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  • 2015
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Toxic Workers

By: Michael Housman and Dylan Minor
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:38
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Abstract

While there has been a strong focus in past research on discovering and developing top performers in the workplace, less attention has been paid to the question of how to manage those workers on the opposite side of the spectrum: those who are harmful to organizational performance. In extreme cases, aside from hurting performance, such workers can generate enormous regulatory and legal fees and liabilities for the firm. We explore a large novel dataset of over 50,000 workers across 11 different firms to document a variety of workers’ characteristics and circumstances that lead them to engage in what we call "toxic" behavior. We also explore the relationship between toxicity and productivity and the ripple effect that toxic workers have on their peers. Finally, we find that avoiding a toxic worker (or converting him to an average worker) enhances performance to a much greater extent than replacing an average worker with a superstar worker.

Keywords

Strategic Human Resource Management; Misconduct; Worker Productivity; Superstar; Ethics; Performance Productivity; Personal Characteristics; Employees

Citation

Housman, Michael, and Dylan Minor. "Toxic Workers." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 16-057, October 2015. (Revised November 2015.)
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Related Work

    • 2015
    • Faculty Research

    Toxic Workers

    By: Michael Housman and Dylan Minor
Related Work
  • Toxic Workers By: Michael Housman and Dylan Minor
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