Weeding Out Corporate Psychopaths - Essay Example

?Weeding Out Corporate Psychopaths Table of Contents Introduction 3 Concepts Related To Corporate Psychopaths 3 Review of the Case Study 6 Conclusion8 References 9 Introduction Corporate psychopaths generally refer to fraudulent and cold hearted manipulators who aim at gaining power for their own purpose. It has been noted that corporate psychopaths are normally eloquent, appealing and confident professionals, and strive hard in businesses with autocratic management cultures where they are capable of adjusting themselves with the peers and the superiors, however creating desolation for those who report to them. Most of the companies face high employees’ turnover since the employees are victimised by the psychopaths. The psychopaths tend to target his or her immediate superior as one of the strategies to transfer accuse for any wrongdoing (Boddy, n.d.). The main objective of this study is to examine what a corporate psychopath represents and the dangers that they pose to the workplace. This report will also try to evaluate if the case study has been capable of providing convincing account of comprehending corporate psychopaths. The study will attempt to make use of numerous research articles related to corporate psychopaths so that it can offer a clear understanding on the work behaviour of this category of people. Concepts Related To Corporate Psychopaths Organisational psychopaths are referred to those people who subsist at an occurrence of about one percent of the common populace and who work in an organisation. It is a well known fact that the organisational psychopaths are capable of demonstrating themselves as pleasing employees and have the capability to gain position in the organisation easily. These people do not have any conscience and are capable to cruelly charm, lie, coax and hence manipulate their way up in an organisational hierarchy in chase of their key aims and power, possessions as well as position at the expense of anyone who comes on their way (Boddy, 2006). The concept related to corporate psychopaths gets hitched with the term ‘psychopaths’ which has been derived from the dimension of psychological literatures and the term ‘corporate’ has been derived from the area of business in order to symbolize a psychopath’s working and operating in the organisational context. It has been observed that the corporate psychopaths tend to manipulate others without any principles, for the purpose of furthering their own objectives. It is worthy of mentioning the fact that the corporate psychopaths have been capable of entering into the modern organisations as well as other organisations because of the charming personality that they possess (Babiak & et. al., 2010). They can rise immediately and remain comparatively unobserved within the members of the organisation due to disordered nature of the modern organisation. Such corporate nature is featured by quick alterations, steady renewal and a quick turnover of the talented personnel. It is these changes in the culture of the organisation that makes it harder for the organisation to identify the corporate psychopaths because steady movements tend to make their attitude and behavior imperceptible and combined along with their extroverted personal charisma and appeal, making them to appear as normal and as ideal leaders (Boddy, 2011). One of the well recognised facts is that employees tend to lose their jobs and at times even their livelihood when the organisations tend to be destroyed due to the actions of their senior directors. The shareholders as well as the society as a whole tend to be affected because of the negative deeds of the senior directors. Private enterprises also lose their integrity. Such corporate collapses have been apparent in the recent years and have been found to be mushrooming in the western countries. It has further played a crucial role in global financial crisis (Boddy, 2010). Most of the people demonstrate various characteristics of psychopaths; however a few of them tend to be true psychopaths. They tend to be violent by their character and end up in jail. Even though the corporate psychopaths tend to appear smooth, amiable and successful, they are completely destructive for the organisation that they are working for. It has been identified by the psychologists that the psychopaths working for the organisation generally ruin the morale and the emotional well-being of their peers and subordinates. This is done by mortifying them, lying regarding them, exploiting them, making use of the rules and the regulations of the organisation in order to monitor them, not offering them with adequate training, accusing them for mistakes made by the psychopath, harassing them and pressurizing them into unwanted sexual activities. There are many evidences where it has been viewed that the employees tend to withdraw themselves from such organisations since the employees look for minimising their exposure to such repulsive and stressful behaviour. It can be stated that to have good employees leave an organisation because of the unpalatable behavior of other employees is generally harmful to the success of the organisation and can lead to the organisation’s destruction because by this way the human resource would slowly be destabilized, dwindled and weakened (Boddy, n.d.). It has also been assumed that the corporate psychopaths generally behave in an unethical manner when conducting businesses. It is expected that such behavior tends to burgeon the workload of other employees because the corporate psychopaths not only fail to accomplish their own jobs but also hinder the efficacy and efficient operation of other employees working with the organisation. They are good at conning other people and fooling others regarding their purportedly great capabilities and reliability while concurrently acting in a disparaging manner. It has also been assumed that these damaging behaviours are multiplied because, via their skills at manipulation and creation of power set of connections, corporate psychopaths are capable of shifting up in the corporate hierarchy in order to attain positions of power and impact well over their real supervision capabilities. They are also referred to as troublesome towards team work which hampers job satisfaction and therefore leads to lower output. This endangers the decision-making ability of the organisation that they work for and significantly impacts the moral as well as ethical behavior of the whole organisation via their illustration (Curry, 2012). The corporate psychopaths are found to put at risk the long-term success of the organisation by conducting anything that may help in winning contracts, for instance, over-promising the clients on deliverables and finally failing to keep those promises which leads to great damage to the reputation and attractiveness of the company that the psychopath is working for. They tend to harm the long-term success of the organisation by utilising the organisational resources for meeting their own ends. It can be argued that they are generally predators who quarry on the simplest source of sustenance and who drastically destroy the organisation from within. The damage to an organisation multiplies because of the emotional disorders that they cause to the employees within the company by means of their abusive as well as egotistical behavior. Such behaviour causes organisational sluggishness