Honesty in the Workplace

1
Honesty in the Workplace

• Organizational Responses to Workplace Dishonesty

2
Workplace Dishonesty

• Theft by Employees
• Employee theft is estimated to cost 50-200
  Billion per year in US
• 1/3 of business failures and bankruptcies are
  due at least in part to theft
• Up to 50 of all employees likely to be involved
  in some employee
• theft, but for many thefts are small and
  isolated
• 10 of employees are thought to commit 95 of
  employee thefts
• Theft is most serious in banking, retail sales
  and other contexts where there is something
  worth stealing on hand
• Employee theft is rarely driven by need, often
  by norms,
• dissatisfaction, disputes with the
  organization, etc.

3
Corporate corruption/ White-collar crime

• Major corporate scandals in recent years,
• including Barings Bank, BCCI,Orange County
• Bankruptcy, Enron, WorldComm, Adelphia, etc
• involve theft, fraud,
• Corporate corruption (e.g., price fixing, unsafe
  or illegal practices) costs 120-200 billion
  per year in U.S.
• Employee theft is 10 times as big a problem as
  street theft, white collar crime is 2-10
  times as big a problem as employee theft
• White-collar crime is especially dangerous
  because of opportunities for large-scale
  thefts - large enough to sink a company
• it is hard to steal 1,000,000 in
• radios, but for an executive, it is a
  click away

4
Workplace Deviance

• Honesty researchers distinguish between property
  deviance (e.g. theft, misuse of property) and
  production deviance (e.g. taking long breaks,
  goldbricking, personal business at work)
• Overwhelming majority of workers engage in some
  production deviance, but the extent of this
  problem is difficult to adequately measure
• Moderate amounts of production deviance are
  sometimes tolerated at work, but
• this depends on organizational level
• Many forms of property deviance exist (theft,
  sabotage, use of company property for personal
  purposes), but all forms seem to share a common
  thread - i.e., property deviance is strongly
  related to attitudes toward the organization and
  to workgroup norms

5
Substance Abuse

• Up to 10 of U.S. workforce uses illicit
  substances (marijuana, cocaine) at work or
• in settings where work might be affected
• Use of alcohol in or around work settings is much
  more common
• 20-100 billion annual losses in US attributed
  to substance abuse
• However, use of legal substances may cause more
  serious problems than abuse of alcohol
• or illicit drugs
• antihistamines and other anti-allergy drugs
  cause large numbers of
• workplace accidents
• stimulant abuse common and highly dangerous in
  transportation industry,
• and in other jobs requiring vigilance

6
Responses to Workplace Dishonesty

• Change the person
• Recruitment - attract different sorts of people
  
• Employee screening - use tests, assessments to
• screen out high-risk people
• Investigation/discharge procedures - remove
• dishonest or untrustworthy workers
• Change the situation
• Enhance security/reduce temptations
• Advertise efforts to reduce dishonesty
• Change norms that support dishonesty

7
Detecting Deception

• The Polygraph (lie detector)
• Until 1988, the polygraph was widely used in
  U.S.work settings 1 million polygraphs per
  year in 1980s, 3/4 of those in work settings
• Employee Polygraph Protection Act severely
  limits their use in work settings
• Now most frequently used in criminal and
  security investigations
• The polygraph uses patterns of physiological
  reactions (e.g., respiration rate, blood
  pressure, galvanic skin response) to infer
• deception.
• Assumption behind the polygraph is that people
  show different physiological reactions when
  they are attempting to deceive than when they
  are telling the truth

8
Examination methods

• There are a wide variety of polygraph examination
  techniques
• Specific-event examinations
• Guilty knowledge tests
• Broad screens
• Control question tests
• confessions account for very significant
  portion of failures

9
Polygraph Validity

• Polygraph Validity
• Expert examiner investigating specific incident
  will perform better than chance when
  interviewing suspect for whom there is a
  reasonably large probability of guilt.
• Poor evidence of reliability or validity when
  used
• for general screening vs. specific event,
• especially when base rate is low.
• If confessions factored out, evidence for
• usefulness of polygraph is even less
• impressive
• Bottom line - polygraphs are not very effective,
  especially for screening purposes. They
  work best when they fool the examinee into
  confessing

10
Voice Stress Analysis

• Microtremors in voice claimed to be associated
• with deception
• Voice stress analysis can be done via recording,
  
• telephone - may be done without subjects
• knowledge
• There is no good evidence that voice tremors
• indicate deception

11
Behavioral cues to deception

• Deception is sometimes inferred from
• hesitancy
• sudden movements
• grooming behaviors (straightening hair)
• frequent swallowing
• Bottom line - no good behavioral cues to
• deception are known to exist

