Conformity And Deviant Workplace Essay

737 Words2 Pages

A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives (Robbins & Judge, 2009). At some point in all of our careers, we will be tasked with working within a group setting. This discussion board will focus on conformity and deviant workplace behavior, and how each can negatively affect the outcome of working within a group setting. Conformity Conformity is the adjustment of one’s behavior to align with the norms of the group (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Several years ago, after I completed my undergraduate degree, I became a police officer. I discovered early on that there were several groups (or cliques) that operated inside the walls of the department. …show more content…

Last year we had a member of our executive management team terminated. He was found to have been stealing money from the company for several years to the tune of around $80,000. He was the leader of our business development team, and would purchase personal items and write them off as business expenses. Essentially what he did was hide the personal expenses in his large business expense reports. Groups provide a shield of anonymity so that someone who ordinarily might be afraid of getting caught for stealing can rely on the fact that other group members had the same opportunity or reason to steal (Robbins & Judge, 2009). This particular employee was able to hide most of his transactions as other members of the group also had large business expenses. How could this have been prevented? It is important to establish a "zero-tolerance" program regarding employee theft. Make sure that it is understood, during orientation that the company will take legal action against employees caught stealing (Walsh, 2000). In addition a team built on a covenant requires more than just a loose and vague commitment to the relationship; on the contrary, entering into a covenantal relationship requires steadfast and active commitment (Fischer, 2012) thus providing the group with a mutual

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