Science calls this counter-productive or antisocial behaviour, which can be seen as parasitism, interpersonal aggression, boastfulness, or the misuse of resources. In more serious cases, you would find cases of stealing or sabotage, for instance - in less serious cases lying, spending restricted effort, absenteeism or gossiping. It is proven that having co-workers around who show this type of behaviour causes dissatisfaction and imbalances among the colleagues.
All managers should be aware of this! Studies have revealed that people who are affected by deviant work place behaviour show higher turnover rates, stress-related problems, and lower productivity. Antisocial behaviour, which harms the well-being within the team, should be remedied as soon as it has been spotted.
The first question to ask is, 'why is someone acting in this way?' In order to counter toxicity effectively, you need to be able to single out the possible reasons for it. While evaluating and searching for the possible causes, it should be noted that there is never only one reason for antisocial behaviour. Both circumstances in the organization and the team, and their own personal situation should be taken into consideration.
For instance, possible problematic organizational circumstances can be an overly competitive environment, the difficulty of the tasks, or the flexibility of policies. On the individual level of the respective antisocial person the emotional stability, the self-esteem, but also the values and many other aspects can have an impact.
It must be emphasised that it is important not to isolate antisocial team members - this would only encourage them. Furthermore, monitoring and sanctions can be useful to reduce cases of theft and cheating, but this is never the only solution. When the reasons are clear, effective solutions can be found - the well-being of the team will quickly rise again!
By: Dorothea Schweinefuß