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.
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.
One indicator that there is a problem with employee satisfaction is that multiple, valued employees have left for other jobs citing low job satisfaction and cultural problems as their primary motivations for leaving. These employees asked for exit interviews and were disappointed that they had to request them. As further evidence that this problem exists, employees often answer informal questions about teamwork, job satisfaction, accountability and communication in a negative way. To gather further evidence of this problem, I propose that a survey be conducted to all employees to collect formal data on employee satisfaction and morale, among other things.
Several employees have witnessed varied offensive conduct by Mazey but have kept opinions to themselves until recently (Yemen & Clawson, 2007). Senior management at Hudson is aware of his behavior via 360o reviews; however, Mazey’s ability to produce revenue secured his promotion to vice president (Yemen & Clawson, 2007). Mazey acquiesces to upper management and believes employees of lower stature should do the same for him, while also accepting his unprofessional, degrading and condescending habits (Yemen & Clawson, 2007).
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.
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 –
With the concept of organization justice, Shkoler (2017), defines the concept of organizational justice as the “Perceptions of the degree to which an organization provides its employees with appropriate, fair and respectful treatment, adequate and accurate information, and resources and rewards.” (Shkoler & Tziner, 2017). With this, the researchers (2017) found that employees who perceived injustice in the workplace and acted to resolve the issues developed some behaviors that demonstrated negative feelings towards the organization. These behaviors included a lack of motivation and manifestations of mistrust towards the workplace or the manager. (Shkoler et al., 2017). The consequence of perceived injustice to employers is job burnout. Emotional intelligence was measured using the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form. Organizational justice was measured by the justice scale and burnout was measured with the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Work Misbehavior was measured by the Interpersonal and Organizational Deviance Scale. Meetings were conducted among threatened participants to gather the information about what might be going on in terms of employee’s personal, social, and mental health. This included issues of expertise, self-esteem,
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/
Workplace stress has become an increasingly serious issue due to its cost to organisational productivity and employee health and wellbeing. Over the years, the association between stress and counterproductive workplace behaviour (CWB) has become an increasingly popular topic of study among organizational researchers. CWB refers to behaviour by employees that harms an organization or its members (Spector & Fox, 2002). Spector and colleagues (e.g., Chen & Spector, 1992; Penney & Spector, 2005) have portrayed CWB as an emotion-based response to stressful organisational conditions.
The problem of job dissatisfaction is a global workplace issue. Although Americans are happier in their jobs, satisfaction in the United States is declining due to downsizing and overburdening. (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Before outlining job dissatisfaction a definition of job satisfaction is needed. Job satisfaction is “[an] individuals’
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.
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.
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.
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...
People have many misconceptions about conflict in the workplace. Not all workplace conflicts are bad, some organization even implement changes just too slightly stir things up; as a result employees are more productive. Covey, (1992) mentions seven things that will destroy us; wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, religion without sacrifice, and politics without principle. We must stand for what is right and it is the leader’s obligation to manage in all seven of these arenas including workplace