Productive and Counterproductive Behaviors in Organizations

Introduction

In every organization there are some behaviors that are counterproductive, and there are also productive behaviors to be found. What are those behaviors, what impact do they have on job performance, and what strategies would best ensure that a maximum number of workers are engaged in productive behaviors? This paper reviews those issues and provides answers to these questions.

Productive Behaviors and Strategies

Productive behaviors are those that contribute to the success of an organization and to the happiness of the individual employee. Such behaviors include cooperation, loyalty, flexibility when being assigned to a new task, genuine concern for doing things correctly, and consistency in attendance and adherence to company guidelines.

There are strategies for increasing or improving productive behavior, according to the authors of Getting Things Done (David Allen) and Be Excellent at Anything (Tony Schwartz), both of whom were interviewed in the Harvard Business Review (HBR). Schwartz offers pointed advice for managers: people are not meant to run like computers, at "high speeds, continuously, for long periods of time, running multiple programs simultaneously" (HBR, 84). Humans are designed to be "rhythmic. The heart pulses; muscles contract and relax. We're at our best when we're moving rhythmically between spending energy and renewing it," Schwartz explains.

Schwartz recommends that managers encourage employees to "work intensely for 90 minutes and then take a break to recover." Additionally, instead of three large meals a day, employees are more productive when they "eat small, energy-rich meals every few hours" (HBR, 84). Schwartz also advocates for proper rest during the workday: "We believe napping drives productivity" (HBR, 84). He insists that organizations cannot "keep pushing people to their limits and expect them to produce at a sustainably high level of excellence" (HBR, 85).

Allen identifies another major roadblock to productivity: people "don't write it down" when they agree to do something, causing commitments to go "into a black hole." When people fail to determine precisely what their commitment is or what they "want to achieve," they are not being productive. Allen's prescription is simple — make lists and write things down. "Your head is for having ideas, not holding them," he adds. Externalizing thoughts from the mind is a "huge step," Allen states (HBR, 85).

Counterproductive Behaviors Defined

Counterproductive behaviors are those that work against the interests the organization is designed to fulfill. An article in The International Journal of Human Resource Management identifies several specific examples of counterproductive work behavior (CWB): (a) bullying or swearing at colleagues; (b) playing mean-spirited pranks; (c) falsifying expense reports; (d) sabotaging others' work; and (e) theft (Chang, 1273). The most obvious result of such behaviors is that they reduce the overall effectiveness of the organization and harm employees who are serious, well-behaved individuals.

The authors refer to CWB as "deviance," "antisocial," "unruliness," and "destructive and hazardous behaviors," noting that they can become "pervasive and costly" (Chang, 1273). The authors in this article use the terms deviance, antisocial behavior, and unruliness interchangeably to describe conduct that is both destructive and hazardous to the workplace.

Conclusion

The idea that companies can determine at the time of hiring whether or not a particular job candidate will become a counterproductive force in the workplace is not really workable — although it would be ideal to know in advance if an individual has the potential to be counterproductive. However, there are things that organizations can and should do, including implementing distributive justice and interactional justice, and giving employees rest periods after 90-minute intervals of intense effort, to reduce counterproductive behaviors.