Understanding and Confirming the Existence of Corporate Psychopath Theory in Business, Article Critique Example

The field of business industries is one of today’s most booming entities in the society. It could be observed that in this particular field, several individuals of different characteristics and capabilities join together to make a name for their companies and a few others stand out to make a name for themselves. Due to the differences of individuals enjoined in the system, several scandals and controversies occur. It seems like as if some people would do anything ‘for the money” or “for the prestige” that reputable business status provides.

The article written by Clive Boddy specifically points out how much of the personal behavior of business individuals actually affect their performance and the performance of the industry all over the globe. Pointing out to the theory of corporate psychopaths, his article tries to create a convincing definition on what the theory is about and thus prove its existence in the industry of commerce. Quoting from several authors like Professor Robert Hare (256), he points out what experts think about corporate psychopaths and how they describe the existence of such matter to affect employee performance at work.

Through facilitating a defined process of research on relative materials that provide proof to the topic he is handling, Boddy creates a clear visual definition of the theory and thus make an indicative relation on how the issue connects to the actual situations in the business world. Considering the global crisis as a referential result of the existence of corporate psychopaths, Boddy explains that the disintegration of morals in the field of commerce has been introduced ever since the creation of the idealism of the “survival of the fittest” among all those who are employed in the industry. Considerably, people are challenged to “ do their best” or “ do whatever they can” to attain the goals they have set for themselves and the goals that their companies have set before them. The consideration over this idealism has apparently pushed some to do unthinkable and unethical measures of actions simply to remain “ at the top of their game”.

Promotion as a form of reward has been specifically considered by Boddy to be among the contributors to the development of corporate psychopath morality among businessmen. He considers that the focus upon such reward has placed some of the employees at a position of not thinking about how they perform under the rules and regulations so long as they get the promotion they wanted (257). To make the explanation more relatively visual, Boddy uses examples that would be easier to understand for the readers . Some of the examples he pointed out is that of the direction that employees take when it comes to corporate fraud (258). Explaining why and how the situation happens, Boddy brings his readers into an understanding that corporate psychopath morality and theory really does exist.

In conclusion to the matter, Boddy summarizes his article and confirms that the higher academic institutions do support that the corporate psychopath theory of the global financial crisis really does exist and is relevant to the current economic issues that the world suffers at present (258). He indicates that psychologists have confirmed that the success of some businessmen in the industry of commerce highly depend on such attitude, nevertheless, no matter how “dirty” their morals are considered when it comes to handling ethical business operations, they are considered a success and a foundation of the modern commercial entities around the globe. However, understanding that further research still needs to be done to prove the existence of the idealism of corporate psychopath morality in business, Boddy suggests that a more scientifically designed study should be pursued which would explain the brain functions of those who are in the industry who might present the symptoms of having such attitude towards business operations.

Overall, this article written by Boddy helps a lot in clearing off speculations about the existence of behavioral relativity between the performance of the people and the performance of the industry in a much broader context. It could be analyzed that with the study that Boddy produced, the corporate psychopath theory is then confirmed and is considered to be existent as well as effective in the aspect of making a great impact on how the commercial industry performs well in line with the challenges that it faces at present.

References

Boddy, C. (2011). The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial Crisis. Journal of Business Ethics.

Babiak, P. (2010). Corporate psychopathy: Talking the walk. Behavioral Science Law Journal.

Ulman, M. Corporate Psycopathy. http://siivola.org/monte/papers_grouped/uncopyrighted/Misc/corporate_psychopathy.htm. (Retrieved on August 1, 2012).

Gapper, J. (2012). Gupta and the corporate psychopath. The Financial Times. http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/psychopath-Goldman-Gupta-McKinsey-ponzi-Stanford-pd20120621-VG42R?opendocument&src=rss. (Retrieved on August 1, 2012).

Gudmundsson, A. & Southey, G, (2011) Leadership and the rise of the corporate psychopath: What can business schools do about the ‘snakes inside’? e-Journal of Social & Behavioural Research in Business, 2(2), pp. 18-27.