Psychopathy in the workplace

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The presence of psychopathy in the workplace—although psychopaths typically represent a relatively small percentage of workplace staff—can do enormous damage when in senior management roles.[1] Psychopaths are usually most common at higher levels of corporate organizations and their actions often cause a ripple effect throughout an organization, setting the tone for an entire corporate culture. Examples of detrimental effects are increased bullying, conflict, stress, staff turnover and absenteeism; reduction in productivity and in social responsibility.[2] Ethical standards of entire organisations can be badly damaged if a corporate psychopath is in charge.[3] A 2017 UK study found that companies with leaders who show "psychopathic characteristics" destroy shareholder value, tending to have poor future returns on equity.[4]

Academics refer to psychopaths in the workplace individually variously as workplace psychopaths, executive psychopaths, corporate psychopaths, business psychopaths, successful psychopaths, office psychopaths, white-collar psychopaths, industrial psychopaths, organizational psychopaths or occupational psychopaths.[5] Criminal psychologist Robert D. Hare coined the term "Snakes in Suits" as a synonym for workplace psychopaths.[6]

General[edit]

Oliver James identifies psychopathy as one of the dark triadic personality traits in the workplace, the others being narcissism and Machiavellianism.[7]

Workplace psychopaths are often charming to staff above their level in the workplace hierarchy but abusive to staff below their level.[8]

Workplace psychopaths maintain multiple personas throughout the office, presenting each colleague with a different version of themselves.[9]

Hare considers newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell to have been a strong candidate as a corporate psychopath.[10]

Differentiation is made between:[2][11]

Primary & Secondary Psychopathy[edit]

  • Primary Psychopaths (Genetic Psychopaths): have more corporate success, high IQ as a result of genetic natural selection that resulted in eliminating lower IQ primary psychopaths, this allows them to have little risk of legal penalties.
  • Secondary Psychopaths (Sociopaths) : Are more successful in Gang culture as outlaws, they have less success in the corporate world, due to breaking the law on a regular basis & being more neurotic.

Incidence[edit]

Hare reports about 1 percent of the general population meet the clinical criteria for psychopathy.[12] Hare claims the prevalence of psychopaths is higher in the business world than in the general population. Figures of around 3–4% are cited for senior positions in business.[6] A 2011 study of Australian white-collar managers found 5.76 percent could be classed as psychopathic, and another 10.42 percent dysfunctional with psychopathic characteristics.[13]

The organization psychopath[edit]

The organization psychopath craves a god-like feeling of power and control. They prefer to work at the highest levels of their organizations to control the greatest number of people. Politicians, managers, religious leaders, and CEOs fall into this category.[5]

Organization psychopaths generally appear to be intelligent, sincere, powerful, charming, witty, and entertaining communicators. They assess what people want to hear, then create stories fitting those expectations. They con people into doing their work for them, take credit for other's work, and assign their work to junior staff. They have low patience dealing with others, display shallow emotions, are unpredictable, undependable, and fail to take responsibility if something goes wrong.[5]

According to a study from the University of Notre Dame published in the Journal of Business Ethics, psychopaths have a natural advantage in workplaces run by abusive supervisors, are likely to thrive under abusive bosses, are resistant to stress including inter-personal abuse, and do not require positive relationships.[14][15][16]

Careers with highest proportion of psychopaths[edit]

According to Dutton, the ten careers with the highest proportion of psychopaths are:[17]

  1. CEO
  2. Lawyer
  3. Media (TV/radio)
  4. Salesperson
  5. Surgeon
  6. Journalist
  7. Police officer
  8. Clergy
  9. Chef
  10. Civil servant

Behavioral patterns[edit]

Could this be a psychopath? Robert Maxwell.[18]

The workplace psychopath may show a high number of the following behavior patterns. The individual behaviors are not exclusive to the workplace psychopath; although the higher number of patterns exhibited, the more likely he or she conforms to the psychopath profile:[19]

