Workplace deviance is a deliberate or intentional
desire to cause harm to an organisation. This can be the organisation which employs an
individual or an organisation of which they are a member. It is, perhaps, best described as “voluntary behaviour which contravenes the established norms of the organisation and, in doing so, compromises its viability.”
Workplace deviance can vary greatly, from
minor non-violent misbehaviour to extreme violence, up to and including murder, but any of which causes harm or potential harm to the organisation. Broadly speaking workplace deviance falls into
two distinct categories, Interpersonal Deviance and Organisational Deviance.
Interpersonal deviance is misconduct which targets specific
co-workers and includes behaviours such as gossiping about them, blaming them for things that are not their fault, falsely raising grievances against them and so on. It is believed that these unhealthy behaviours
may be due to jealousy of the
target co-workers abilities or a sense of entitlement. In other words the misbehaviour has
one aim, to benefit the
person doing it.
Organisation deviance is behaviour aimed at the organisation itself and most frequently manifests itself as frequent lateness or excessive absenteeism.
