organizational cynicism

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Cynicism is on the rise in American business which increasingly hurts their competitiveness and ability to accommodate today's needed organizational change.

Organizational psychologist and consultant, Philip H. Mirvis, and Professor Donald L. Kanter found, in their national survey of 649 workers, that one bold theme prevailed:

"self-interest and opportunism mark today's wised-up employee»»

Cynicism Is On the Rise

They classified 43% of these workers as being cynical and

40% of the managers and supervisors as being cynical.

In a later study they concluded that more workers were cynical, rising from 43% to 48% .

They found that 65% of American workers agree that people will lie if they'll gain from it , 41% of the population doubts the truth of what management tells them, and 49% say that management will take advantage of them, given a chance.


Over the past 20 years, confidence in business has fallen

from 70% to 15%, and ratings of management competence and trust have fallen almost as among workers in the same period .

"It has now reached the point where cynicism is chic and loyalty to the company is for saps and suckers."


The dictionary (Merriam-Webster, 1993, p. 323) defines a

cynic as ;

" one who believes that human conduct is motivated wholly by self-interest."

"agree that lying, putting on a false face, and taking advantage of others are fundamental to human character and people are just out for themselves and that such cynical attitudes about life are paralleled in attitudes about work

Definition of Cynic

Organizational cynicism is a negative attitude toward one's

employing organization, comprising three dimensions:

(1) a belief that the organization lacks integrity;

(2) negative affect toward the organization;

(3) tendencies to disparaging and critical behaviors towardthe organization that are consistent with these beliefs andaffect.

Organizational Cynicism

Organizational cynics believe that;

The practices of their organizations betray a lack of such principles as fairness, honesty, and sincerity(samimiyet)

choices of organizational direction are based on self interest

people are inconsistent and unreliable in their behavior.

Beliefs(Bilişsel)

Cynics

may feel contempt(hor görme)for and anger toward their organization.

may also experience distress, disgust, and even shame when they think about their organization.

are associated with a variety of negative emotions.

Affect(Duygusal)

Explicit statements about the lack of honesty, sincerity on

the part of the organization.

use sarcastic humor to express cynical attitudes.

tend to make pessimistic predictions about the future courseof action in the organization.

tendencies toward certain types of nonverbal behavior may be used to convey cynical attitudes. ("knowing" looks androlling eyes)

Behavior(Davranışsal)

Personality or trait cynicism.

the employee has an innate(doğuştan) tendency towards cynicism which reflects a generally negative perception of human behaviour where there is a mistrust of others.

Types of Organizational Cynicism

Management Cynicism:

Employees become very jaded(yorgun,bıkkın) in their perceptions of the intent of management towards themselves.

Arises out of a sense of a violation of an informal "contract" between employee and employer, for instance, when the employee perceives that he or she is being exploited or dealt with unfairly.


Change Cynicism:

This happens when employees get very jaded and cynical about failed change efforts in the past.

They become pessimistic about the success of future change effort and come to believe that the change efforts are not rooted in common sense, logic, nor proper planning, and may be merely "change for the sake of change"


Peer Cynicism:

This type of cynicism is related to one’s own work team.

Employees who are cynical in this way tend to be suspicious of the motives of others in their work team, and are pessimistic about the team’s ability to be successful.


Customer/Client Cynicism:

Another type of organizational cynicism is a sense of depersonalization and distancing that some employees feel towards the consumers of service.

The employees affected by this type of cynicism blame the consumers for their problems, convey derogatory(aşağılayıcı) terms to label clients, and withdraw in order to minimize contact with consumers.

Workers in the human services tend to be more subject to this type of cynicism and it is one of the primary symptoms of employee "burnout".