  • Public humiliation of others (temper tantrums or ridiculing work performance)
  • Spreading lies (intentionally deceitful)
  • Remorseless, devoid of guilt
  • Lies to push his/her point
  • Exaggerated expressions (yawning, sneezing, etc.) to gain attention
  • Rapidly shifts emotions to manipulate people or cause anxiety
  • Intentionally isolates persons from organizational resources
  • Quick to blame others for mistakes or for incomplete work
  • Encourages coworkers to torment, alienate, harass, and/or humiliate peers
  • Takes credit for other's accomplishments
  • Steals and/or sabotages
  • Refuses to take responsibility for mis-judgements and/or errors
  • Inappropriate response to stimuli, such as a high-pitched and forced laugh
  • Threatens perceived enemies with discipline and/or job loss
  • Sets unrealistic and unachievable expectations to set employees up for failure
  • Reluctant to attend meetings with more than one person
  • Refuses to provide adequate training and/or instructions to their victim
  • Invades personal privacy of others
  • Multiple sexual encounters with coworkers
  • Develops new ideas without follow-through
  • Self-centered and egotistical (conversations revolve around them – great deal of self-importance)
  • Often "borrows" money and/or material objects with no intention of re-payment
  • Will do 'whatever it takes' to close the deal (no regard for ethics or legality).

How does a workplace psychopath climb to and maintain power?[edit]

The authors of the book Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work describe five phases of climbing to and maintaining power:[6]

  1. Entry – psychopaths develop social skills and charm to obtain employment. At this stage, few can identify psychopathic behavior. As a new employee, coworkers might perceive the psychopath to be helpful and benevolent.
  2. Assessment – psychopaths assess coworkers according to usefulness, recognizing each as either a pawn (informal influence and manipulated) or a patron (formal power, useful by the psychopath to protect against attacks)
  3. Manipulation – psychopaths create a scenario of “psychopathic fiction”, positive information about them and negative disinformation about others, their role as a part of a network of pawns or patrons is used and will be groomed into accepting psychopaths' agenda.
  4. Confrontation – uses character assassination to maintain their agenda, and victims are discarded as a pawn or used as a patron
  5. Ascension – a patron in the psychopath's quest for power is discarded as they take a position of power and prestige from former supporters.

Why are psychopaths hired?[edit]

Leading commentators on psychopathy say companies inadvertently attract psychopaths because of the wording of their job advertisements and their desire to engage people prepared to do 'whatever it takes' to be successful.[5][6] However, in one case at least, a job description asked for a sales executive with psychopathic tendencies.[20] The advert title read "Psychopathic New Business Media Sales Executive Superstar! £50k - £110k".[21]

Corporate psychopaths are recruited into organizations because they make a positive impression at interviews.[22] They appear to be alert, friendly, and easy to get along with and talk to.[23] They look like they are of good ability, well-adjusted, and reasonable, and these traits make them attractive to those in charge of hiring staff within organizations. Unlike narcissists, psychopaths create long-lasting favorable first impressions, although people may eventually see through their facade.[24] Psychopaths’ undesirable personality traits may be mis-perceived by skilled interviewers. For instance, their irresponsibility may be misconstrued by employers as risk-taking or entrepreneurial spirit. Their thrill-seeking tendencies may be conveyed as high energy and enthusiasm for the job or work. Their superficial charm may be mis-interpreted by interviewers as charisma.[6][24] Psychopaths are accomplished liars, likely to lie in interviews.[25] For instance, psychopaths may create fictitious work experiences or resumes.[24] They may also fabricate credentials such as diplomas, certifications, or awards.[24] In addition to seeming competent and likable in interviews, psychopaths are also likely to fabricate information.

Why are psychopaths promoted?[edit]

Corporate psychopaths within organizations may be singled out for rapid promotion because of their polish, charm, and cool decisiveness.[26] They are also helped by their manipulative and bullying skills.[23] They create confusion around them (divide and rule etc.) using bullying to promote their agenda.[27]

Bad consequences[edit]

Boddy identifies the following bad consequences of workplace psychopathy (with additional cites in some cases):[2]

Counterproductive work behavior[edit]

Main article: Counterproductive work behavior

Boddy suggests, because of abusive supervision by corporate psychopaths, anti-company feeling is generated among employees. This results in high levels of counter-productive behavior as employees direct their anger at the business. They perceive the company to be unfair to them.[2]

