Toxic workplace: Problem description and search for management solutions

Abstract

Organizational toxicity has a negative impact on labour productivity and the employees' psychological well-being. In an empirical study, the author explored major factors in high toxicity of workplaces, such as: toxic organizational culture, toxic staff, and toxic management. The author studied the correlation of the main factors in organizational toxicity with the level of employee psychological well-being and such components as positive interpersonal relations, autonomy, personal growth, life goals and self-acceptance. The study used quantitative and qualitative research methods: survey, semi-structured interview, psycho-diagnostic tools. The respondents were divided into three groups depending on the degree of their workplace toxicity. The study found that the majority of the respondents are faced with various toxins of the organizational environment when performing their professional duties. The results show that employees with high values of individual components of the psychological well-being scale, namely, self-acceptance and autonomy, are less susceptible to the toxicity of the organizational environment. The semi-structured interview allowed the author to identify three main strategies that employees choose when confronted with a highly toxic organizational environment: active rejection, passive rejection, and escape. The study found that employees with high levels of psychological well-being are more likely to make decisions about changing jobs in case the toxicity of the organizational environment increases. The study results led the author to the conclusions about the importance of complex work with staff personal resources and managerial culture to reduce the workplace toxicity. In conclusion, the authors make recommendations how to prevent and counteract a toxic organizational culture and create a culture of respectful engagement in the organization. This study contributes to the theory of social pollution and will be of interest to experts in organizational behaviour, leadership and human resource management. © 15th European Conference on Management, Leadership and Governance, ECMLG 2019. All rights reserved.