Cynicism at the workplace comes in many different forms and seems to have increased in the last few years in light of mass layoffs, mergers, and corporate scandals (Anderson, 1996). In 1991, Mirvis and Kanter reported that 43% of American workers exhibited highly cynical attitudes toward work. The popularity of the comic strip Dilbert further indicates the prevalence of cynicism in today’s work place (Dean, Brandes, & Dharkwadkar, 1998). A Google search on ‘cynicism at the workplace’ produced 408 000 results, including a segment on NPR from May 2007 dealing with the topic of cynicism. The anchor only half-jokingly remarked that General Motors’ employees had good reason to be cynical in the face of plant closings and the loss of more than 30 000 jobs. The question arises if workplace cynicism has to inevitably follow the decline of American businesses, and if there are any factors that could potentially positively influence cynicism.
Information from opinion polls paints a mixed picture. Gallup (2007) reported that only 18% of the American people had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in big business in 2007, a steady decline from the high point of 33 % in 1977 and 30% in 1999, which would support an increase in organizational cynicism. However, Gallup also reported the overall satisfaction of workers with their workplace in 2007 was fairly high. 56% of US workers are satisfied with their job security, and 60% were completely or somewhat satisfied with their supervisors (Gallup, 2007). Likewise, the percentage of workers who were somewhat or completely dissatisfied was reported as only 6% in August 2007 as compared to 14% in August 2005 (Gallup, 2007). Does this increase in satisfaction mean that there will be a correspo...
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...view I attempted to answer the question whether work place cynicism in its different forms can be positively influenced or even be prevented by organizations, or whether it is an inevitable result of declining American businesses. Occupational cynicism can possibly be limited by reducing work hours, increasing pay and providing more support for the occupations that seem to be particularly affected. Leaders and managers can take steps to prevent organizational cynicism and organizational change cynicism from taking hold in an organization resulting in negative consequences for the organization and the individual. Organizations could adopt more participatory decision-making processes, observe principles of distributive justice, and commit to open and honest communication as a first steps to counteract some of the negative consequences of cynicism at the workplace.
Over time, this dull pain can erode the self-confidence and passion of even the strongest people, which in turn, affects their spouses and children and friends in subtle but profound ways… Though it may be difficult to quantify, the dissatisfaction of employees has a direct impact on productivity, turnover, and morale, all of which eventually hit a company’s bottom line hard,” (p. ix –
According to Fossum (2002), there were five primary leading personalities in labor relations. Terence Poderly and Uriah Stephens were the main leaders and personalities of the KOL. They focused mainly on long term goals and were partial to arbitration over strikes. These idealistic views caused them and the KOL to be not as popular and therefore lacked members and growth. Another similar personality was that of William Sylvis, leader of the NLU in 1866 (Fossum, 2002). The NLU and its leader Sylvis were also not very effective like the KOL due to fact that his goals were primarily political and reformist (Fossum, 2002). Samuel Gompers was the first president of the AFL after its creation in 1886 and lead for 39 years (The Library of
This article describes how rudeness and incivility causes great damage to everyone in the workplace even if it was only intended at a certain person. One professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University states, “Incivility is almost like trapping people inside a fog.” (Gurchiek, 2015, para. 4) In this quote, incivility is explained as something employees are all affected from and are not able to get away from. Moreover, many surveys are presented throughout the article to show how people either lose or quit their jobs because of the rude treatment that they experience in the workplace. Because of those survey results, many experts believe that rude behaviors in the workplace will begin to worsen in the coming years. However, steps to establish an atmosphere of respect and consideration for colleagues are presented at the end of the article to assist with changing that prediction.
In the early 1980s aggression and violence in the workplace have been a source of a lot of public discussion. (Piquero pg.383) The issues have risen again recently and have mostly been present in management and business fields. Workplace aggression often includes “behavior by an individual or individuals within or outside organizations that is intended to physically or psychologically harms a worker or workers and occurs in a work related”. (Schat& Kelloway Pg. 191) A national survey Conducted by the National Centers for Victims of Crime shows several statistics regarding workplace homicide by type show that is the year of (see fig. 1), violent crimes against victims working or an duty( see fig. 2) and nonfatal workplace violence committed by strangers(see fig. 3
The author conveys that dark triad exists in almost every professional organizations. The dark triad consists of a mixture of three different personality disorders: psychopathic tendencies, Machiavellian cunning and narcissistic selfishness. He believes that most workers are unaware of these dysfunctional characteristics, let alone possess enough skills to accordingly deal with them. He highlights that dark triad abounds and continues to increase due to the fact that their behavior traits are often rewarded as long as they can hide their most negative ones; and the fact that most of them are motivated by achieving the ladder of success in detriment of others. New research and data are now available to prove the dark triad theory.
