Question 1
Aggressive and counterproductive behaviors refer an employee behaving towards other employees in a manner that may cause harm to the employees and generally the organization. Aggressive and counterproductive behavior of an employee toward other employees may be caused by several factors. Considering the Cedar district hospital case, the aggressive and counterproductive behavior of Smith towards her subordinates and other managers could have been caused by the following factors (Fox and Paul 2005).
The first reason for Smith’s aggression and counterproductive behavior towards her subordinates and other managers, fall in the theory of individual difference also referred to personal factors. Personal attribute that makes Smith to behave in that particular manner is that she lacks self-evaluation or monitoring. Smith does not take her time to evaluate the way she is correlating with the rest of her workmates (Fox and Paul 2005).This is because if she could have been doing so she could have discovered the manner in which her fellows are reacting toward her and the way they nowadays avoiding her. Despite the fact that her fellow managers have objected her behavior towards the other employees Smith has continued to behave in the same manner that harms her colleagues.
Another factor that falls under the theory of individual difference that has caused the aggression and counterproductive behavior of Smith is age factor. Smith has just completed her degree course and this is her first job. The fact that she has not worked in another place makes her behave this way. At the same time the negative effect could have caused Smiths’ aggression and counter productiveness. This is because of the ongoing issues in the Cedar District hospital (Fox and Paul 2005). For example the financial problem could have stressed Smith especially that she is the chief financial officer in the Cedar district hospital. Another issue in that hospital that could have caused Smith’s discomfort is the ongoing personnel layoff. Personnel layoff in a company is something that can make the employee anxious. The problem is that Smith is subjecting her problems to people who might be suffering from the same challenges.
Under the situational variables theory, environmental factors come in. The environment conditions under which Smith is working is unfavorable. This is because during the summer season temperatures are too high for human beings. This unpleasant condition could be stressing Smith making her to be abusive toward her colleagues (Fox and Paul 2005).
Considering the cognitive processing theory of aggression and counterproductive Smiths behavior could be as a result of her perception of the surrounding (Fox and Paul 2005). The success of other employees in the workplace for instance Janet Peters is not taken well by Smith. This is the reason for abusive language towards Peter anytime they meet.
Question 2
Smith’s behavior would erode the image of the company. When the customers encounter such situations, they are likely to have negative feelings towards the organization and view it as one that lacks systems to deal with internal challenges. The Counterproductive behaviors are behaviors that harm the stakeholders in the organization and customers (Gundlach, 2011). It can be in the form of verbal aggression or mistreatment that is directed to the stakeholders in the organization. Some forms of CWB include emotional abuse, bullying, retaliation, and deviance. Counterproductive is demonstrated in different ways such as fighting, verbal abuse, harassment, and gossip (Gundlach, 2011). Respect in an organization facilitates productivity and proper organization of the activities.
As a result of Smith’s action, the organization may lose some of the loyal customers and eventual fall in the level of sales. Smith went to the extent of abusing some of the clients who came in for medication. She mostly accused those who were overweight and did not appreciate some of the people. She criticized the staff such that some of the people started to avoid her. Smith did not like some of the highly competent people such as Peters. Her behavior can be classified as sabotage that damaged the organizational image.
Smith’s behavior can lead to work place tension, disrespect and poor working relationship among employees. In Smith’s case, she portrayed disrespect to her co-workers and the people around her. Although, she had the competence, her behavior was not good. Abusing other people in the organization showed how she disrespected them. That is against the code of conduct in an organization. Her behavior was for personal reason and self-interest. She used to favor people who she can easily relate with such as a nursing assistant who was a single mother like her. Her behavior in the organization had caused discomfort among the staff members. Employees who are dissatisfied with the behavior may opt to resign and leave. High turnover of employees may destabilize the organization due to lack of continuity and frequent changes in the staff composition.
The behaviors show disregard to order, professional code of conduct and adherence to work place ethics. For an organization to achieve its goals there must be set rules and regulations that the stakeholders and the employees in the organization need to follow. The employees are supposed to be ready to obey the management and supervisory directives in the organization. Smith simply stays in the organization to gain experience that is why she has a feeling of instability and discomfort. As a result, there is a form of financial mismanagement that may negatively affect Cedar District Hospital.
Criticizing others because of their overweight indicates the ignorance that Smith had on other people’s emotions. She was only concerned about her emotions and did not care about other people’s feelings and emotions (Gundlach, 2011). As a result, her behavior affected the even the clients who came to receive medical care. Her feeling of insecurity and dissatisfaction directly affected the people who were around her. She does not carry her work perfectly because she is governed by negative emotions. Additionally, people in the organization tried to avoid her because they did not want to associate directly with her because of her behavior. Some of them developed negative emotions such as anxiety, anger, and depression which affected the operations in Cedar District Hospital. Some of the disrespectful may cause a reduction in employee turnover and absenteeism of some of the members in the organization.
