When a Leader Tolerates Bad Behavior

Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Citizens of a country need to behave in a “citizen way”. It means they should follow the rules and laws and take responsibility for the governance of the country. That can include voting and doing some community work.

There is such a thing as Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). It’s the same, but it applies to organizational behavior at work. We know that when employees behave citizen-like, many benefits come from it.

• Team and organizational performance increases
• Productivity at the individual, team, and organizational levels goes up
• Overall organizational output and profitability improve
• Customer satisfaction increases
• Job satisfaction is higher
• Overall effectiveness goes up
• Counter-productive work behaviors decrease
• There are lower turnover intentions

What happens when there is “bad behavior?”

• When employees witness bad behavior (rule-breaking, anti-social behavior, etc.) that leaders do not challenge, organizational citizenship behaviors decrease significantly.
• If employees witness leaders acting ethically and making morally based decisions by tackling deviant behavior does not, on its own, increase organizational citizenship behaviors. People think it’s normal to do so.
• Tolerance leads to a high level of moral disengagement by employees. This means people start disengaging cognitively, emotionally, and morally from the situation. This leads to a decline in people’s willingness to engage in organizational citizenship behaviors.

The Importance of Trustworthiness?

Three leadership attributes increase the likelihood of people’s engaging in organizational citizenship behaviours:

• Leadership integrity: this is about ethical behavior. If people see that their leaders adhere to high standards and walk the talk, they will be inclined to follow.
• Leadership assurance: this is about creating meaning, and certainty.
• Leadership pragmatism: this is about competency. If they see that leaders make reasonable decisions, and can argue them, then they are inclined to see them as competent, pragmatic, and sensible.

Tolerating bad behavior or LEAD?

The trustworthiness of leaders can crumble when they allow people to deviate from the norms they hold themselves to. Leadership is as strong as the worst behaviors the people in charge allow.

This is about Leadership Ethics and Decision-making, sometimes abbreviated into LEAD.

Nowadays, leaders find themselves scrutinized by their employees and the larger public. Some people might think that is exaggerated. But one thing you as a leader must consider:

Article inspired by Fuller, L. P. (2022). Employee Perception of Leadership Tolerance of Deviance and the Moral Disengagement from Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 10(03), 356–379.

Photo by Keira Burton: https://www.pexels.com/photo/upset-young-ethnic-female-student-being-bullied-by-diverse-classmates-on-street-6147109/

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