According to a 2017 UK study, psychopaths 'trigger' staff to become workplace bullies as a manifestation of counter-productive behavior.[33]

Corporate psychopath theory of the global financial crisis[edit]

Main article: Financial crisis of 2007–08

Boddy makes the case banker psychopaths were instrumental in causing this global financial collapse initiated in 2008.[26] He claims the same psychopaths causing the crisis by greed and avarice are advising government agents on getting out of the crisis.[2]

Psychologist Oliver James describes the credit crunch as a “mass outbreak of corporate psychopathy crashing the global economy.”[34]

For example, during this financial crisis, bankers came under scrutiny. At the time of its collapse in 2008, the Royal Bank of Scotland was the world's fifth largest bank by market capitalisation. CEO Fred "the Shred" Goodwin was known for taking excessive risks and showing little concern for his mis-management leading to the bank's collapse. Goodwin's demeanor toward colleagues was unpredictable, and he is said to have a luxury lifestyle while fostering a culture of fear.[35]

Professor Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries singled-out Goodwin and former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond as exhibiting psychopathic behaviors in his working paper on the SOB, "seductive operational bully - or psychopath lite"[36]

Screening[edit]

Organizations can insulate coworkers from the psychopath by taking the following steps prior to recruiting:[19]

The following tests could be used to screen psychopaths:

How many banks use a psychopathy measure to recruit banker psychopaths?[40][41]

Workplace bullying overlap[edit]

Main article: Workplace bullying

Narcissism, lack of self-regulation, lack of remorse, and lack of conscience are traits displayed by bullies. These traits are shared with psychopaths, indicating there is correlation between bullies and psychopaths.[29] Bullying is used by corporate psychopaths as a tactic to humiliate subordinates.[5] Bullying is also used as a tactic to scare, confuse, and disorient those who may be a threat.[5] Using meta data analysis on hundreds of UK research papers, Boddy concluded 36% of bullying incidents were caused by psychopaths. According to Boddy, there are two types of bullying:[2]

  • Predatory bullying – the sadist enjoys bullying and tormenting vulnerable people
  • Instrumental bullying – bullying helps bullies achieve their goals.

A psychopath uses bullying to further the goals of promotion and power as the result of causing confusion and divide and rule.

High scorers on a psychopathy scale are likely to engage in bullying, crime, and drug use than other people.[28] Hare and Babiak noted about 29 percent of psychopaths are bullies.[6] Other research shows people with high scores on a psychopathy rating scale are likely to engage in bullying, indicating psychopaths tend to be bullies.[28]

A bully or abuser often has issues with social functioning. These types of people often have psychopathic traits difficult to identify in the hiring and promotion process. These individuals often lack anger management skills, and have a distorted sense of reality. Consequently, the abuser is not aware of the harm they cause.[42]

