According to HR Zone, workplace deviance can be defined as the act of deliberately and maliciously attempting to sabotage an organziation by creating problems within the workspace of which they are employed in. There are two types of workplace deviance: interpersonal deviance and organzational deviance. Interpersonal deviance involves the attempt to sabotage via activities such as lying, gossiping, and accusing someone else of blame. Organization deviance, on the other hand, involves being late and theft of work equipment. With the rise of cyber technology, workplace deviance has been given many ways to thrive due to the ability of workplace deviance to occur through the Internet and not just physically, making it more difficult to detect and control. Things like malicious software, unauthorized access, and theft of data enable the spread of workplace deviance behaviors which can lead to significant breaches in security and privacy. This could result in major losses and cause potential harm to the company. For instance, an employee who has been terminated from a job could attempt to get revenge on the company by shutting down the security systems that protect the company from cyber attacks, leaving the company very vulnerable to hackers who want to steal private information or anyone that seeks to ruin the company and damage its reputation. The employee could also potentially steal the company’s data or sensitive information and sell it to other companies that are considered rivals. These behaviors could cause serious harm to a company or organization, and the wrongful employee could get away with such behaviors more easily. As a result of cyber technology, it has become much easier for workplace deviance to occur and for workplace deviance behaviors to persist as it can now span across the cyberspace and occur at any location rather than face to face.
HR Zone. 2024. Retrieved from https://hrzone.com/glossary/what-is-workplace-deviance/