Beware the corporate psychopath
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Corporate psychopaths — according to workplace relations expert Paul O’Halloran, they’ve “evolved”.
Partner at Colin Biggers & Paisley Lawyers, Paul O’Halloran, spoke with HR Leader about the corporate psychopath — someone nobody wants to come across, but that workplaces ought to be aware of.
“We know from the literature in this area that 150 years ago these sorts of characters would have been committing crimes, robbing banks, whatever they would do back then. But they have evolved now, to a certain extent, to obviously understand that you get caught and you go to jail if you commit crimes, and the corporate psychopath knows that,” said Mr O’Halloran.
Describing what he means by a 'corporate psychopath', Mr O'Halloran said “I'm talking about cruel, selfish, Machiavellian bullies and predators who do exist to a small degree, unfortunately, in the corporate world.”
He continued “These are people who initially seem charismatic and somebody that you would like to work with. They desire power, prestige, money. Researchers often describe them as chameleons. What I mean by that is these are people who have the capacity to blend into an organisation, into the environment in order to survive. They often use bullying tactics to get what they want. They have no conscience, no feelings, no emotion, and no empathy.”
Mr O’Halloran referenced Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work, by Dr Paul Babiak and Dr. Robert D. Hare as a useful book for understanding the corporate psychopath.
“The author [sic] of that book categorises these people into four domains that he says makes up the traits of a corporate psychopath. Those domains are the interpersonal, so the person is superficial, grandiose, deceitful; the affective domain, the person lacks remorse, lacks empathy, and doesn't accept responsibility; the lifestyle domain, the person is impulsive, lacks goals and is irresponsible; and the antisocial domain, which is described as the person who has poor behavioural controls, adolescent antisocial behaviours, and adult antisocial behaviours", he said.
Employers can keep an eye out for corporate psychopaths by being mindful of Mr O’Halloran’s insights. “They're attracted to those types of roles where there are positions of power and dominance over others. They lie. They're usually the worst at following proper process, such as contemporary HR and corporate governance processes. They're very difficult to catch because they're very good at covering their tracks", he shared.
As a word of warning to employers about the negative consequences of having a corporate psychopath in the workforce, Mr O’Halloran commented “They will increase sick leave. They'll increase worker's compensation claims. They'll contribute to legal claims against the organisation. These are people that you really want to get away from.”
For listeners wondering what to do about a corporate psychopath in their workforce, The HR Leader asked Mr O’Halloran how an employer might deal with this sort of person. It’s a difficult situation, with Mr O’Halloran stating "Probably the best way to deal with somebody that has that sort of pathology, if you realise that that's your boss or your colleague, is probably to resign, because what the clinical advice says that probably the best thing you can do around someone with these predatory attributes is to get as far away from them as possible.
“The other alternative is, obviously, promotion. The corporate psychopath is very ambitious. So, if you're lucky enough, they'll get promoted out of your organisation somewhere else and then they're somebody else's problem. Certainly, the book that I was referring to earlier, Snakes in Suits, their advice is get away from the person, and that often means that you need to resign.”
“Now, in my line of work as a workplace relations lawyer, we do end up terminating the employment of these sorts of people. It usually has to be done in what I call, it doesn't sound very nice, but an execution-style dismissal so they're caught totally unaware by the dismissal process and they have no opportunity to get out of it. Dismissal...that's designed in advance is probably the way to deal with somebody that is that destructive", he added.
“I don't want to send the wrong message that I'm talking about every second person in your team. This is a very small percentage of people. They won't admit fault. They have no personal insights. They will lie. Everything will be someone else's fault. Mediation and the more traditional ways of dealing with disputes in the workplace don't work for these sorts of individuals", Mr O'Halloran concluded.
To learn more about the corporate psychopath, listen to the full podcast with Mr O’Halloran below.
The transcript of this podcast episode when quoted above was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Paul O’Halloran, click below:
Shandel McAuliffe
Shandel has recently returned to Australia after working in the UK for eight years. Shandel's experience in the UK included over three years at the CIPD in their marketing, marcomms and events teams, followed by two plus years with The Adecco Group UK&I in marketing, PR, internal comms and project management. Cementing Shandel's experience in the HR industry, she was the head of content for Cezanne HR, a full-lifecycle HR software solution, for the two years prior to her return to Australia.
Shandel has previous experience as a copy writer, proofreader and copy editor, and a keen interest in HR, leadership and psychology. She's excited to be at the helm of HR Leader as its editor, bringing new and innovative ideas to the publication's audience, drawing on her time overseas and learning from experts closer to home in Australia.