Quantifying the Effects of Bad Behavior at Work
Posted by Jamie Resker on Mon, Aug 24, 2009 @ 05:34 PM
There always seems to be a certain level of tolerance for the smart and competent employee who exhibits bad behavior.
The higher ups in our organizations justify it by saying things like,
- Well, the work is getting done, look numbers have never been higher
- Jim's technical skills are so valuable we can't afford to lose him
- All of those problems in manufacturing with returned orders have been fixed
- It's easier to keep her than to find a replacement
- That's just how Sue is
- She doesn't mean any harm, she's just under a lot of stress
- Stop whining about Sue, focus on your work
- etc.
Well, sorry folks but there's evidence that bad apple employees can make the team 35 - 40% less effective. This flys in the face of most evidence collected over the decades which says that a good strong team can dilute a disruptive employee.
*A bad apple, at least at work, can spoil the whole barrel. And there's research to prove it. Host Ira Glass talks to Will Felps, a professor at Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands, who designed an experiment to see what happens when a bad worker joins a team. Felps divided people into small groups and gave them a task. One member of the group would be an actor, acting either like a jerk, a slacker or a depressive. And within 45 minutes, the rest of the group started behaving like the bad apple. (13 minutes)
Listen to the interview on This American Life, Ruining it for the Rest of Us. It's entertaining and provides evidence that allowing the bad actors in our organizations exhbit uncivil behavior exacts a price.
Source: Public Radio International, This American Life