Exploring the Antecedents of Ostracism and their Relations in a Public Organization

The purpose of this study was exploring the antecedents of workplace ostracism and their hierarchical relations in the frame of interpretive structural modeling (ISM) in a public organization.

This research is a case study. In order to gathering the data, after reviewing literature and identifying antecedents of the phenomenon of interest, based on the Likert scale a half-closed questionnaire was developed and through concept sampling distributed among 19 members of organization whom they had living experiences about workplace ostracism. Using fuzzy analysis, the questionnaires statements were screened and after categorizing, the ISM measure were developed and distributed among participants.

Based on findings, the model was possessed of 8 factors in 5 levels (the first level: lack of extra-organizational system to monitor and audit managers; the second: dysfunctional properties of organization management; the third: the discrete but coherent-look organizational culture and weakness of inter organization managerial systems; the fourth: features of ostracism target, the dark climate of organization, and breakdown between both sides of ostracism; and the fifth: mistreatment against the target of ostracism). Practical Consequences: The key element to decline the ostracism in the studied public organization and similar organizations is to avoid appointing managers with dysfunctional characteristics in the organization.

The case study strategy reduces the generalizability of the findings. The interpretive structural modeling approach is also not capable of weighting the network of relationships among the factors.

The paper is based on a domestic view to the organizational ostracism and its antecedents.