Many large companies seem to fulfil the psychiatric criteria for psychopaths, according to research by the Turku School of Economics in Finland.
According to the research, organizational behaviour which mirrors the characteristics of psychopaths include:
- Unconcern for others’ feelings (for example, harsh treatment of employees, customers and partners, sudden terminations of employment contracts and business contracts)
- Inability to maintain human relations (transferring business operations from country to country in order to minimize production expenses- constant change of employees and partners)
- Disregard for others’ safety (products and production methods endangering human health and the environment, dangerous working conditions)
- Dishonesty and lying to one’s own advantage (keeping silent about the risks of hazardous products and production methods, covering them up and denying their existence, deceiving employees, customers and partners)
- Inability to feel guilt — when exposed of wrong-doing, asserting innocence (denial), blaming others (projection) and justifying one’s action (rationalisation)
- Inability to observe the laws and norms of society (breaking human rights, labour, contract and environmental laws and agreements when it is economically more beneficial than observing them)
The research will be published in the next edition of Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management.
In our need to turn “business” into a “profession” complete with charts, stats, processes and measures, we have simply forgotten that business is about people. Business IS personal!
Psychopaths have difficulty relating to people and society. Is it any wonder that many businesses are finding it hard to build real connections with their customers and employees?