A Deep Dive into Employee Misbehavior in The Workplace

Misbehavior is defined as "any intentional action by members of organizations that violates core organizational and/or societal norms" (Yoav & Yoash, 1996). Ethics are "the principles, values, and beliefs that define right and wrong decisions and behavior" (Stephen & Mary, 2012). According to feedback from the management and employees at the Sportswear Plant, several types of misbehavior and unethical practices were identified that go against organizational norms and show unacceptable behavior.

Using Power and Position to Mistreat Others

Interviews with several employees in the molding department revealed that they were treated poorly by their supervisors and department head. Since the supervisors and head used abusive language to guide their employees, the workers felt bad and were too shy to communicate properly. During the interviews, it was found that when an employee was harshly blamed by either the head of the department or a supervisor for a mistake, they felt ashamed and confused. So, it can be concluded that the head of the molding department and supervisors use their power and position to mistreat and disrespect employees, which is unethical according to the definition of ethics mentioned above.

Favoritism

Due to a labor shortage in the sewing department, DSI provides on-the-job training for new employees. Interviews with employees who joined DSI in the last four months revealed that line leaders properly train their favorite employees and ignore the others. This unfair behavior caused problems for the newly joined employees. They couldn't achieve career growth because of this unfair training practice. Additionally, they were blamed by their department head for repetitive quality rejects, which made them feel uncomfortable. Therefore, it can be concluded that the leaders of the sewing department show favoritism during the training of new employees, which is unethical according to the definition of ethics.

Cheating to Achieve Goals

In an interview with the quality assurance manager, it was noted that employees intentionally forwarded products with quality defects to meet their daily targets. Most complaints were about upper damages and bonding weaknesses of the shoes, which can be detected in the molding and packing stages. According to the quality assurance manager, employees sent low-quality products to customers when they fell short of their goals. Since this behavior violates organizational norms, it is considered misbehavior.

There are three types of organizational misbehaviors:

• Type S – misbehavior that intends to benefit the self
• Type O – misbehavior that intends to benefit the organization
• Type D – misbehavior that intends to inflict damage (Yoav & Yoash, 1996)

So, cheating to achieve goals can be considered Type S misbehavior because it benefits employees by helping them attain their incentive pay.

Factors Determining Unethical Behavior of Employees

Whether employees behave ethically or unethically when faced with an ethical dilemma is influenced by several factors. Individual characteristics and the organization’s structural design can be considered moderating variables for the ethical issues discussed above (Stephen & Mary, 2012).

Individual Characteristics

Personality and values are the two individual characteristics that determine a person's ethical or unethical behavior in the workplace (Stephen & Mary, 2012). According to interviews with employees in both the molding and sewing departments, and with the plant and quality managers, the personality traits of department heads, supervisors, and line leaders play a major role in determining unethical behavior.

To analyze the personalities of department heads, supervisors, and line leaders in the molding and sewing departments, the Big Five personality traits and Type A and Type B personality traits were considered.

Big Five Personality Traits

"Traits are predispositions to behave in certain ways in various situations. Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism are the five defined personality traits attributed to people to understand why they behave as they do" (Michael, 2009).

According to the plant manager and employee feedback, the head of the molding department and most supervisors are hostile, not well-organized, and short-tempered. Therefore, they are low on agreeableness, low on conscientiousness, and high in neuroticism. "Significant positive associations exist between personality traits and the ability to adapt to stress and adversity, except for neuroticism" (Grace, 2010). Thus, the head of the molding department and most supervisors lack the ability to adapt to stress and adversity due to their personality, leading them to behave aggressively when guiding employees.

According to feedback from some newly joined employees in the sewing department, most leaders show unfair behavior and treat employees unequally. "Leaders who are high in agreeableness are likely to treat employees fairly and respectfully and to avoid offending them" (Karianne, Deanne N. Den, & Annebel, 2011). Hence, it can be concluded that most leaders in the sewing department are low on agreeableness, so fair behavior cannot be expected from them based on their personality traits.

Type A and Type B Personality Traits

"Type A personality is characterized by impatience, ambition, proactivity, anxiety, and an excessive concern with time management. Type B personalities generally live at lower stress levels, work steadily, and enjoy achieving without becoming stressed out when not achieving, in contrast to Type A personalities" (Poorva & Tejinder, 2016).

Based on this definition, the head of the molding department and supervisors exhibit Type A personality traits as they are hostile and short-tempered. Line leaders in the sewing department also show Type A personality traits due to their inflexible behavior when dealing with newly joined employees.