Corporate psychopaths: The regulating forces of organizational dynamics

Primary psychopathy in employees, also referred to as corporate psychopathy, has been put forward as a key determinant of corporate misconduct. This chapter examines how organizations may (unwittingly) facilitate or discourage corporate psychopaths’ tendency to cause disutility for others. We argue that informal (e.g., organizational climates) and formal (e.g., rules and policies, performance management systems and incentives) organizational mechanisms create a framework that regulates corporate psychopath’s leeway in trait expression, for instance, by stimulating or hampering self-centered or abusive behavior. In this chapter, we will also point out potential steps that can be taken to attenuate the impact that the behavior of psychopathic employees may have on others and will discuss how the regulating forces of organizational dynamics can be further researched for the field to move forward.