Discusses unethical behaviors in the work place as well as focusing on Internet usage and how it affects your job.

1. Why a lot of employees are a
little unethical at work, and
what to do about it?
Group 3
Susan-Lynn Romeo

2. What is Job Performance?
● Job performance is defined as
“the set of values and employee
behaviors that contribute either
positively or negatively to
organizational goal and
accomplishment.”
● An excellent job performer fulfills
all tasks and citizenship
behaviors that are positive
contributions to the organization.
● Counterproductive behaviors
are things employees do that
have a negative impact on the
company. (Colquitt, LePine,
Wesson, 2011)

3. Unethical Workplace Behavior
We are all guilty of it...
—Cell phone use.
—Internet use for personal matters.
—Extended breaks.
—Chatting with co-workers about social issues rather
than work.
—Personal telephone calls.

4. Facts on Unethical Behavior
● 86.6% of employees had ignored or snubbed someone at work at least once and nearly
16% of employees were actively rude to colleagues sometimes or more frequently.
● Over half of employees (55.3%) had taken things from work at least once.
● 21.4% of employees had ignored HR policies or procedures ranging from occasionally to
more frequently.
●22.1% of employees had sometimes or more frequently taken a sick day when they were
well enough to work.
● The 31-40 age group for women was a high risk for counterproductive work behaviors
(CWBs), probably because many were under enormous pressure to balance family and
work commitments.
● Men were more likely to infringe against their coworkers, while women were more likely to
infringe against the organization.

5. Personal Internet Usage: Our
Biggest Challenge
● 77% of people check their Facebook
account on work computers.
● 20% of men admit to viewing
pornography at work.
● 4% of men spend 1-2 hours per day
gambling at work.
● 56% of people spend 30 minutes
each day researching office betting
pools.
● Employers lose $6.5 billion due to
fantasy football.
● 77% of brides-to-be admit to using
work hours to plan their wedding.
● 49% of people shop online while at
work during the holiday season.

6. What’s so wrong with unethical
behavior?
It is counter productive.
● This employee behavior
intentionally undermines the
organizational goals or
accomplishments
 It can create conflict,
causing a hostile work
environment
 It can hinder the client
base
 It can cause a decline in
morale
Often times, this behavior can
spread from one individual to
others causing more frequent
patterns in…
 Absenteeism or Lateness
 Significant decrease in
production.
 Bullying and physical or
mental abuse to others
 More frequent, inappropriate
use of company time such
as extensive internet
browsing

7. Impact of Unethical Behaviors for
a Company
● Counterproductive behavior in
the workplace can take many
forms.
● It affects productivity and
profitability of a business and
the overall quality of the
workplace culture.
● Inability to manage activities.
● Corporate liability.
● Damaged reputation.
● Declining customer and
employee base.
● Quick turnover of employees.
These are all complications an
organization may face as a result of
unethical behaviors.

8. Your Role as a Manager
● Create ethical and moral value
statements.
● Discuss ethics to the employees
during reviews.
● Reinforce good ethical behavior.
● Retain good ethical employees.
● Make ethics a priority when hiring.
● Make yourself present and visible.

9. Give a nudge.
As Dan has explained in his TED talk
● Some studies have shown that having
employees sign an honesty statement
compelled them to adhere to being
significantly more honest compared to the
employees that did not sign the statement.
● Reinforce Specific Leadership Behaviors to
Encourage Ethical Behavior
● Transparency, communication, and
accountability around ethical behaviors
are a few of the leadership behaviors
commonly suggested to leaders.
● The behavior scientists can provide
focuses on education and coaching on
these behaviors to enable leaders to
demonstrate critical behaviors, which
demonstrate a focus on ethics and
being ethical.

10. Ways to Tackle Unwanted Internet
Use
● Implement a policy to address Internet use.
● Written employee policies should lay out acceptable and unacceptable
use of Internet.
● Train employees to know what is and is not allowed.
● You cannot expect employees to automatically know what you want
from them. You must tell them.
● Monitor or restrict use of the Internet.
● Programs that block certain social websites are available and can be
put in place on a company’s network.
 Provide opportunities at certain times of the day for employees to use the
internet.

11. Can counter-productivity be
productive?
Stuart Sidle, the Author of the Academy of Management Perspectives,
discussed a study performed involving individuals in the workplace facing
unjust behavior and how it could be transposed as a benefit
 There were two forms of CWBs that were focused on
 Production Deviance
 Withdrawal
 With both forms of CWB, individuals were able to escape the unpleasant
environment and decrease their mental exhaustion (preventing burn out)

12. Productivity from
Counter-productivity
Production Deviance (Sidle)
 performing tasks in a manner that is inappropriate
whether or incorrect or at a slow pace
 Individuals who participated in this behavior were seen to
be less exhausted emotionally
 This lessened the hostility in regard to the unjust
environment to an extent
Withdrawal (Sidle)
 avoiding work by taking excessive breaks, arriving late,
or leaving early
 Those who participated in these behaviors were seen to
escape unjust environments and “replenish their
emotional resources” more easily.

13. Wrapping up
Some counterproductive behaviors can serve as
employee coping mechanisms in a stressful work
environment by way of withdraw.
Managers should try to understand why these
behaviors are occurring and address the issues that
arise.
Managers would be wise to remember that their
employees are human beings with needs that may be
able to be addressed by a 5 minute time out at work,
rather than taking a day off of work to deal with these
issues.

14. Bibliography
● Brimecombe, M. (n.d.). How to Reduce Counterproductive Employee
Behaviors - Athletic Business. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from
http://www.athleticbusiness.com/staffing/how-to-reduce-
counterproductive-employee-behaviors.html
● CyberLoaf, CyberSlack, GoldBrick… Workplace Realities: The Impact of
Personal Internet Usage at Work…. (2014). Retrieved April 25, 2016, from
http://bizshifts-trends.com/2014/11/05/cyberloafing-cyberslacking-
goldbricking-modern-workplace-phenomenon-impact-personal-internet-
usage-workplace/
● Colquitt, J., LePine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2011). Organizational
behavior: Improving performance and commitment in the workplace. New
York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
● Hartley, D. (2009, August). Three Ways to Stop Employees From Misusing
the Internet at Work. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from
http://www.talentmgt.com/articles/three_ways_to_stop_employees_from_
misusing_the_internet_at_work_

15. Continued…
● Rodriguez, M. (2015). The 5 Most Common Unethical Workplace
Behaviors – Behavioral... Retrieved April 25, 2016, from
http://www.bsci21.org/the-5-most-common-unethical-workplace-behaviors/
● Scuderi, R. (2012). Top Employee Time-Wasters and How to Prevent
Them. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-
business/openforum/articles/top-employee-time-wasters-and-how-to-
prevent-them/
● Sidle, S. D.. (2010). Counterproductive Work Behavior: Can It Sometimes
Be Good to Be Bad?. Academy of Management Perspectives, 24(3), 101–
103. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/29764979
 TEDEducation. (2013). Our buggy moral code - Dan Ariely. Retrieved April
27, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gomg-
PrQUTk#action=share