THE MORALITY OF EMPLOYEE THEFT: TEACHING ABOUT ETHICS AND DEVIANT BEHAVIOR IN THE WORKPLACE

Deviant behavior at work is an important topic for management education because of its prevalence and cost to both organizations and people. This article demonstrates how the ethical ramifications of workplace activities identified as deviant can be actively discussed by students and by educators in the classroom by using an original case study. The case study includes behaviors that appear to break company rules and norms. Workplace deviance is discussed in the context of the following questions: What is deviant workplace behavior? Is it always negative? How can it be influenced by organizational culture? Possible connections between the way deviance is handled in the classroom and its subsequent occurrences in the workplace are discussed.