Clive R. Boddy

The dark side of management decisions: organisational psychopaths

Purpose – This paper aims to look at some of the implications of organisational psychopaths for organisations and corporations.Design/methodology/approach – This paper defines organisational psychopaths as being those psychopaths who exist at an incidence of about 1 percent of the general population and who work in organisations. The paper describes how these organisational psychopaths are able to present themselves as desirable employees and are easily able to obtain positions in organisations. Without the inhibiting effect of a conscience they are then able to ruthlessly charm, lie, cajole and manipulate their way up an organisational hierarchy in pursuit of their main aims of power, wealth and status and at the expense of anyone who gets in their way.Findings – The paper suggests that, just as criminal psychopaths are responsible for a greater share of crimes than their numbers would suggest, so too organisational psychopaths may be responsible for more than their fair share of organisational misbehavi...

Projective techniques in market research: valueless subjectivity or insightful reality? A look at the evidence for the usefulness, reliability and validity of projective techniques in market research

Projective techniques are often used in market research to help uncover findings in areas where those researched are thought to be reluctant or unable to expose their thoughts and feelings via more straightforward questioning techniques. However, how the findings from projective techniques are analysed and how valid and reliable they are is hardly touched on at all in the market research literature. This paper aims to open this subject up for further discussion and recommends further research into the reliability and validity of projective techniques. Question: So how do you actually analyse projective techniques? Researcher says: Years of experience in using them and my training as a qualitative researcher has left me with an intuitive knowledge of what people mean when they perform a task in a certain way. (Researcher thinks: I’m tired out after the last group, please ask me an easier question!)

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet but “group discussion” is not another name for a “focus group” nor should it be

Purpose – This paper seeks to highlight the current confusion in the terminology for group research, identify the geographic, historical and scientific sources of this confusion and suggest a reduction in the number of terms used to two, thereby offering a definition on which researchers from different cultural backgrounds and scientific traditions may be able to agree.Design/methodology/approach – A review of the academic and practitioner literature on qualitative group research in academic, social and market research indicates that various terms for groups are used interchangeably and are often assumed to have the same meaning. These terms include; Focus Group, Group Discussion, Group Interview, Group, Focus Group Interview, Focus Group Discussion, Qualitative Group Discussion and Nominal Group Interview.Practical implications – The contribution of this paper is that it offers a resolution of this issue and so allows researchers from across geographic borders, different scientific traditions and from bo...

Sample size for qualitative research

Purpose Qualitative researchers have been criticised for not justifying sample size decisions in their research. This short paper addresses the issue of which sample sizes are appropriate and valid within different approaches to qualitative research. Design/methodology/approach The sparse literature on sample sizes in qualitative research is reviewed and discussed. This examination is informed by the personal experience of the author in terms of assessing, as an editor, reviewer comments as they relate to sample size in qualitative research. Also, the discussion is informed by the author’s own experience of undertaking commercial and academic qualitative research over the last 31 years. Findings In qualitative research, the determination of sample size is contextual and partially dependent upon the scientific paradigm under which investigation is taking place. For example, qualitative research which is oriented towards positivism, will require larger samples than in-depth qualitative research does, so that a representative picture of the whole population under review can be gained. Nonetheless, the paper also concludes that sample sizes involving one single case can be highly informative and meaningful as demonstrated in examples from management and medical research. Unique examples of research using a single sample or case but involving new areas or findings that are potentially highly relevant, can be worthy of publication. Theoretical saturation can also be useful as a guide in designing qualitative research, with practical research illustrating that samples of 12 may be cases where data saturation occurs among a relatively homogeneous population. Practical implications Sample sizes as low as one can be justified. Researchers and reviewers may find the discussion in this paper to be a useful guide to determining and critiquing sample size in qualitative research. Originality/value Sample size in qualitative research is always mentioned by reviewers of qualitative papers but discussion tends to be simplistic and relatively uninformed. The current paper draws attention to how sample sizes, at both ends of the size continuum, can be justified by researchers. This will also aid reviewers in their making of comments about the appropriateness of sample sizes in qualitative research.