In fiction[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Walker, I (2005), Psychopaths in Suits, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Boddy, CR (2011), Corporate Psychopaths: Organizational Destroyers.
  3. ^ Boddy C, Ladyshewsky RK, Galvin PG Leaders without ethics in global business: corporate psychopaths Journal of Public Affairs Vol. 10 June 2010 pp. 121–38.
  4. ^ Wisniewski TP, Yekini LS, Omar AMA Psychopathic Traits of Corporate Leadership as Predictors of Future Stock Returns Social Science Research Network Jun 2017
  5. ^ a b c d e f Clarke J Working with Monsters: How to Identify and Protect Yourself from the Workplace Psychopath (2012).
  6. ^ a b c d e f Baibak, P; Hare, RD (2007), Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work.
  7. ^ James O Office Politics: How to Thrive in a World of Lying, Backstabbing and Dirty Tricks (2013)
  8. ^ Boddy. C. R (2005) “'The Implications for Business Performance and Corporate Social Responsibility of Corporate Psychopaths” in 2nd International Conference on Business Performance and Corporate Social Responsibility, ed. M. Hopkins, Middlesex University Business School, London
  9. ^ Clifford C Why psychopaths are so good at getting ahead CNBC 18 Nov 2016
  10. ^ Hare R D Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us 1993
  11. ^ Board, Belinda Jane; Fritzon, Katarina (2005). "Disordered personalities at work". Psychology, Crime and Law. 11: 17. doi:10.1080/10683160310001634304.
  12. ^ Hare, RD (1994), "Predators: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths among Us", Psychology Today, 27 (1): 54–61.
  13. ^ Saft J As psychopath CEOs destroy value, nice ones create it Reuters 21 Jun 2017
  14. ^ "If you're succeeding under a bully boss, you may be a psychopath". Ladders | Business News & Career Advice. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  15. ^ "Flourishing under an abusive boss? You may be a psychopath, study shows". ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  16. ^ "An abusive boss is bad news for your work life — unless you're a psychopath". Business Insider. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  17. ^ Dutton K The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success (2012)
  18. ^ Peters, Lucia (July 13, 2017). "8 Suspected Psychopaths From History". Bustle. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  19. ^ a b Faggioni M & White M (2009) Organizational Psychopaths – Who Are They and How to Protect Your Organization from Them
  20. ^ Rodionova Z Company posts job advert for sales executive with psychopathic qualities The Independent 19 Oct 2016
  21. ^ McKenzie L Media firm seeks ‘psychopath’ for sales role BT News 20 Oct 2016
  22. ^ Cleckley H The Mask of Sanity (1988)
  23. ^ a b "Do You Work with a Psychopath? | The Exhausted Woman". The Exhausted Woman. July 14, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  24. ^ a b c d "The Corporate Psychopath".
  25. ^ Roulin, N., & Bourdage, J. S. (2017). Once an Impression Manager, Always an Impression Manager? Antecedents of Honest and Deceptive Impression Management Use and Variability across Multiple Job Interviews. Frontiers in Psychology, 8.
  26. ^ a b Boddy, C. R The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial Crisis Journal of Business Ethics August 2011, Volume 102, Issue 2, pp 255–259, DOI 10.1007/s10551-011-0810-4 [1]
  27. ^ What Corporate Climbers Can Teach Us 'Dark' Personality Traits Can Help People Rise Through Ranks Wall Street Journal 14 Jul 2014
  28. ^ a b c Nathanson, C.; Williams, K. M.; Paulhus, D. L. 2006, "Predictors of a Behavioral Measure of Scholastic Cheating: Personality and Competence but Not Demographics", Contemporary Educational Psychology vol. 31, pp. 97–122.
  29. ^ a b Harvey, M. G., Buckley, M. R., Heames, J. T., Zinko, R., Brouer, R. L. & Ferris, G. R. 2007, ‘A Bully as an Archetypal Destructive Leader', Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 117–129.
  30. ^ Babiak, P., Neumann, C. S., & Hare, R. D. (2010). Corporate psychopathy: Talking the walk. Behavioral Sciences & the Law 28(2), 174–193.
  31. ^ a b O'Boyle, E. H., Jr., Forsyth, D. R., Banks, G., & McDaniel, M. (2011). A meta-analysis of the dark triad and work outcomes: A social exchange perspective. The Journal of Applied Psychology 97, 557–579.
  32. ^ Bruk-Lee, V., & Spector, P.E. (2006). The social stressors-counterproductive work behaviors link: Are conflicts with supervisors and coworkers the same? Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 11, 145–156.
  33. ^ Glowatz E Bad Jobs: If Your Boss Is A Psychopath, You Might Act Like One Too Medical Daily 6 Jan 2017
  34. ^ Psychopath Night Channel 4 (2013).
  35. ^ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/fiddling-while-rbs-burned-new-book-reveals-fred-the-shred-goodwin-s-fatal-obsessions-8795202.html
  36. ^ Kets de Vries, Manfred (2012). "The Psychopathy in the C Suite: Redefining the SOB". INSEAD: 14. Retrieved December 25, 2016. why was Fred Goodwin, the CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland, able to get away with the things he did?... What's clear is many of these SOB 'masters of the universe' are destroying the universe for personal gain Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  37. ^ de Silva, P (2014) Tackling psychopathy: a necessary competency in leadership development? Progress in Neurology and Psychiatry Vol 18 Iss 5 September/October
  38. ^ Babiak P. & Hare R. D.Business-Scan (B-SCAN) test
  39. ^ Mathieu, C; Hare, R D.; Jones, D N.; Babiak, P; Neumann, C S. Factor structure of the B-Scan 360: A measure of corporate psychopathy. Psychological Assessment Vol 25(1), Mar 2013, 288–293.
  40. ^ Corporate Psychopaths, Transcript of Interview with Clive Boddy, Author, part 1 July 28, 2013
  41. ^ Basham B Beware corporate psychopaths – they occupy positions of power The Independent 29 Dec 2011
  42. ^ Ferris, P.A. (2009). The role of the psychologist in the prevention, detection, and correction of bullying and mobbing in the workplace. Consulting Psychology Journal 61(3), 169–189.