Expectancy Theory (Beklenti Kuramı)(örgütsel değişim)

Attribution Theory (Yükleme Kuramı)(nedensel atıflar)

Attitude Theory (Tutum Kuramı)(bilinç,duygu,davranış)

Social Exchange Theory (Sosyal Değişim Kuramı)(sosyal değişim ihlaline verilen tepki)

Theoretical Foundations of the Study of Organizational Cynicism

Higher income and education levels are associated with a

wider extent of employment choices and freedom, and less cynicism

Young, poor, undereducated, minority and blue-collar workers generally have higher levels of cynicism than older, less poor, more educated, Caucasian, white-collar workers, particularly those in the healing and teaching professions

Men are perceived more frequently as being cynical than women

Middle-aged, or boomers, are not as cynical as younger people

Profit-making organizations had higher levels of cynicism

The Demographics of Cynicism

unmet or broken promises leading to perceptions of psychological contract breach

organizational politics in which power play and self-serving behavior may go at the expense of uprightness

the feeling of being disregarded by the organization and not being treated with respect and dignity

the absence of meaning in work

Antecedents of organizationalcynicism-1

a lack of sincere participation in decision making processes

and the absence of genuine support by management

the deficient quality of leader-member exchange

a history of failed change attempts

managerial incompetence in combination with lofty salaries

high executive compensation, restructurings, downsizings and layoffs

Antecedents of organizationalcynicism -2

decrease in organizational commitment,motivation and job

satisfaction

an increase in suspicion, distrust and contempt of the organization

psychological disengagement and detachment

decrease in self-esteem (öz değerlilik)

undermining of the authority of leaders and their institutions

alienation (yabancılaşma)

Consequences of organizationalcynicism

20

MeasurementÖrgütsel Sinisizm (Tesluk,1995; Wanous ,2000; Wilkerson, 2002)

1 Bu kurumda işlerin daha iyi olması için sarf edilen çabalar başarıya ulaşır

Any efforts to make things better around here are likely to succeed

2 Kurum yönetimi işimizle ilgili değişim ve gelişim programlarını yürütmekte başarılıdır

Company management is good at running improvement programs or changing things in our business

3 Genel olarak, bu kurumda çalışmanın olumlu sonuçlarının olumsuz sonuçlarından fazla olacağına inanıyorum.

Overall, I expect more success than disappointment in working with this company

4 Çalıştığım kurum, çalışanlarıyla ilişkisinde üstüne düşen görevleri adil bir şekilde yerine getirir

My company pulls its fair share of the weight in its relationship with its employees

5

Kurumda yaşanan problemleri çözmek için yönetime sunduğumuz öneriler sonucunda bir değişim gerçekleşmez.

Suggestions on how to solve problems around here won’t produce much real change

6 Kurum yönetimi çalışanlarının refahından çok kendi ihtiyaç ve hedeflerini önemser

Company management is more interested in its goals and needs than in its employees’ welfare

7

Kurumdaki insanların olumsuz tutumlarından dolayı gelecekle ilgili umutlu olmak zordur.

It is hard to be hopeful about the future because people at (agency X) have such bad attitudes.

8 Kurum dışındaki arkadaşlarıma, işte olup bitenler konusunda yakınırım.

I complain about how things happen at (agency X) to friends outside the organization

9

Çalıştığım kurumdan ve çalışanlarından bahsedildiğinde, birlikte çalıştığım kişilerle “anlamlı” bir şekilde bakışırız

I exchange “knowing” glances with my co-workers.

Close coworkers’badmouthing

Focal employeeorganizationalcynicism

Focal employeebadmouthing

Focal employeeorganizationalcitizenshipbehavior

• Workplace social influences predict organizational cynicism, which, in turn, will lead to greater badmouthing and less OCB.

Close coworkers’badmouthing




Social Influences

• Social information processing (SIP) theory (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978) provides a basis for predicting social influences on employee cynicism

A central tenet of SIP

attitudes are constructed, by employees processing information from the social environment of work

• Workplace social information ,such as coworkers’ statements about the organization,shapes how individuals think about and act toward theorganization

• Coworkers with whom the employee has a positiverelationship and a relatively high amount of interpersonal contact (close coworkers) are more likely to provide such information (Meyer, 1994; Pollock, Whitbred, & Contractor, 2000).

• Badmouthing should reinforce the connection between that organizational feature and a negative, disdainful evaluation of it (Zalesny & Ford, 1990).

Hypothesis 1. Close coworkers’ badmouthing will be positively associated with focal employees’ organizational cynicism.

• Coworkers’ badmouthing behavior not only tells the employee what to think and feel, it tells the employee what to do.

