Workplace Deviance in Organisations: The Role of Organisational Practices

Abstract

Deviance in the workplaces has attracted significant importance in the organization but has affected the well being of the employees, their performance as well as the overall performance of an organization. Organizational practices are applied in the paper as management and determinant of deviant behavior at work. The article bases on the social exchange theory and the organizational behavior in explaining the effect of leadership style, human resource policies, performance appraisal systems, organizational justice, ethical climate and communication mechanisms to reducing or increasing deviance at work places. The hypothesis of the research paper is that most of the causative agents of the deviant behaviors, including absenteeism, misapplicability of resources, interpersonal aggressiveness, and non-commitment are likely to be caused by unfair treatment, ineffective ethics, role ambiguity, and high work pressure, and ineffective systems of managing grievances. Conversely, deviant behaviors among workers are minimised by clear procedures, people involvement in decision making, involvement leadership, and rewarding employees equally. In theory, the paper provides content on the interaction of the organizational practices and employee behavior and provide practical considerations to the managers in order to reduce the rate of workplace deviance and a favorable organizational culture.