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Box of tricks
There's an old saying in the workplace that you can help yourself to a ballpoint pen but you should never take a boxful.
Most people have an instinctive understanding of what that means; of what is and what is not acceptable behavior. They do know that taking one very cheap pen because you've mislaid your own is neither here nor there, but going home with the box constitutes theft. As such, it becomes a clear case of workplace deviance, something to be seen in same light as damaging the company's property, arriving late at work, taking unauthorized breaks, neglecting superiors' instructions or publicly embarrassing superiors.
When anti-social attitudes manifest in sabotaging equipment and stealing and wasting resources, it is fair to say that we are talking about organizational deviance. Here, perpetrators are specifically trying to damage the organization for which they work and this is perhaps more likely to arise when employees experience lack of support from their leaders or, worse still, abuse. When these workers feel disappointed because the organization and its leaders have (in their opinion) let them down, they are more likely to engage in what is referred to as psychological contract violation.
Previous research has established that employees' perceptions of their relationships with leaders have a considerable impact on their attitudes and behavior, including job satisfaction, desire to leave and job performance. Employees who receive support, trust and other benefits from leaders develop an obligation to reciprocate with appropriate work attitudes and performance.
Better work engagement
Recent literature has also suggested that authentic leadership may...