Study Reveals Senior Employees Sabotage Juniors for Personal Gain

This study, recently carried out by a Harvard University student, describes one of the toxic attributes a corporate employee can possess. Reportedly, it discusses how colleagues often sabotage one another's performance for their benefit. This survey-based research was conducted by Hashim Zaman, a postdoctoral fellow at the Laboratory for Innovation Sciences, and Karim Lakhani, a professor of business administration. It was concluded that this sabotage is common in competitive environments, working from the top down.

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Some may become so consumed with jealousy that they go out of their way to ruin the reputation of a co-worker in order to gain a promotion or win a bonus. This type of behavior can be noticed not just among peers but may also be conducted by the upper hierarchy who are keen to crush possible future competitors.

Zaman and his instructor questioned 335 executives of different companies. The researchers found that, upon evaluation of their own personnel experiences, almost 30 percent of those employees saw an occurrence of sabotage in their respective organisations.

To specify, top-down sabotage was seen at 71 percent while 5 percent recounted their witnessing of the same concerning direct reports. Almost 28 percent of these employees admitted to be victims of top-down sabotage in their firms.

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According to Hashim, this toxic culture damages the reputation of the organisations besides impacting the talented employees. When asked about the reason why managers would undermine the career prospects of their colleagues, only 3 percent said for financial reasons and a larger 21 percent cited fear of losing their own position.

On the other hand, 24 percent of interview participants found a mixture of both stature and financial problems. Almost 28 percent of those employees considered themselves victims of the top-down sabotage going on in their organisation.

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