Counterproductive Behavior in an Organization Is Most

Counterproductive behavior in an organization is most often defined as any behaviors/acts voluntary or not, that do not fall in line with the organization's interests/goals (Sackett, Berry, Wiemann, & Laczo, 2006). Then by default we would define productive behavior as any behavior that is in line with the organization's interests/goals. While most definitions define these behaviors, productive and counterproductive as voluntary behaviors there is no reason not to include accidental or unintentional behaviors as productive or counterproductive as well.

Counterproductive behavior covers a large number of domains. For example Gruys and Sackett (2003) identified 87 separate types of counterproductive behaviors appearing in the literature and by way of factor analysis produced 11 categories of counterproductive behaviors. Counterproductive acts can take many forms such as poor job performance, poor motivation, theft, fraud, absenteeism, tardiness, physical and verbal aggression, sexual harassment, or substance use. As a result of the decline in job performance the cost of counterproductive behaviors to organizations has been estimated in the billions of dollars. Poor motivation can lead to poor performance on the job in terms of the quality and quantity of the work produced. Poor motivation can stem from a variety of factors including perceived unfair or poor work conditions, perceived unfair employer practices such as poor wages or lack of recognition, or factors internal to the person. Poor job performance costs the company and is not in line with organizational goals. Victims of forms of counterproductive behavior such as harassment or unfair treatment might suffer from decreased well being, low job satisfaction, and depression and anxiety. This may lead to poor or uninspired job performance. Low productivity can cost an organization millions of dollars. Likewise, such workers can easily transfer their feelings and attitudes to co-workers resulting in a vicious cycle.

At its extreme, counterproductive behavior will include acts of aggression and violence against other people in the work environment which of course will disrupt the organizational flow. Taken together, counterproductive behaviors can affect nearly all aspects of an organization from the day-to-day interactions of the people working in them to the total costs reported on the monthly balance sheet.

However, it would be wrong to limit the description of counterproductive behavior to only something that workers can perform as implied by the above definition. The above definition of counterproductive behavior only takes the perspective of the organization. But we could expand the definition beyond organization's view. For example some behaviors such as leaving a job for better career could be considered counter-productive in the sense of going against the organization's goals/interests. But these behaviors do not carry the connotation of misconduct that accompanies some of the behaviors mentioned above. Nonetheless, it is in the best interest of the company not to promote such counterproductive behaviors by providing competitive wages, room for advancement, a positive work environment, and opportunities to partner with management. Similarly, it may be in an organization's best interests to have employees routinely work 16-hour days without extra reimbursement, but in such a case unwillingness on the part of workers to do so would not carry the implication of misconduct. Because of this some definitions of counterproductive behavior define it as behavior that is contrary to the organization's "legitimate" goals/interests (Sackett et al., 2006). Likewise the definition of productive behavior might also be so adjusted.

There is a job stress/emotion/counterproductive behavior model that suggests that such behaviors constitute responses to job stressors at work (Spector, 1998). According to this model people observe and evaluate what is going on around them. Events that are viewed as threats to one's well-being or self-image are stressors that result in negative emotional reactions such as anger or anxiety. Events like role conflict, interpersonal conflict, unfairness, and situational constraints on one's role or sense of duty lead to dissatisfaction that can lead to counterproductive behavior. In essence, when people perceive that they lack control over their environment they view the environment as hostile and unpredictable. It is under these conditions that counterproductive behaviors may surface.