Dr. Nadeem Ahmed Khan
Elon Musk, chief executive of automaker Tesla, has accused an employee of widespread and harmful sabotage, which exposed the media to the hidden dangers of intentional sabotage. It alleged that the unknown employee made coding changes to Tesla’s manufacturing operating system and sent sensitive data to a third party. He was angry when he lost a promotion.
It is perhaps worth pointing out that recent surveys by investors have concluded that nearly half of the UK workforce is seeking change in employment. Or, in another way, about half of the workforce is likely to have lower job satisfaction. However, we cannot only conclude that the employee who wants to change the job will necessarily be involved in employee sabotage. Many of them will find alternative work and move on quietly. A small percentage of people may try to get confidential information or client contact with them.
The history of employee sabotage is fascinating. Employee sabotage cases are probably more common than most employers think. So, what can an employer do to minimize the risks? The first step is to understand that the employee can take many forms of sabotage. When an employer can prevent it, it can identify and deal with it when it happens.
In 1944, United States intelligence agencies, the CIA originator OSS (The Office of Strategic Services) created a simple Sabotage field manual to defeat their opponents. The OSS Director William J. Donovan suggested distributing the sabotage guidance to citizens of enemy states through pamphlets and broadcast. Many of the sabotage instructions guide ordinary citizens, who may not have agreed with their country’s wartime policies towards the US, to destabilize their governments by taking disruptive actions. Some of the instructions seem outdated; others remain surprisingly relevant. Together they are a reminder of how easily productivity and order can be undermined.
This manual consists of eleven sections in which one of the chapters is “General Interference with Organizations and Production.” The document also discusses three levels of organizational sabotage, how one can sabotage at the Organizational Level. Generally, in organization saboteurs involve in following activities:
- All matters should be referred to committees for further attention and thought
- The compatibility of any decisions must be checked whether such action is right or might conflict with the policy
- insist on doing everything through “channels” and never allow shortcuts to speed up decisions
- “Speak” talk as much as possible and at great length and describe long stories and personal experiences,
- uncover irrelevant issues as soon as possible,
- apply to the matters outlined in the last meeting and try to reopen the decision advice question,
- advocate “Caution” be “reasonable” and urge with colleagues to be “reasonable” and avoid haste, which may result in embarrassment or difficulties later on,
An organization can be sabotaged by managers and supervisors such as:
- when assigning work always assign the first non-important job and meaningful jobs are assigned to unskilled workers
- misinterpret orders to ask endless questions or engage in long correspondence
- do everything possible to delay the delivery or orders
- don’t order new working materials until current stocks have been virtually exhausted
- make mistakes in routine
- During training give false and ambiguous instructions
- Give importance to irrelevant work and avoid important things
- reduce morale and, thereby, make productivity unpleasant for workers and give them unannounced promotions
- multiply the procedures and clearances involved in issuing instructions, paychecks, and more.
Employees can also sabotage organizational at their level:
- work slowly
- work poorly and blame it on wrong tools, machinery, and other people
- never pass on skills and experience to a new and less skillful worker
- mix right parts with unusable scraps and rejected material
- misfile essential documents
- tell the important caller the boss is busy
- Blowout rumors that create disturbance
- general, devices for lowering morale and creating confusion by a) give lengthy and incomprehensible explanations when questioned (b) act stupid (c) be as irritable and, quarrelsome as possible, without getting themselves into trouble d) cry and sob hysterically at every occasion, especially when confronted by government officials.
Saboteurs are everywhere. They undermine every business by stirring confusion, slowing production, and sapping morale consciously and unconsciously. Directly or indirectly, we are also part of an organization sabotage. Generally, we do not have such intentions, but our act unwittingly converts everyday activities into acts of sabotage.
How surprisingly can a 1944 sabotage manual, written by the secret service, be so accurate about behaviors many of us see daily?
The purpose of writing this simple sabotage article is to: give people a language to recognize these erratic behaviors that could significantly damage an organization’s productivity and performance, increase visibility, let people provide a way to acknowledge and talk about these things.
The optimistic approach is that people will start recognizing these sabotage schemes, or they will stop the sabotage from happening in the first place. Doing so will help organizations make decisions more productive and more efficient and will help to raise a higher level of confidence as people reduce sabotage.
Dr. Nadeem Ahmed Khan is a certified Recruitment Analyst and certified trainer for ROI Methodology, HR Analytics and Metrics. Presently, he heads the Business Studies Department at Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Islamabad.
