How has cyber technology created opportunities for workplace deviance?
Workplace deviance is explained as “counterproductive behavior directed towards co-workers” (O’neill, 2011). With the advent of the internet, new opportunities for counterproductivity have been created or updated in the workplace. Workplaces such as office might have the highest opportunity for workplace deviance. However, any sector nowadays can be a place for workplace deviance via the internet, since we are a nation that is saturated by communication technologies.
First, it is essential to distinguish between purposeful deviance and accidental deviance. For example, purposeful deviance is when an employee of medical practice is taking patient information and selling it for profit or using the information to open credit card accounts. An example of accidental deviance is when an employee does not understand an overcomplicated company’s “terms of computer use” and sends an unencrypted e-mail or leaves out a banner. One, famous intentional workplace deviance is about a man named Tim Lloyd that worked for an engineering company as a network administrator. Because of Mr. Lloyd’s aggressiveness and unprofessionalism, Mr. Lloyd was fired. However, Mr. Lloyd had created a destructive code (time bomb) in the event he was ever fired. The time bomb purged all of the company’s products blueprints (no backups), crippling the company to lay off employees and eventually close permanently. Mr. Lloyd was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for the hacking, and the case is one of the most significant employee sabotage cases in U.S. history (Gaudin, 2000).
We are all familiar with deviance, such as stocking, vandalism, fraud, and sabotage, to name a few. Still, the social media has made it easier for workplace stalkers to track victims, to commit sabotage against one’s own company, to vandalize an employer’s website, to commit fraud with data from the workplace. New types of workplace deviance created by the internet include cyberloafing and hacking. Cyber loafing is described as a way for employees to avoid the tasks of work by hopping on the web and doing unrelated work tasks such as social media and shopping (Lowe, 2017). Though it might seem innocent, businesses consider it theft of time and money, and it can bring severe consequences to the employee.
There is also individual workplace deviance and organizational deviance. Above are examples of individual workplace deviance, now we are going to focus on organizational deviance or more commonly known as unethical behavior. An example is organizations exploiting employees by using digital technology to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their operation (Grabosky, 2007). Deviant organizations can turn the office to the modern sweatshop of today and create fear of job loss in their employees if they do not make the quota. Technology is meant to ease our everyday lives; still some use technology for nefarious reasons, and it is up to the rest of us, the majority, to focus attention and call out those who are being deviant in the workplace. Moreover, it is our responsibility not to become deviant at work accidentally or intentionally.
Work Cited
Gaudin, S. (2000). The Omega files: A true story. Retrieved October 9, 2018, from http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/06/27/omega.files.idg/
Grabosky, Peter. “The Internet, Technology, and Organized Crime.” Asian Journal of Criminology 2.2 (2007): 145-61. Web.
Lowe-Calverley, Emily. “How Can Bosses Put a Stop to Workers Idly Browsing Online?” BBC Worklife, BBC, 20 Aug. 2017, www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20170818-how-can-bosses-put-a-stop-to-workers-idly-browsing-online.
O’neill, Thomas A, and Stephanie E Hastings. “Explaining Workplace Deviance Behavior with More than Just the “Big Five”.” Personality and Individual Differences 50.2 (2011): 268-73. Web.