• Cynicism arising out of exposure to coworker badmouthing of the organization is an attitude that is likely to lead to greater criticism of theorganization

Hypothesis 2. Focal employees’ organizational cynicism will be positively related to focal employee’s badmouthing behavior.

• In expectancy theory terms, if the cynical employee has come to expect frustration and disappointment from the organization, the instrumentality of OCB must be very low

Hypothesis 3. Focal employees’ organizational cynicism will be negatively related to focal employees’ organizational citizenshipbehavior.

METHOD

• Research data are from a questionnaire-based collection involving three data sources.

TIME 1Collecting badmouthing behavior data from close

coworkers

TIME 2(Two weeks later)

attitude (organizational cynicism)and behavior (badmouthing) data

were collected from focal

employees.

Supervisor ratings of OCB data

SAMPLE

• 105 Participants (mostly part-time MBA students)

• These full- and part-time employees were an average of 26.8 years old

• mostly male(54%)

• mostly nonmanagerial (78%),

• mostly employed full-time (52%),

• mostly White (83% ), and

• average of 2.7 years’ organizational tenure

• 1.9 years’ job tenure

MEASURES

Organizationalcitizenshipbehavior

Organizationalcynicism

20-item OCB ScaleNiehoff and Moorman (1993).

7 -item organizational cynicismmeasure.

Badmouthing.

formed the badmouthing measure for both close coworkers and the focal employee with the average score of two items created for thisstudy

Control variablesTENURE

SEX

RESULTS

• Close coworkers’ badmouthing is positivelyassociated with focal employees’ organizational cynicism.

H1SUPPORTED!

• Focal employees’ organizational cynicism is positively related to focal employee’s badmouthing behavior.

H2SUPPORTED!

• Focal employees’ organizational cynicism isn’t negatively related to focal employees’ organizational citizenship behavior.

H3NOT

SUPPORTED!

MODEL

Closecoworkers’

badmouthing




Sex

Tenure

-.04

.05

.71**

-.02

.81**.04

-.18Partialmediation

DISCUSSION

• The badmouthing behavior of close coworkers influences focal employees’ organizational cynicism and badmouthing behaviors

a result of SocialInformation

Processing(SIP)

• They did not find a significant negative relationship between focal employee organizational cynicism and OCB.

While OCB is traditionally considered from the perspective of acting unselfishly, this may not always be the case (Bolino, 1999)

OCB-OC RELATİONSHİP

employees may engage in OCB as animpression-management technique in an attempt to influence the imageothers have of them

individual differences may influence the relationship betweenorganizational cynicism and OCB.

the motive to receive rewards or to avoid punishment mayalso be the concept of accountability.

FUTURE RESEARCH

FUTURERESEARCH

Workplace climate

Other types of deviantbehaviors

individual motives may influence the relationshipbetween organizational cynicism and OCB.

individual, organizational, and social factors associated with organizational cynicism.

Do Leaders Reap What They Sow? Leader and Employee Outcomes of

LeaderOrganizational Cynicism about

Change(2009)

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TransformationalLeader Behavior

(TLB)

LEADER CYNICISM ABOUT

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE(CAOC)

Employee CAOC

EmployeeCommitment

Leader OCB

LeaderPerformance

Cynicism about organizational change(CAOC)

• A specific form of organizational cynicismknown as cynicism about organizational change (CAOC) has been proffered

• CAOC is an attitude conceptually related to, but more narrowly defined than general organizational cynicism.

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OrganizationalCynicism

Cynicism AboutOrganizational

Change(CAOC)

as a broad feeling that one's organization lacks integrity and generalizes to multiple

objects

a more targeted form of cynicism regarding

organizational change and is anticipatory in nature

• CAOC entails an individual's pessimism aboutfuture change and contempt for thoseresponsible for previously failed change.

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CAOC is shaped by

organizationalexperiences

susceptible toexternal factors

negative affectivity

• Wanous (2000) found that leaders highly cynical about change were less likely to demonstrate motivation to engage in change-oriented behaviors.

• Lack of participation or reduction of effort is likely to be perceived by a leader's superior as constituting poor performance.

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• Leaders with high CAOC will be less likely to be perceived as strong performers by their direct superiors.

• Hypothesis 1. Leader CAOC is negatively associated with leader performance.

