ADMS 2320 Lecture 10: ADMS 2320 Tutorial 10 Notes
30 Apr 2018
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ADMS 2320 Tutorial 10 Notes – What Are the Effects of Incivility and Toxicity in the
Workplace?
Introduction
• What does it mean to be a toxic organization?
• The inset What Does a Toxic Organization Look Like?
• The late professor Peter Frost of the Sauder School of Business at the University of
British Columbia noted that there will always be pain in organizations, but that
sometimes it becomes so intense or prolonged that conditions within the organization
begin to break down.
• In other words, the situation becomes toxic.
• This is not dissimilar to what the liver or kidneys do when toxins become too intense in a
human body.
• What causes organizations to be toxic?
• Like Pfeffer, Frost and Robinson identify a number of factors.
• Downsizing and organizational change are two main factors, particularly in recent years.
• Sometimes organizations experience unexpected events—such as the sudden death of a
key manager, an unwise move by senior management, strong competition from a start-
up company—that lead to toxicity.
• Other organizations are toxic throughout their system due to policies and practices that
create distress.
• Such factors as unreasonable stretch goals or performance targets, or unrelenting
internal competition, can create toxicity.
• There are also toxic managers who lead through insensitivity, vindictiveness, and failure
to take responsibility, or they are control freaks or are unethical.
• In general, researchers have found that the effects of workplace anger are sometimes
subtle
• A hostile work environment and the tendency to do only enough work to get by.
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