Question 3
Peter’s concerns are not valid because he is inferior. Smith occupies a high position in the organization and it is not easy for her to receive correction from the juniors. Additionally, her repercussions cannot be valid because fear governs her. She also fails to analyze the real situation and view the whole thing in a wider perspective. It is also difficult to handle any misconduct that her supervisor because of the ownership of authority. If Peters is given the responsibility to come up with a recommendation about the issues, she has to deliver the without hesitation. Bringing out issues as they are and ensuring that she has evidence about the issue in question. Thus, she has to explore all the areas in connection to the issue. She can carry out research that helps in discovering one’s real personality. Here she will gather all the information in connection to personality traits and all the acts of counterproductive behavior. Psychological test will be an end to giving the solution of the issue.
The best approach would be to identify the eminent conflict and solve it. The organization should work as a team and in order to achieve the organizational goals, it is important for them to consider their conflict resolution strategies. The organization has to work as a team in order to achieve the set goals. Communication is a crucial aspect in the organization. To facilitate flow of communication, the management has to come up with an appropriate communication strategy. An effective dispute resolution that works perfectly to ensure that the members in the organization solve issues faster and in a good manner must be used . The parties in alternative dispute resolution must also adequately involve in conflict resolution. The dispute resolution strategies that Peter may use include arbitration, mediation, and conciliation. The main aim of collaboration is finding a suitable solution for everyone who is involved in the conflict. The strategy works in setting out ideas given by different people in a meeting. An organization works as a team to come up with the important policies in an organization. During the creation of the policies, the manager should ensure that each person contributes their ideas in policy creation. At this stage, collaboration works to ensure that the organization comes up with creative and acceptable solution for everyone. It can be done democratically for instance, through voting. Such approaches may help Smith to come out clearly and expose the issues that she seems to be hiding. Smith should also be encouraged to be accommodative. The strategy applies when the issue causing conflict is minor. One of the parties may decide to give the opposing side what it requires in order to keep peace. Accommodation mainly works in minor conflicts in an organization. The conflict may be between people of the high position in an organization and those who hold low positions in an organization. For instance, members in the organization may be debating on casual wear on Friday. The management may decide to give them what they want in order to maintain peace in the organization.
Question 4
Finally, to solve this problem the organization should come up with a corporate culture that helps the organization to deal with all the issue that arises. Moreover, dealing with the issue before they affect the operation of the company will enhance the credibility of the organization especially to the clients. Through the human resource management office, people who are found with the counterproductive behavior can be counseled and given a proper guideline on how they should live with the people around them. I would institute consistent operating practices which every team member will be expected to conform to, such as dress code, speech, office appearance, conduct and operating hours, etc. This kind of uniformity enforces the workers’ equality. As another proposition, I would downplay the job titles and put more weight on job assignments instead. These job titles tend to emphasize the stature of an individual in a company and might be disrupting terms of equality.
The company should enhance its human resource management policies and program such as giving a psychological test to each new employee. The company will be able to identify the people who have psychological problem through the test. Once the new employee is proven guilty of any psychological problem regardless of his or her competence he or she should not be employed. The company by all means should prevent cases of counterproductive behaviors.
I would develop the spirit of teamwork instead of individualism. Working in a team helps people discover what they cannot do from the other person. Teamwork also makes work easy as all the people work together towards accomplishing a common goal. Through teamwork, there is continuous growth of the organization and the company can easily deal with all its issues.
The participants of team thinking should conform to a particular set of rules. This means that it is not easy to break and create some new work habits. In the teams, Smith would conform to a set of specific rules so as to meet his/her desired goals. With individual thinking, the working habits might be broken and new one created to conform to the desired goal. The team mates would benefit by sharing new ideas and from social interaction, while on a personal level, individual thinking is private. I would offer leadership. Every team requires a leader who can define and give instruction. The team must believe and trust in its leader. If this confidence lacks, the team is likely not to follow the leader, especially in times of trouble. I should as well be wary of leading using democratic rule. Pleading for input is one thing, as is having assistants, though there can only be one critical leader to direct the team. I would also set the standard practices which will be used in the execution of assignments. This will enhance everyone to follow the same methods and making use of the same techniques and tools in their work effort. This will help to improve communications, promote the development of quality work products and provides workers interchangeability. I would then ensure that everyone in the team knows their assignments and responsibilities and understand their significance. No one wants to be viewed as the weak link, and as such, being the leader, I must be communicating carefully their significance and balance the workload. If I find that there is a weaker worker, I will ensure that he/she is offered training or replace. I would routinely be checking the progress. I would keep the statistics of both the individual and team performance whenever applicable. I will ensure that I understand the team’s weakness and strengths as a leader. I would always be on the lookout for differences in a working relationship and allow time for the team to meet and talk about issues as a group. This will keep every team member to be familiar with the common goals, the general progress and problems. I would recognize individual attainment and reward on a team basis. With these steps in place, the team members will work towards the achievement of the set goals as a team.
References
Fox, Suzy and Paul, E., Spector. (2005). Emotional abuse: Counterproductive behavior:
investigation of actors and target. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Gundlach, J. M. (2011). Toward an Integrative Theory of Counterproductive Workplace Behavior: A Causal Reasoning Perspective. Montana: Quick Press .
