Organizational psychopaths…is your company protected?
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Can you protect your company by detecting the organizational psychopaths? Megalomaniacs, narcissistics, and omnipotents, please refrain yourselves!
They won’t refrain themselves. This is the antithesis of this article’s title. In fact, they will be preferably chosen by boards of directors whose serious members, victims of their arrogance, are looking for a Messiah to quickly help them reach their objectives.
The presence of the psychopath type in the US workforce has lately become the subject of serious studies.
For 25 years, the scientific literature is made up of several works of research concerning the psychopathic behaviour, non violent but still dangerous for the organizations. It seems that in the United States, each company has employees that could be described as psychopaths. In an article published in 2006, Clive Roland Boddy, from Middlesex University Business School, Perth, Australia, reported the consensus of several researchers and drew a conclusion by synthesizing the psychopath behaviour in an organization (“Organisational psycopaths”).Such managers are the first ones to rise from the ranks, certain that they have a holy mission and that they hold the truth. This arrogant certainty appears to be all at once the basis of the managers’ know-how.
This behaviour is characterized by some individuals’ incapacity of feeling whatsoever for somebody else. They wouldn’t be aware of the ethical values, or at least these values wouldn’t have any behaviour reference for them. These psychopaths are driven by their own needs. The other features are disturbing. These individuals possess important interpersonal skills, such as: knowing how to manipulate the topics of conversation in order to reach their personal objectives; they won’t hesitate to lie in order to compete out some co-workers; they have no mercy, they are calculating persons without any feeling of remorse.
According to the specialized literature, it may be difficult to detect these individuals in an interview because they usually meet all the requirements: energetic, combative, flexible, charismatic, and available for long days of work. Distant, calculating persons, these individuals are looking especially for promotions and power if this helps them reach their goals. They would do anything in order to succeed. According to different researchers, 1 to 5 % of the population would have high results to the screening test. We understand that any ethical measure would be in contradiction with their objectives. Would this be the beginning of another example of resistance put up in some circles against the Sound Management concept?
In order to protect the shareholders, the board of directors can implement a Sound Management Framework. This remarkable tool allows an open-ended management in a rigid context.
[1] CLIVE ROLAND BODDY, The dark side of management decisions : organisational psychopaths Management decision vol 44 no 10 Emerald Group Publising Limited 2006 p 1461-1475
5 comments
Une entreprise peut-elle être psychopathe? BP avec leurs commentaires : «ce n’est qu’un petit peu de pétrole dans un grand océan et nous allons nous occuper des petits gens!»
Un gestionnaire psychopathe peut-il entrainer dans le gouffre toute une organisation? Je le crois.
Voici un sujet fort préoccupant. Un psychopathe ignore qu’il l’est puisqu’ il possède sa propre vision du bien et du mal. Et pour ajouter à la complexité de la chose, on dénombre plusieurs déclinaisons de ce trouble comportemental. Comme le mentionne Jean Tremblay, ce type de personne entraîne des gens vulnérables et souvent tout à fait sain d’esprit dans ses filets. Je sais que quelques livres récents ont été publiés sur ce sujet versus l’aspect management, mais sans me souvenir d’un auteur en particulier. À part Clive R. Boddy, si un bloggeur connaît d’autres ouvrages du genre, il serait intéressant de les partager.
This post seems like very interesting. I had to use Google translator to get the jist of it, but I am not sure I got everything. When are you planning to post the English version?
Anyways, how can governance protect against those individuals?
George D. Jackson
Mr. Jackson,
Governance conveys such a large and vague concept that no one can affirm that it could protect an organisation against organisational psychopaths. The fact of the matter is that the answer to your question depends on the underlying rules set forth by the board members of the organisation.
On the other end, with the Sound Management Framework, you inherit a set of rules that cover all the management functions and all the principles of Sound Management. Although it cannot diagnose or detect those individuals, it can certainly help protect the organisation against them by limiting and controlling their power and actions.
Philippe Bruno, C.Adm.
Member of the Consultative Committee
Institute of Sound Management
that`s a very interesting post that needs to be translated. how many of those sick individuals are around us? like i said in another message, i used to have a very humiliating boss when i was working in montreal. he was certainly affected by what you are describing here.
Niserine
