Uncloaking the dark side of organizational behaviour: exploring organizational dysfunction in financial institutions in Ireland, the UK and the US

The financial crisis has highlighted the impact of human failure on a global scale. The financial crisis has illuminated the individual, organizational, institutional and societal impact of dysfunctional or dark side behavior. This thesis explores the antecedent conditions that have the potential to contribute to the emergence, legitimation and institutionalization of dark side behaviors within the organizational setting – financial institutions. In doing so, the thesis draws on numerous public inquiries from the US and UK as well as a number of official government reports on the causes of the various banking crises that formed the basis of the global financial crisis. This thesis explores the organizational and institutional factors that can contribute to the development of dark side behaviors on a scale not considered previously. This thesis identifies the potential for a new organizational governance role for HR leaders that may minimize the potential for the institutionalization of organization-wide dark side behaviors. This thesis explores the theoretical foundations of HRD and challenges the performativity orientation as a facilitator of dark side organizational behavior. In doing so, it provides empirical evidence that the performance objective of many HRD practitioners may indeed facilitate the legitimation of dark side behaviors. This thesis also utilized a novel methodological approach to exploring HR interventions that may facilitate future inquiry of sensitive organizational topics. This approach provides a replicable framework for HR researchers to uncloak organizational behavior thought to be beyond the analytic gaze of the research community. Finally, this thesis explored how HR interventions can have a double-edge sword effect on human emotion potentially facilitating the emergence of an organization-wide disposition focused on dark side behaviors as a result of a positive emotional association with the organization.