The Nominal Group Technique: an aid to Brainstorming ideas in research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss a technique called the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) for possible use in the types of market research or management research where it is desirable to generate as many ideas as possible.Design/methodology/approach – The benefits of the NGT were researched in a literature review. After this, qualitative research among research practitioners who have used the technique in Australia was conducted. One focus group of five researchers and three in‐depth interviews were conducted. Some of these responses are presented verbatim, in this paper, to order to illustrate the positive evaluations of the technique by researchers.Findings – The research practitioners in this research were generally very positive about the NGT as a technique for idea generation. The conclusion from the research reported on in this paper is that the use of techniques such as Brainstorming, and the NGT have very beneficial roles to play in management and market research.Practical...

Extreme managers, extreme workplaces: capitalism, organizations and corporate psychopaths

This article reports on qualitative research carried out in England in 2013. Participants were five organizational directors and two senior managers who had worked with six corporate psychopaths, as determined by a management psychopathy measure. The corporate psychopaths reported on displayed consistency in their approach to management. This approach was marked by high levels of abusive control. The corporate psychopaths were seen as being organizational stars and as deserving of awards by those above them, while they simultaneously subjected those below them to extreme behaviour, including bullying, intimidation and coercion. The corporate psychopaths also engaged in extreme forms of mismanagement characterized by poor personnel management, directionless leadership, mismanagement of resources and fraud.

Organisational psychopaths: a ten year update

Purpose – This current paper reviews the theoretical speculations concerning psychopaths in the workplace that were originally presented in a paper published in this journal in 2006. The 2006 paper was called: “The Dark Side of Management Decisions: Organisational Psychopaths”. Design/methodology/approach – This is a review of the literature on workplace psychopaths since 2006. Findings – This current paper determines that while many of these prior speculations about workplace psychopaths have since been supported by evidence, several others remain unexplored. This finding suggests that several important avenues for further research remain in this important area. In particular, links between corporate psychopaths, bullying and lowered corporate social responsibility have been established. On the other hand, links between corporate psychopaths, career advancement, fraud, and corporate failure as exemplified in the 2007 global financial crisis, have been under-explored. Social implications – Corporate psych...

Academia marketing myopia and the cult of the PhD

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate and comment critically on the influence that an observable career requirement for marketing academics, the PhD, has on their teaching, their research, and the much‐debated “gap” between marketing academics and marketing practitioners.Design/methodology/approach – A review of the literature and of secondary sources of general data is combined with the authors own past research findings to arrive at a coherent, personal point of view.Findings – A strong focus on “scientific” research in the marketing discipline has caused a form of academic myopia, and precipitated a debate on the role of research in business schools, somewhat belatedly. The conclusion in this paper is that academic research skills, and doctoral study in particular, are not a de facto prerequisite for effective teaching of an applied discipline to future practitioners. The PhD is not necessarily the good predictor of future publication that it is assumed to be. The research output of doctoral resear...

The influence of corporate psychopaths on job satisfaction and its determinants

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate job satisfaction and workplace psychopathy. Design/methodology/approach Job satisfaction has previously been seen as a function of various constructs. The authors take one step back from the literature to re-examine the relationship not just between job satisfaction, workplace conflict, organizational constraints, withdrawal from the workplace and perceived levels of corporate social responsibility, but also between all of these constructs and the presence of corporate psychopaths. Findings The authors find that there is a direct link between corporate psychopaths and job satisfaction. There are also indirect links through variables such as conflict, since corporate psychopaths influence conflict and other variables. Originality/value Importantly, the research establishes that psychopathy is the dominant predictor of job satisfaction.

The impact of corporate psychopaths on corporate reputation and marketing

This paper briefly discusses why Corporate Psychopaths, as one particularly pernicious type of dysfunctional leader, should be of interest to marketers. One reason is because of the negative impact of Corporate Psychopaths on some of the antecedents of Corporate Reputation. The paper discusses how Corporate Psychopaths through their direct action and via their example to others, undermine some of the key drivers of corporate reputation such as good communications, job satisfaction and corporate social responsibility. The paper discusses past research which found that in the presence of managers who are Corporate Psychopaths, a corporations levels of perceived corporate social responsibility, good communications and commitment to employees go down. Simultaneously, levels of conflict and organisational constraints go up. The negative impact of the presence of Corporate Psychopaths in an organisation is discussed and the implications for marketers are drawn out. The paper finishes by hypothesising that the presence of Corporate Psychopaths will probably affect some of the other areas of marketing that influence corporate reputation as well. This includes levels of marketing service provision and delivery, marketing orientation, job related stress, marketing ethics and management credibility and trustworthiness. The paper calls for further research into how Corporate Psychopaths influence these important areas of marketing management.