With the rise of cyber technology and “bring your own device” to work policies, there are more opportunities for workplace deviance than ever before. Workplace deviance is traditionally defined as purposeful attempts to sabotage an organization. Employees will create problems within the organization, typically interpersonal but not always, to disrupt the workplace. It could be likened to bullying in school, where bullies seek to disrupt the academic environment of a student or group of students through actions such as intimidation, harassment, and exclusion. In the workplace, deviance includes aggression towards employees, unproductive behavior, and misusing company property.

Much like school bullying as well, cyber technology has created a new avenue for workplace deviance to occur. Creating a hostile work environment no longer has to happen exclusively at work. In interpersonal workplace deviance, harassment and intimidation can occur outside of the workplace. With technology, this can happen over email, text messages, or social media. Such behavior creates a negative environment that can lead to high turnover and lack of accountability on behalf of those targeting specific employees. Cyber technology makes the game of company politics even more difficult, as well.

Some forms of workplace deviance are not as obviously aggressive or personal, but still harm the company. Misuse of company property creates a cybersecurity risk as well, should an employee decide to use an organization-owned device to log into and use personal accounts. Unproductive behavior has always been a concern, but as more people bring their personal devices into the workplace, it becomes a major problem. It could be argued that employees who do these behaviors don’t do them out of maliciousness and instead do them out of habit or ignorance. However, they pose the same risk and are malicious regardless. Further, some employees will use these tactics to sabotage an organization.