When employees feel that the management is unfair, they in most cases feel angry and outraged and they may desire for retribution. Employees end up engaging in theft or sabotage as a way of correcting acts of injustices or unfairness (Nauert, 2011). This in the perspective of the employee is justice to the company.
I have seen such a behavior when in the course of my career. I once used to work in a local beverage company. I was stationed in the production department where we used to monitor the automated system. However, the whole company was very corrupt. The supervisors for one were very harsh given that they had good relations with the upper management. In addition, promotions were based on who know who. Those related to those in management was quickly promoted while some of the others like me remained in production or distribution for years. This was very unfair because ones capability or productivity was not considered anywhere.
People are different and thus not all of us handled this problem the same way (Greenberg, 2011). Some people resigned while others complained to the management on regular basis. However, on day, two my workmates I the production department decided to take action. They put washing powder in the mixing tank of the beverages and handled their resignation letters immediately. 0production went on as usual until the evening when the quality control department reported the problem. They had noticed that something else was in the beverages.
As extreme as it was, the company lost millions of dollars as the drinks were all a waste. The blame went back to the supervisor who could not manage to pay the losses and got fired. However, the whole company felt the losses.
Reference
Greenberg, J. (2011). Organizational justice: The dynamics of fairness in the workplace.
Nauert, R. (2011). Disengaged Workers More Inclined to Sabotage Others | Psych Central News. Psych Central News. Retrieved 27 June 2016, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/10/07/disengaged-workers-more-inclined-to-sabotage-others/30142.html
Skarlicki, D. P., & Folger, R. (1997). Retaliation in the workplace: The roles of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice. Journal of applied Psychology, 82(3), 434.
Workplace rivalry and sabotage is common in workplaces. Naturally, human beings want to be treated fairly. Managers need to manage any perceived fairness in decision making to ensure that there is a happy, satisfied and productive workforce. There are many reasons why employees may experience unfairness in the workplace (Skarlicki & Folger, 1997). When managing other human beings, motivation, human perception and attitudes are very significant. Fairness is a common phenomenon and most managers give it little thought.
If a workers feels that his/her voice is not being taken seriously, alienation kicks in. when workers are being overworked or treated unfairly, they may feel the need to compensate for the this unfairness in several ways. The more a worker feels overworked or unfairly treated, the more the sabotage will be. Another cause of sabotage in companies is envy. When a workers feels outside the decision making process, it becomes easier to justify any sabotage. Thus alienation makes it easier to cause sabotage and also to justify (Skarlicki & Folger, 1997).
For those managers I know, they rarely pat attention to perceived fairness. Managers are always trying to protect their power structures. They thus fail to include the employees in the decision making process to make sure that they feel powerful. In addition, it is common for managers to have favorites in the workplace. Again, when it comes to promotions, not all employees can be promoted and it is common for employees to view the promotion criteria as unfair. Perceived unfairness does not gain much interest in the workplace since the managers consider it perceived and not real. Perceived things do play well in the workplaces since they are viewed as envious and downplayed.
Reference
Skarlicki, D. P., & Folger, R. (1997). Retaliation in the workplace: The roles of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice. Journal of applied Psychology, 82(3), 434.
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