If asked to recall an instance of an employee
deliberately looking bad and performing poorly, you'd most
likely describe an angry person hoping to get fired, perhaps
because of a disciplinary sanction, conflict with a supervisor, or a
new, hated policy. Would you believe this is just a small
portion of the actual instances of employees deliberately
looking bad . . . just the tip of the iceberg? That's the
surprising finding of Thomas Becker, of Washington State
University, and Scott Martin, a consultant.
Becker and Martin posed their questions to 2 groups of
people, 28 young adults employed part time (average age 21),
and 162 adults employed full time (average age 30). These
people supplied examples of employees deliberately looking
bad at work, their reasons, the tactics they used, and the
people whose impressions they were trying to influence. The
researchers sorted these examples into categories to learn
what was going on and who was doing it.
One out of every two people they interviewed described cases they'd observed, and one
in eight admitted to trying to look bad themselves. Becker
and Martin think that's an underestimate, that more people
could have written about themselves, but were ashamed to do
so.
Managers were the most common target of these efforts, but
other employees were targets too. Apparently, fooling the
boss was insufficient for many employees. They also tried to
fool their coworkers.
Avoiding work, shifting difficult assignments to others,
and reducing stress were the most common reasons for
nurturing a bad image. After all, supervisors seldom pick
their least competent people for difficult jobs. And coworkers
typically excuse the weakest among them believing they should
not be expected to shoulder a full share of the burden. Two
thirds of the cases described this motivation. Next came
getting fired, using power to hurt others, and gaining
rewards (as in "Give-it-to-me-or-else!") as motivating
factors. A desire to get fired may find people deliberately
harming themselves, or it may reveal a desire to collect
unemployment insurance or worker's compensation. Finally,
disgruntled employees may perform poorly to damage their
employers' business, embarrass mangers, get revenge, or
intimidate others.
Not working up to potential and deliberately reducing
performance were the most common tactics described. People
not working to their potential begin nurturing poor images
when they start their jobs; people decreasing their
performance start creating their bad images later by
neglecting tasks and pretending to be ignorant of necessary
information.
Absence from work and displaying a bad attitude were also
reported, but they appeared much more frequently among
younger, part-time employees, as did broadcasting limitations
and pointing out one's own mistakes.
So who uses these tactics? People who use
self-handicapping are more likely to use them, like the
golfer who uses a handicap to excuse a bad score while
relishing a good performance. People who nurture favorable
impressions, who are ambitious and volunteer for extra work,
are
unlikely
to use them, but people with low self-esteem are more likely
to use this tactic since it is consistent with their self
view.
Work settings with hard, monotonous tasks may trigger this
tactic, and antagonistic labor-management relations will do
so too. Lax management, in which supervisors neglect to
assign duties to individuals, will also cause it.
Aside from the ignominy of being fooled by a few of our
employees, there are other, more serious consequences of this
behavior. Armed with incorrect impressions of employee
capabilities, we may impose an unfair burden on our best
people while allowing some employees to contribute far below
their capabilities. The consequences on turnover, productivity, goals,
customer satisfaction, and costs are impossible to
quantify.
For managers, this is a blind spot. We imagine other
people to be just like we are, with similar hopes and dreams,
values and fears. They aren't. Nurturing a bad image at
work is the last thing most managers would do. For some
employees, it's the first thing they do.
Who are your weakest people? Who is absent from work,
late, sick? Who takes the longest breaks? Who lets everyone
know when they make a mistake? Who is always busy or absent
when difficult assignments are made?
Review the distribution of work among your employees. Who
does what? Observe work patterns yourself, and most
importantly, act. Assign tasks reflecting an equitable
division of the work. Most of your employees will appreciate
your attention. The ones who don't may be getting the
message you want to send.
Reference:
Becker, Thomas E., and Scott L. Martin (1995) Trying to
Look Bad at Work: Methods and Motives for Managing Poor
Impressions in Organizations.
Academy of Management Journal,
38 (1), 174-199.
Supervision Findings, by James Larsen, Ph.D.
Something Employees Know
Some employees carefully nurture images of being poor employees to manipulate managers and other employees. This research explores their motives and tactics.