How To Spot And Fix A Dysfunctional Workplace

More than ever, businesses are urged to do well and good: Is your organization doing good enough?

In the post-COVID-19 world, keeping employees content at work may be a little bit harder than one might think: The pandemic has disrupted work, changing the employee experience and how employees perceive companies and do business. Now, it is time for organizations to prepare themselves for a brand new world of work. As the war for talent is about to get fiercer, only the companies that truly care about their employees and are willing to listen to them and help them thrive will endure.

The more you acquire work experience, the more you realize that no workplace is perfect. Still, and even though all companies have different cultures and organizational flaws, some excel in particular behaviors that should never occur.

While there are plenty of definitions, a dysfunctional workplace usually refers to an inefficient or toxic work environment that visibly violates the standard workplace norms and can negatively impact employee well-being and job performance.

Just take a brief look at the article 50 ways of workplace dysfunction by Lolly Daskal, published on Inc.com. Do any of the mentioned workplace dysfunctions look familiar to you or have you experienced similar dysfunctions throughout your career? Maybe the answer will surprise you. And, if you think workplace dysfunctions no longer occur, you cannot be further from the truth.

Pay Attention To Red Flags

Even though dysfunctional workplaces have been around for a while now, organizations have left this issue unaddressed, allowing it to become the norm and lead to highly toxic environments.

Here are a few testimonials of people who were able to break free from toxic workplaces that were taking a toll on their mental health.

I joined a small company as an IT developer to build a product that due to poor leadership kept being changed over and over and over. Soon it was clear to me that the lack of direction of the company and its inability to develop a great product and team was leaving people unmotivated and disengaged. What started out as fun, became draining! — Andres, IT Developer

I once landed an apparently exciting job at a big multinational company working as Business Development Executive. Yet, it did not take me long to realize their agenda: I was given irrelevant tasks one after another, was constantly overloaded with work, belittled, offered false promises, obliged to work against the clock to accomplish unattainable goals, not provided with enough resources to carry out my job properly, finger-pointed me when things went wrong and were someone else’s fault… And the worst of it: no one acknowledged nor took responsibility for their actions and behavior. — David, Business Development Executive

Back in 2015, I was offered a Growth Marketing role at a brand-new SME. My manager was a marketing dinosaur and obviously lacked digital knowledge to be able to supervise my work. In fact, he was so insecure about himself that started to micromanage my work, bully me with aggressive emails he would send either late at night and on weekends, ghosting me in meetings, and even taking credit for my work. When I started I had big ambition, then reality hit. I was working in a toxic company. — Miriam, Growth Marketer

While these testimonials are only examples of dysfunctional organizations, unfortunately, toxic workplaces have become a reality that is currently taking a toll both on employee well-being, mental health, and even on employer branding.

The Top 5 Organizational Dysfunctions

Some workplace dysfunctions occur more frequently than others. Hence, organizations should be aware of the most common problems so that they can address them as soon as possible and prevent them from scaling.

Among the most common workplace dysfunctions, you often find some of the following (not presented in any specific order of priority):

• Sexual harassment
• Workplace bullying
• Bad management
• Poor company culture
• Internal structural issues (bad reputation, high employee turnover, low revenue, and so on)

Types Of Organizational Malfunctioning

No matter the origin, there are two main types of organizational malfunctioning: management- and employee-induced malfunctioning. These differ from one another and affect teams in very different ways.

• Management malfunctioning: Sometimes, CEOs can be the source of workplace dysfunction due to their poor management, toxicity, or lack of time and direction, depriving employees of the stability and confidence they need to carry out their work successfully. In this scenario, even the best teams end up worn out and are more likely to underperform. Unfortunately, organizations are often unable to acknowledge that their leadership is sometimes the origin of the problem.
• Employee malfunctioning: Dysfunctional workplaces can also be caused by dysfunctional employees rather than by leadership. There are warning flags to pay attention to so that organizations can identify and fix the problem(s), namely: people who are highly self-centered and do not care about others and their well-being, are overconfident, act unethically to get ahead in their career, or do not follow the established rules, only to name a few.

Yet, toxic behaviors should not be reduced to single occurrences; they are symptoms of systematic structural problems such as a culture of impunity that allows these behaviors to occur and go unpunished, leadership’s inability to identify and address red flags, or even effectively communicate workplace rules.