There are times when a person must go against what is common or what others want them to do. I would define this a form resistance. To me resistance is going against what is common, or standing up to someone or some thing that you normally would not. This is a common occurrence in the workplace. Resistance in the workplace is nessicary at times to prevent getting stepped on while climbing the corporate latter. Granted there are also times when the best thing to do is sit back and let things happen. There are however times when an employee must make some noise to be heard and noticed. When someone sees oneself about to be passed up for a promotion that they are entitled to, he or she must do something. Another time some form of resistance should be shown would be in the case of a supervisor or manager on a "power-trip". A person should not just let a manager create work or assign jobs that do nothing more than waste valuable manpower because it makes them feel important. My last example of resistance in the workplace is competition between departments that hinders the progress of the other department. Ideally none of this would happen but in today's society ware everyone is out for himself or herself sometimes someone has to shake things up a bit.
The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 41(2), 69-72. Dumbrava, G. (2011). Workplace relations and emotional intelligence. Annals of the University of Petrosani, Economics, 11(3), 85-92. Grubb III, W. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2007).
Knowledge@Wharton. (2007, April 18). Managing emotions in the workplace: Do positive and negative attitudes drive performance?. Retrieved from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/managing-emotions-in-the-workplace-do-positive-and-negative-attitudes-drive-performance/
A negative work environment can make employees feel irritable, anxious and defensive. This can cause poor productivity, lack of motivation and poor communication in the workplace which in turn can cause problems for the company. An employer’s abuse of power can cause mental or emotional distress on employees and also disrupt the workplace. Examples of employers abusing their position include humiliation, undermining, disrespectful language, discriminatory comments, yelling and intimidation. When employees are surrounded by this on a daily basis it can affect their self-worth. Employers can resolve these issues by allowing open lines of communication and by not giving employees the impression that it is acceptable to act negatively and disrespect fellow employees.
As a negative cycle, once the customers’ satisfaction levels are decreased, the financial bottom line of the organization may be decreased. In Singh and Loncar’s example of a hospital and nursing staff, many other negative effects may be had simply from widespread job dissatisfaction among the nursing staff. Lower job performance may increase liability and set the organization up for patient lawsuits, failure to maintain standards may result in loss of or failure to achieve Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) ce...
Interpersonal Relationships are one of the most important things in business and everyday life. A positive interpersonal relationship provides countless opportunities while a negative interpersonal relationship limits opportunities. Interpersonal relationships can be built with many different forms of communication but self-concept and self-disclosure play two of the biggest roles in forming positive interpersonal working relationships.
Management theories could be traced in 1800s during the industrial revolution and factory growth time (Bartol, Tein, Matthews, Ritson & Scott-Ladd 2006, p.16). The history of management viewpoint is partly involved in developing understanding about the norms of behaviour in the workplace. In fact, the Hawthorne studies did a lot of contributes to that. It also altered the focus of management study, in contrast with the classical management. This essay is trying to demonstrate that how the Hawthorne studies contribute to developing understanding about the norms of behaviour in the workplace and find out researchers’ experience of how group relationships have influenced work performance.
Negativity can arise from a number of different situations, which range from a personal problem of an employee, to dissatisfaction with management, to inner conflict between different employees. As with any other problem, identifying the source is the first step to solving it. According to Gary S. Topchik, author of Managing Workplace Negativity, negativity is often the result of a loss of confidence, control, or community, (Topchik). Identifying negativity amidst employees in the workplace can either be extremely easy or extremely difficult depending on the severity of the situation or how under the surface it may actually be. Obviously, each distinct reason behind negativity requires a unique and specific approach to
By conducting the Hawthorne studies, various assumptions were discovered. A person's work behaviour is not easily determined as a cause and effect relationship; however it is determined by a complex set of attributes. Informal groups that were present in the organisation form a social structure which was preserved through job related symbols of prestige and power. Change in the organisation can be avoided by being more aware of the employees' sentiments and their participation. The findings of the experiments led to the discovery that the workplace is a close knit social system and not just a production system.
Individuals behave in a given manner based not on the way their external environment actually is but, rather, on what they see or believe it to be. An organization may spend millions of dollars to create a pleasant work environment for its employees. However, in spite of these expenditures, if an employee believes that his or her job that assigned to them is lousy and feel unsatisfactory, that employee will behave accordingly.