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• Leaders with high CAOC will be less likely to perform OCB primarily because they believe that the organization has, and will continue to act ineffectively.

• Hypothesis 2. Leader CAOC is negatively associated with leader OCB.

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• Leader CAOC is likely to raise employee doubt about an organization's credibility and potency, reducing an employee's interest in being involved with the organization

• Hypothesis 3. Leader CAOC is negatively associated with employee organizational commitment.

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• Leaders who believe that the organization has a an experience of making promises it does not keep are quite likely to induce similar beliefs among their followers (Davis & Gardner, 2004;Wanous et al., 2000)

• Hypothesis 4. Leader CAOC is positively associated with employee CAOC.

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The mediating role of transformational leader behavior

• No other leader behavior represents attempts to influence change than transformational leader behavior (TLB).

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TLB

most active/effective

form of leadership

engaged with followers

motivating followers

• TLB is to “transform” individual employees by making them more receptive to organizational change.

• Leaders who are cynical about change may be less likely to engage in change-oriented leader behaviors like TLB

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• Leaders with decreased CAOC would be more likely to perform TLB, thereby transmitting their more optimistic attitude about change through these change-oriented leader behaviors

• Hypothesis 5. Leader TLB mediates the relationships between leader CAOC and leader outcomes (performance and OCB) and employee outcomes (organizational commitment and employee CAOC).

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METHODS

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Participants and procedure

• Participants were 106 managers (80% of the total managers) or “focal leaders” occupying all levels of management (i.e., firstline supervisors to corporate officers)

• These focal leaders were primarily male (88%), with a mean age of 40.03 mean organizational tenure of 9.39 years and mean of 14.66 years of education

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• Employees reporting to these focal leaders had a mean age 37.23 , education of 12.62 years , organization tenure of 5.56 years, and were primarily male (82%).

• Data were drawn from three sources: employees, focal leaders, and direct supervisors of the focal leaders.

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5.2. Measures

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Leader cynicism about

organizational change

Transformationalleader behavior

CAOC Scale Wanous (2000).

TLB ScalePodsakoff

(1996)

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Leader performanceand OCB

Employee organizational commitment

OCB Alturism ScalePodsakoff and MacKenzie(1989)

commitment scale Allen and Meyer (1990).

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Control variables

a focal leader's organizational

tenure

A focal leader’sorganizational level

A focal leader’slevel of education

RESULTS

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• Leader CAOC and TLB were also significantly and inversely related

• Tenure displayed no significant relationship with leader CAOC and TLB

• Organizational level was associated with CAOC (-.32)

• Level of education was related to both TLB and CAOC.

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.24 -.26

• Leader CAOC is negatively associated with leader performance (-.22)

• Leader CAOC is negatively associated with leader OCB.(-.34)

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H1

Supported

H2

Supported

• Leader CAOC is negatively associated with employee organizational commitment (-.37)

• Leader CAOC is positively associated with employee CAOC (.35)

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H3

Supported

H4

Supported

• Leader TLB mediates the relationships between leader CAOC and leader outcomes (performance and OCB) and employee outcomes (organizational commitment and employee CAOC).

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H5

Supported

MODEL

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TransformationalLeader Behavior

(TLB)

LEADER CYNICISM ABOUT

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE(CAOC)

Employee CAOC

EmployeeCommitment

Leader OCB

LeaderPerformance

fully mediate

-.27

.22

.31

.57

-.51

DISCUSSION

30.3.2015 69

FUTURE RESEARCH

• Contextual variables that could influence relationships between CAOC and TLB and outcomes

• Isolating contextual elements (e.g., pressure to perform TLB, rewards for TLB, etc.) that may influence leader performance of TLB, despite high levels of CAOC would be fruitful

• The moderating influence of a leader's boss and peers on the performance of CAOC

• Examine potential positive consequences of leader CAOC.