and even paralysis because the employees tend to become anxious as well as depressed and also lose their capability to focus upon the work and experience huge concerns dealing with other employees (Boddy, n.d.). Review of the Case Study The case study “Wedding Out Corporate Psychopaths” has been quite helpful in understanding the underlying concepts related to the corporate psychopaths. It has been capable of demonstrating the behaviour of the psychopaths and the harms that they bring to the organisation. However, it can be argued that the case study fails to offer any precise definition of the term ‘corporate psychopaths’. If the case study could have provided a proper definition of the term ‘corporate psychopaths’ then the study could have been made better. Since most of the people confuse the two terms i.e. insanity and psychopaths, the case study has been capable of offering such perplexed individuals with adequate understanding between the two terms. It has been evident from the case study that corporate psychopaths are generally apparent in senior levels of the organisation. The study conducted by Boddy & et. al (2010) also has similar views on this matter. Robert Hare states that those corporate psychopaths are generally predators who tend to harm the everyday life of the individuals at work, home, as well as in relationship. He further states that the most obvious expression of the psychopath comprises the deliberate violation of the rules of the society. However, the case study demonstrates the fact that when the psychopaths are employed in senior positions, their pathology also demonstrates the fact that they are biochemically incompetent of something that they must do legally, i.e. act in good belief on behalf of others. Hare states that if an organisation is not capable of identifying the psychopaths in their corporations then in such circumstances the other employees working with them may definitely become the victims of such psychopaths (Hare, 1994). Therefore, in such circumstances the case study offers a good suggestion and states that the corporations must be quite careful in hiring the employees in the organisation in order to prevent such dangerously impaired individuals from causing any harm to the organisation. He states that it would be better if such individuals were excluded from positions of power as well as influence. The case study states the fact that investors in most of the financial organisations need to make their senior level managers provide a report demonstrating the fact that they are not psychopathic. However, it can be argued that there remains a wide gap in understanding the fact that what sort of tests can be conducted in order to evaluate the senior level managers being psychopaths. Adequate presentation of the parameters based upon which the test can be conducted would have made the study a comprehensive and logical one (Hare, 1994). The case study has been capable of demonstrating the losses to the US companies because of the psychopaths. It further tries to state the fact that since the political leaders tend to lead the country as a whole it is quite significant for them to submit voters’ proof demonstrating the fact that they are medically capable of acting in the interest of the public who are liable to elect them. This fact demonstrates the ill impacts that the psychopaths may possess on the overall society (Greennacre, 2010). Despite certain lacunas, it can be mentioned that the case study has a proper introduction which describes a brief overview of the main topic. It has also been capable of offering certain suggestion on how the companies need to consider offering employees with specific whistleblower provision in order to depict probable psychopaths in the organisation. Such laws will encourage the employees to bring into notice of the management the culprit and therefore may as well prevent the psychopath to act in an illegal manner because of the fear of being caught. Summarising, it can be stated that the case study has been quite convincing in offering a proper understanding of corporate psychopath. It helped to understand the implications of such psychopaths in an organisation and the remedial measures as well. Such studies help both the academicians as well as the corporate houses in shaping their understanding related to corporate psychopaths. Conclusion The corporate may suffer in terms of productivity because of the ill behaviour of their senior level management. Such behaviours are often classified as that of the corporate psychopaths. They are termed as people who do not possess any principle or empathy and the persons who do not tend to care for anyone rather than themselves. Such psychopaths cause severe harms to the organisations and hamper the effectiveness and smooth functioning of the organisation (Anderson, 2011). It can be stated that such psychopaths cannot lead the organisation in a proper manner and therefore cannot be considered as an effective leader. They may appear to be flexible, sophisticated, successful and charming, however, in reality they may be completely destructive to the organisation that they are working for. Therefore, it is quite vital for any corporation to conduct test for the senior level managers in order to demonstrate the fact that they are not psychopaths. Furthermore, whistleblower policy can also encourage in identifying the psychopaths in an organisation and can further prevent psychopaths in acting in a similar pattern. If such mishaps can be prevented at an earlier stage, the companies can prevent employees’ turnover and can enhance productivity to a great extent. Moreover, the companies will be capable of stopping conflicts from occurring in the near future and hence the commitment level of the employees can be heightened. References Anderson, M., 2011. Weeding Out Corporate Psychopaths. Common Dreams. [Online] Available at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/11/24-0 [Accessed February 13, 2012]. Babiak, P. & et. al., 2010. “Corporate Psychopathy: Talking the Walk”, Behavioral Sciences and the law Vol: 28, pp: 174-193. Boddy, C. R., No Date. Corporate Psychopaths: Organisational Destroyers. Introduction. [Online] Available at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/65184639/Corporate-Psychopaths [Accessed February 13, 2012]. Boddy, C. R. P. & 2010. Corporate Psychopaths and Organizational Type. Journal of Public Affairs. Vol: 10, pp: 300-312. Boddy, C. R., 2006. The Dark Side of Management Decisions: Organisational Psychopaths, Management Decision, Vol: 44, Iss: 10, pp: 1461 – 1475. Boddy, C. R., 2011. The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial Crisis, Journal of Business Ethics. Vol: 102, pp: 255-259. Boddy, C. R. P. & et. al., 2010. Leaders Without Ethics In Global Business: Corporate Psychopaths, Journal of Public Affairs. Vol: 10, Iss: 3, pp: 121-138. Curry, L., 2012. Heartless Manager May Be Corporate Psychopath. Anchorage Daily News. [Online] Available at: http://www.adn.com/2012/02/05/2302130/heartless-manager-may-be-corporate.html [Accessed February 13, 2012]. Greennacre, P., 2010. Conscience in the Psychopath, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. Vol: 15, Iss: 3, pp: 495-509. Hare, R., 1994. This Charming Psychopaths. Psychology Today. [Online] Available at: http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199401/charming-psychopath [Accessed February 13, 2012]. Read More