candid, negative feedback

Negative feedback

Negative feedback occurs when the output of a system acts to oppose changes to the input of the system, with the result that the changes are attenuated. If the overall feedback of the system is negative, then the system will tend to be stable.- Overview :...

regarding their treatment of others. Another effective tactic is to exploit their long service to emphasize their irreplaceability to enhance this perception. Stories and Myths may build up about certain people and events to convey a message about what is valued within by the individual and/or the organization.

Corporate and organizational results

This phenomenon harms both the company and the other employees even those who are not direct targets. Co-workers are distracted by drama, gossip

Gossip

Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others, It is one of the oldest and most common means of sharing facts and views, but also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and variations into the information transmitted...

and choosing up sides in the on-going animosity. This can translate into lost productivity

Productivity

Productivity is a measure of the efficiency of production. Productivity is a ratio of what is produced to what is required to produce it. Usually this ratio is in the form of an average, expressing the total output divided by the total input...

. While employees are distracted

Distraction

Distraction is the divided attention of an individual or group from the chosen object of attention onto the source of distraction. Distraction is caused by: the lack of ability to pay attention; lack of interest in the object of attention; or the great intensity, novelty or attractiveness of...

by this activity, they cannot devote time and attention to the achievement of business goals. Positively motivated

Motivation

Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation...

and ethical employees may try to speak up to a toxic employee but this can make them a target (see whistleblower

Whistleblower

A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...

). Over time, positively motivated employees drift away from the workplace and only employees comfortable in the negatively charged atmosphere remain on staff.

Fellow employees may begin to experience physical symptoms from the stress

Stress (biology)

Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...

and worry over whether they or someone they care about in the work place may be targeted. This can even develop into a clinical depression requiring treatment, even medication.

Prevention and resolution

Intervention

Intervention (counseling)

An intervention is an orchestrated attempt by one, or often many, people to get someone to seek professional help with an addiction or some kind of traumatic event or crisis, or other serious problem. The term intervention is most often used when the traumatic event involves addiction to drugs...

s to address this negative behaviour in the workplace should be undertaken carefully. A four-tiered approach involving fellow employees is suggested by Dr. Gerald Hickson and colleagues at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Starting with interventions beginning with informal, then awareness, authoritarian and finally, discipline

Discipline

In its original sense, discipline is referred to systematic instruction given to disciples to train them as students in a craft or trade, or to follow a particular code of conduct or "order". Often, the phrase "to discipline" carries a negative connotation. This is because enforcement of order –...

. If the intervention at the informal level is not effective, the intervention would move to awareness and so on.

When toxic employees leave the workplace, it can improve the culture overall because the remaining staff are more "engaged" and "productive." Companies who articulate a strong set of cultural values regarding communication, respect and professionalism as well as a performance evaluation

Performance appraisal

A performance appraisal, employee appraisal, performance review, or development discussion is a method by which the job performance of an employee is evaluated typically by the corresponding manager or supervisor. A performance appraisal is a part of guiding and managing career development...

system that ranks both technical performance and the professional treatment of fellow employees are felt by HR

Human resources

Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...

professionals to be less vulnerable

Vulnerability

Vulnerability refer to the susceptibility of a person, group, society, sex or system to physical or emotional injury or attack. The term can also refer to a person who lets their guard down, leaving themselves open to censure or criticism...

Overview

The technically skilled

Corporate and organizational results

Prevention and resolution

Further reading