• (For example, some research shows cynical employees are less likely to comply with unethical requests (Andersson & Bateman, 1997)

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Antecedents and consequences of employee organizational

cynicism: A meta-analysis(2013)

Theoretical Model

Organizational cynicism and organizational trust

individuals' levels of trust in the organization may be influenced by their dispositional tendency to trust others and by situational characteristics that conveythe trustworthiness of the organization

Expected relationships-1

Organizational cynicism -Positive and negative affectivity

employees predisposed toward positive affect will be more inclined to see and focus on positive aspects in their immediate work environment, engage in positive interactions at work, and have a more positive outlook toward their organization

employees with high negative affectivity tend to engender and experience more negative aspects in their work environment, and are more distrustful of and cynical toward their organization


Organizational cynicism –Trait Cynicism

Individuals with high trait cynicism tend to believe that humans are selfish, dishonest, and take advantage of others whenever possible

They are also pessimistic about what will be gained by being honest, kind-hearted, and complying with rules

Trait cynicism will positively relate to organizational cynicism, such that a general cynical attitude toward others will be likely to also transfer into a cynical attitude toward the organization.


Organizational cynicism –Positive Organizational Support

Employees who feel that their contributions are not valued by the organization (i.e., low POS) are likely to develop feelings of betrayal. Thus, if employees have low POS, then they are likely to have higher levels of cynicism toward the organization.

a negative relationship between POS and organizational cynicism


Organizational cynicism –Organizational Justice

an absence (or low levels) of justice should lead employees to develop a cynical, negative attitude toward the organization.

perceptions of justice will be negatively related toorganizational cynicism.


Organizational cynicism-Psychological Contract Breach

When employees feel that their contracts have been violated, they will likely believe that the organization lacks integrity. The perceived psychological contract violation should also produce negative affective states (e.g., anger, frustration) which can in turn fuel organizational cynicism.

Feelings of contract violation may lead people to become cynical toward their organizations.


Organizational cynicism-Perceived Organizational Politics

Employees who perceive the organization to be acting in its own best interest, rather than in the employees' best interest,will deem the organization as less trustworthy due to its lack of benevolence .

Perceptions of a lack of trustworthiness can subsequently lead employees to develop suspicious and cynical attitudes toward the organization.

Employees' perceptions of organizational politics will be positively related to organizational cynicism.


Organizational cynicism-Psychological Strain(gerginlik)

Employees with high psychological strain may question the efficiency and fairness of the organizational procedures.

They may be irritated by the unspecified job descriptions and perceive that the organization cares little about their family life.

Experienced psychological strain at work will result in negative attitudes toward the organization, leading to feelings of organizational cynicism.


Organizational cynicism-Job Satisfaction

Individuals who have higher levels of cynicism toward the organization will have lower levels of job satisfaction.

This is because their cynical attitude toward the organization can extend to their attitudes to their job through mechanisms such as affect infusion; the negative feeling resulting from cynical attitudes toward the organization may dampen evaluations of their job experiences


Organizational cynicism-Organizational Commitment

Individuals with high organizational cynicism are characterized by a distrustful attitude and negative affect toward the organization.

Because a certain level of trust, or a belief that the organization will have employees' interest in mind, is critical fororganizational members to establish deep emotional bond with the organization, organizational cynicism should be associated with low levels of commitment to the organization.


Organizational cynicism-Intention to Quit

A negative evaluation of their work environment can lead employees to feel dissatisfied about their job and elicit turnover intentions.

Individuals who have overly cynical attitudes toward the organization will, in general, also espouse negative attitudes toward their job (e.g., low job satisfaction) and organization (e.g., low organizational commitment), leading to withdrawal cognition or turnover intentions


Organizational cynicism-Job Performance

cynical employees, given their frustration and disappointment with the organization, may perceive an absence of close connection between performance and reward, or lower levels of instrumentality .

Such low levels of perceived instrumentality can lead to reduced effort and performance.


Results

Future research can examine the potential positive effect of

cynicism on job performance through challenging OCB

Social support (e.g., coworkers' support, supervisory support) and supportive resources (e.g., positive job characteristics, emotional stability, and psychological capital) may interact with organizational cynicism in determiningemployee outcomes

Future Research

MY MODEL

Psikolojik Sözleşme İhlali

(Psychological Contract

Breach)

Örgütsel Sinizm

(Organizational

Cynicism)

Tükenmişlik

(Burnout)

+

+

+

organizational cynicism

Leadership & Management

organizational cynics

employee cynicism

organizational psychologist

organizational change

cynical attitudes

american workers

negative affect

negative attitude