Further reading[edit]

Books
  • Barnes, P (2012) Surviving Bullies, Queen Bees & Psychopaths in the Workplace
  • Thiessen, W (2012) Slip-ups and the dangerous mind: Seeing through and living beyond the psychopath
  • Vaknin S and Rangelovska L (2006) The Narcissist and the Psychopath in the Workplace
  • Gregory, D W (2014) Unmasking Financial Psychopaths: Inside the Minds of Investors in the Twenty-First Century
Academic articles
  • Babiak, P. (1995) ‘When Psychopaths go to Work: A Case Study of an Industrial Psychopath', Applied Psychology, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 171 – 188.
  • Babiak, P. (2000) “Psychopathic Manipulation at Work,” in ed., C.B. Gacono, The Clinical and Forensic Assessment of Psychopathy: A Practitioner's Guide (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum): 287–311
  • Babiak, P, C.S. Neumann, and R.D. Hare (2010) “Corporate Psychopathy: Talking the Walk,” Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 28, no. 2: 174–193
  • Boddy, C. R. (2005) ‘The Implications of Corporate Psychopaths for Business and Society: An Initial Examination and A Call To Arms', Australasian Journal of Business and Behavioural Sciences, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 30 – 40.
  • Boddy. C. R. (2005) “'The Implications for Business Performance and Corporate Social Responsibility of Corporate Psychopaths” in 2nd International Conference on Business Performance and Corporate Social Responsibility, ed. M. Hopkins, Middlesex University Business School, London
  • Boddy, C. R.: (2006) "The dark side of management decisions: organisational psychopaths", Management Decision, Vol. 44 Iss: 10, pp. 1461 – 1475
  • Boddy, C. R.: (2010) ‘Corporate Psychopaths and Organisational Type', Journal of Public Affairs 10(4), 300–312.
  • Boddy, C. R. (2010) ‘Corporate Psychopaths and Productivity', Management Services Spring, 26–30.
  • Boddy, C. R, Ladyshewsky R, Galvin P (2010) Leaders without ethics in global business: Corporate psychopaths – Journal of Public Affairs Volume 10, Issue 3, pages 121–138, August
  • Boddy, C. R (2011) Corporate psychopaths, bullying and unfair supervision in the workplace Journal of Business Ethics, Volume 100, Issue 3, pp 367–379
  • Boddy, C. R (2012) The impact of corporate psychopaths on corporate reputation and marketing The Marketing Review 12 (1), 79–89
  • Boddy, C. R (2013) Corporate Psychopaths, Bullying and Unfair Supervision in the Workplace Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume 18, Issue 2, March–April, Pages 204–218
  • Boddy, C. R (2014) Corporate psychopaths, conflict, employee affective well-being and counterproductive work behaviour Journal of Business Ethics
  • Lee I. B. American Business Law Journal Volume 42, Issue 1–6, 65–90, Winter/Spring 2005 Is There a Cure for Corporate ‘‘Psychopathy?
  • Pech, R.J., & Slade, B.W. (2007). “Organizational sociopaths: rarely challenged, often promoted. Why?,” Society and Business Review, Vol. 2 Iss: 3, pp. 254 - 269.
  • Smith SF, Lilienfeld SO (2013) Psychopathy in the workplace: The knowns and unknowns Aggression and Violent Behavior 18 204–218

External links[edit]

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