12
Drug Testing

• Urine tests are the most common, but blood, hair,
  and saliva tests are available
• Employee drug tests are widespread and costly
  2-5 billion annually in U.S.
• Top five labs process 12-15 million samples per
  year, and about half of large U.S.
  organizations test.
• Applicant testing is more common
• Drug testing is often legally mandated

13
What do pre-employment drug tests measure?

• Tests indicate presence of drug metabolyte in
  bloodstream
• Marijuana can be detected up to three weeks
  after use
• Detection periods range from 3-7 days for
  many other drugs
• Great majority of all test failures are for
  marijuana test results do not necessarily
  indicate use at or near work
• Substance tests vs. impairment tests
• Physiological tests indicate use, but do not
  necessarily
• indicate impairment
• Impairment tests indicate current performance
  decrements
• behavioral tests - balance, convergence
• performance tests - complex task performance

14
Validity of Drug Tests

• When proper procedures are followed, tests are
  highly accurate in detecting drug metabolytes
• Preemployment drug tests do not detect
  intoxication, impairment, or recency of use.
• Little evidence about links to job performance
• Bottom line - pre-employment drug tests are
• limited in validity and usefulness. It is
• possible to measure current impairment
• with some accuracy. Pre-employment drug
• screening is limited in value

15
Alcohol Testing

• Breath tests are the most common, but urine,
  blood, hair, or saliva tests are available
• Behavioral impairment tests are easy to
• perform, sensitive indicators of performance
• Alcohol tests provide valid and useful measures
• of the presence of alcohol and/or impairment at
  the time of testing.
• However, alcohol is metabolized very quickly
• Individuals will fail an alcohol test only if
  they
• have been drinking within the few hours
• before testing.

16
Assessing Honesty

• Graphology
• Handwriting analysis is sometimes used to make
• inferences about personality/character
• graphoanalysis involves verifying
• documents, signatures, etc. Graphology
• uses features of handwriting to infer
• personality
• Graphological signs include slant, pressure, how
  
• you cross your t, etc.
• Graphology is used extensively in France,
  Israel,
• and is becoming more common in U.S.

17
Why Graphology Works

• Handwriting sample that is analyzed often
  includes an autobiographical statement
• not clear if content, graphological features
  or both influence
• assessments
• people with no graphological training do about
  as well in making
• predictions from handwriting samples as to
  trained graphologists
• There is little credible evidence that
  graphological analysis provides valid
  information about personality, character,
• truthfulness

18
Integrity Testing

• Tests designed to measure honesty/integrity/depend
  ability now widely used in U.S.
• 2-5 million tests per year used in workplace
• Integrity tests may include items that refer
  to
• direct admissions of illegal or
• questionable activities
• opinions regarding illegal or questionable
• behavior
• general personality traits and thought
• patterns thought to be related to
• dishonesty (e.g. the tendency to
• constantly think about illegal activities)

19
Integrity Testing

• reactions to hypothetical situations that may
  or may not feature
• dishonest behavior.
• perceived incidence of dishonesty
• leniency toward dishonest behavior
• theft rationalization
• theft temptation or rumination
• norms regarding dishonest behavior
• impulse control

20
Validity of Integrity Tests

• Evidence that scores on commercially-available
  integrity tests are related to measures of
  dishonesty, production deviance, and overall
• job performance
• Validity of integrity tests is consistently high
  across a range of jobs
• Why do Integrity Tests Work?
• Clear-purpose admissions are self-validating,
• Willingness to admit wrongdoing
• related to norms
• Veiled-purpose conscientiousness, personality
• patterns related to dependability

21
Background checks

• Background investigations, reference checks are
  very common, very
• expensive
• Some organizations spend more on background
  investigations than on
• recruitment or testing
• Most likely to provide information about criminal
  activity, more difficult to
• learn about routine workplace dishonesty
• Many organizations are unlikely to provide
  meaningful information in background checks.
  Managers often unwilling to do more than verify
  employment

22
Legal/societal concerns

• Invasions of privacy
• Polygraph exams, integrity tests, integrity
  interviews often ask sensitive
• questions
• Drug and alcohol tests are by definition
  invasive,and often degrading
• Reference checks can perpetuate and inflate
  unfair rumors
• Voice stress analyses may be done without any
  sort of consent
• Privacy rights of job incumbents sometimes
  treated differently from privacy rights of
  applicants. Applying for a job often requires
  partial waiver of rights
• Legal challenges to honesty-related procedures
  based on invasions of privacy of applicants are
  rarely successful

23
Discrimination

• The likelihood of failing various
  integrity/deception tests varies as a
• function of age, gender, and sometimes race
• Failure is most likely from
• males
• younger applicants and employees
• white
• Few existing cases dealing specifically with
• discrimination in honesty-related tests