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Working with monsters: counting the costs of workplace psychopaths and other toxic employees
Author(s) -
Michalak Rebecca T.,
Ashkanasy Neal M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
accounting and finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.645
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-629X
pISSN - 0810-5391
DOI - 10.1111/acfi.12369
Subject(s) - monster , productivity , corporate governance , position (finance) , business , action (physics) , indirect costs , anxiety , public relations , psychology , accounting , economics , finance , political science , psychiatry , economic growth , physics , quantum mechanics
We explore the role of ‘Workplace Monsters’ in the global burden of disease, including the $US1.15 trillion annual cost of depressive and anxiety disorders. We propose the productivity drain created by these individuals is a wicked problem, integrating several disciplines to position workplace monsters as significant corporate governance issues for organisations. Our discussion covers Monster prevalence, impacts on fellow workers and estimates of the costs incurred to business. We classify Monsters as ‘appreciating liabilities’ and call for future research to develop means of accounting for their inherent organisational costs in an effort to prompt action to address their destructive impacts.