Who Are The Difficult Employees? Psychopathological Attributions Of Their Co-workers

Abstract

On a given workday, over 700 workers are attacked, 43,800 employees are harassed and 16,400 are threatened (Hynes, 2001). Yet the literature focuses upon environmental causes; none attempt to identify personal characteristics of the uncivil, deviant or maladaptive employee. This study helps fill this void by exploring the personality correlates of uncivil employee behavior. These employees violate mutual norms of respect, negatively affect organizational performance, and are thus the prototypical difficult employee. Utilizing a unique psycho-pathological approach, the DSM-IV (Diagnostic Statistical Manual) was used as the basis for defining and assessing the perceived personality correlates of these employees’ behaviors. Results suggest that narcissistic traits are the modal descriptors for the Difficult Employee, regardless of hierarchical role (boss, peer, subordinate). Implications are discussed with suggestions for future research.