Organisational pathologies - are they overlooked in organisational management science?

Abstract

This article is an attempt to answer the question related to the reasons for the relatively small number of studies on situations that we treat as dysfunctional, pathological, or counter-productive in organisations. This issue is crucial because it can be assumed that pejoratively perceived organisational behaviours occur extremely often - after all, they result from the nature of human beings (both the employer and the employee). It is worth emphasizing that they do not have to be related only and exclusively to employee behaviors – for example, J. Staniszkis analyzed pathological organizational structures (including in the context of: impersonal regulations conditioning the conduct in the organization, hindering the flow of information, routine and traditionalism in "shaping" structures, etc.) (Staniszkis, 1972, p. 87). The research method applied in the study is a literature review - in the opinion of the authors adequate from the point of view of the adopted topic, as it confirms that organisational pathologies have been studied as occurring for centuries and still occuring in social systems, such as private and public sector entities.