Steps To Tackle A Dysfunctional Workplace

Proceeding like a doctor when examining a patient will help companies fix issues of this kind to ultimately build a prosperous workplace environment in which everyone can thrive. To resolve these issues, they can take steps like the ones listed below:

1. Assess if their workplace is hostile towards employees in any form and to any degree, paying attention to potential dysfunctional signs such as bullying or other ways of disrespect, poor communication, employees who look miserable while working, high employee turnover, finger-pointing, bad-mouthing, and other forms of evading responsibility, lack of leadership and direction, micromanagement, non-existing budgets and lack of resources, no opportunities for career growth and development, or simply trust their gut feeling;
2. Then, list all symptoms of organizational malfunctioning they have found and try to identify the root causes (they should dedicate enough time and resources to uncover these symptoms since sometimes their origin can turn out to be a bit more complex than one might think);
3. Analyze the root causes to understand why the symptoms manifested in the first place;
4. Implement appropriate solutions to solve the problem(s);
5. Finally, create a plan to identify, assess, and review the causes, implement solutions, and carry out this plan frequently to prevent future incidents.

While some big organizations have dedicated departments (Quality, Continuous Improvement, or Strategy departments) to identify, handle, and prevent these issues, smaller companies usually do not. Still, this should not be an excuse to leave dysfunctional symptoms unaddressed since they can end up being very costly in the long run, not only in terms of money and employee productivity: but they can also affect customer retention and even employer branding. If small or medium-sized organizations do not have enough resources to establish a proper department to tackle these issues, they should assign an employee to carry out these tasks (ideally an HR function), and rely on team effort to implement the necessary solutions. In case it is not feasible, they should consider contracting an external expert to carry out the five steps aforementioned.

Organizational Dysfunction Affects Employees And Customers

Dysfunctional behaviors have a nefarious impact on the workplace environment, affecting both employees and employers, and, ultimately, partners, customers, and even fans of the company, discrediting its brand reputation. Plus, they take a toll on employee engagement and wellness. As a result, job satisfaction decreases, disengagement rises exponentially, and productivity sinks. Employees are no longer provided with a sense of meaning and purpose to carry out their jobs successfully, having no longer a reason to give their best at work.

Turning Unhealthy Workplaces Into Great Ones

Workplace dysfunction symptoms are curable if organizations commit to structural changes in their culture. Setting organizations to success can be easy if they follow best practices internally, such as:

• Embracing diversity and different perspectives;
• Establishing rules and setting clear expectations, milestones, and accountability from the very start (be aware that the absence of accountability tends to lead to finger-pointing);
• Promoting an equal workplace;
• Celebrating success;
• Delegating responsibility and empowering employees;
• Following through without micromanaging.

Leveraging The Employee Journey With Organizational Tribes

In Seth Godin’s book Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us, the marketing guru describes a tribe as a group of people connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. Similarly, functional organizations create their tribes of followers, providing all parties involved (that is, employees, customers, and fans) with value, such as:

1. A sense of meaning and purpose

In great organizations, employees thrive because they work for common causes, are creative and innovative together to make the world a better place, and learn to evolve as a team (being it in values, desires, beliefs, and so on).

2. Friendships in the workplace

Establishing a culture of care and respect in the workplace not only helps employees feel happier at work but is also the backbone of successful organizations. According to Gallup, having close relationships in the workplace can increase employee satisfaction by 50%. Besides, having a best friend at work makes an employee seven times as likely to perform better at work.

People-First Companies Practice What They Preach

Company culture defines who a company is and how it treats its people. We all want to work in an organization that makes us proud and inspires us to be our best selves, a company that genuinely cares about its employees and values their human side. Caring companies make employees feel nurtured and happy and consequently perform better. Hence, organizations should use the values they preach to support company growth and success. The stakes are high: if they fail to do so, they will hardly get a team to work effectively on a common cause. Remember that management is not the same as leadership, hence the importance of leading by example.

What To Do When There Isn’t Much You Can Do About It

When, despite employees’ best intentions, their workplace atmosphere continues to be tense or toxic, and their leadership keeps on denying responsibility, be aware you are swimming against the tide and that quitting may be the best option. Recognize your worth and do not let others downgrade you.

Gather up the courage to leave a company that fails to acknowledge and punish abusive behaviors, and does not prioritize employee well-being. In the end, COVID-19 has changed many of us in multiple ways, being a wake-up call for what truly matters: life is too short to waste time and energy on companies that do not appreciate, respect, or value their employees. Thus, make every day count by choosing to work for a company that gives meaning to your life, empowers you to do the things you love, and inspires you to be a better human being every single day.