Remember other destructive personalities can use some of their methods
“To understand the success of the corporate psychopath, we must realize that textbook-perfect bureaucracies rarely exist and in modern time seldom survive. Instead, organizational structures, processes, and culture are always evolving and developing toward an ideal whose picture is, at best unclear and forever changing. This constant change and uncertainty causes stress for most employees and managers, but opens the door for the psychopath…
During a long-terms consulting assignment, many years ago, Babiak had the experience of working with a psychopath without knowing it at the time.
A project team that was experiencing a decline in its overall productivity and a significant increase in conflict asked me to work with them. Some team members had even asked for a transfer to other projects, despite the prestige associated with working on this high-performing team…
Many members of the team felt that one of its members was the primary cause of its problems, but were afraid to come forward. They reported to me, privately, that this individual circumvented team processes and procedures, caused conflict, acted rudely in meetings, and did more to derail progress than to promote it. He often showed up late to meetings, and when he finally would arrive, he had not completed the tasks assigned to him, routinely blaming others for his failures. Some suggested that he bullied, even threatened, team members who did not agree with him. At every turn, he undercut the leader’s role on the team, who also happened to be his boss.
Some other members of the team felt differently though. They told me that he was a solid performer whose ideas were both creative and innovative. This group of supporters said that he was a true leader and contributed toward the team’s objectives. A few members of the management committee even commented that they thought this person had the potential for promotion into a management position someday…
The behaviors of this individual and the different reactions of the various team members-the split between supporters and detractors-suggested that something more than mere office politics and internal personal conflict was going on behind the scenes…
A subsequent review of this person’s record by the personnel department revealed that he had lied on his resume and did not have the essential experience or education that he claimed to have. The security department also discovered that he routinely took home company supplies of significant monetary value for personal use; the auditing department also found several suspicious inconsistencies in his expense account.. The division between the supporters’ view and the detractors’ view became even wider as more and more information was forthcoming.
Local management reviewed much of this information, but, unfortunately, before it could take an action, senior management reorganized the department involved, and disbanded the team. The team leader moved to another location and the individual who was at the center of the controversy received a promotion-into his boss’ job-and a leadership role in the department. His questionable behaviors were swept under the rug.” The individual was looked at with Hare’s checklist for psychopathy scored, “This profile indicated that he was grandiose, manipulative, deceptive, and lacking in empathy and concern for others, but also that he was less impulsive or overtly antisocial than most psychopaths. He had not broken the law or seriously victimized others, at least as far we knew at the time. #SnakeInSuits #workplaceculture #HR #Management #workplacebullying
