Workplace deviance has always been a part of the corporate structure. When dealing with human beings that possess different personalities and a hierarchal workplace structure, where someone is telling someone else why, what, where, when, and how to do things to obtain a corporate goal for monetary compensation, a level of deviance can occur over time. The typical expectation of a workplace structure is that you are paid for eight hours of work with 30 minutes to an hour break and for the eight hours you are supposed to have set tasks to complete and nothing else. When a person first starts employment, the time taken to complete tasks may take the entire workday, but over time as a person’s experience and expertise mature, so will their efficiency in completing their work faster. If the person is not given more work to fill the idle time, that is where deviant practices have the opportunity to manifest.

Workplace deviance, according to Charlier et al., can occur in three categories: Intrapersonal, Individual/Interpersonal, and Organizational. In the years before the mass availability of technology, Intrapersonal deviance could be considered reading a personal magazine while on the job and not on break. Individual/Interpersonal deviance could be considered passing notes between co-workers to talk about another co-worker or using the office phone in the same way. Organizational deviance could be considered being a disgruntled employee and using work time to interview and find another job with a competing company.

When technology comes into play, the same actions would be referred to as cyberdeviance. With smartphones accessible to everyone and work primarily conducted on computers, it makes being able to conduct cyberdeviancy much easier and more frequent. Instead of a magazine for Intrapersonal, which is also called cyberloafing when dealing with technology, using any of the social media platforms or shopping on amazon during work is an example. For Individual/Interpersonal, using Microsoft Teams, company email, or even sending a text to gossip about coworkers is an example. For organizational, using your smartphone to take pictures of company documents to give to a rival company for a job opportunity is an example.

Some deviance, as in Interpersonal/Cyberloafing, can be a positive in the workplace as long as the work assigned gets done, but any deviance that causes harm to an individual or organization should not occur. Deviance will occur to some degree in all workplaces, but it is up to the organization and the employees to find a balance between productivity and leisure to create a positive work environment.

Source:

Charlier, S., Giumetti, G., Reeves, C., & Greco, L. (2017). Workplace Cyberdeviance. In The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of the Internet at Work (pp. 131-156). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.