Impulsivity

Because the people, processes, systems, structures and culture of workplaces are not perfect we ultimately need to rely on individual responsibility, judgment and decision-making. And to control the individual, organisations often use blame to make employees fall in line.

Take an employee who works on a construction site. They may have the wrong tools to complete the job, poor supervision and unclear direction. If they decide to cut corners many workplaces are quick to focus on their risk-taking behaviour rather than significantly improve the workplace factors that contributed to this poor performance.When they fail to comply more conscientious employees feel guilty. These feelings of guilt should, in theory, lead to employees reflecting on their failures so that they can be more careful and risk-averse in future.

However, studies have shown that feelings of guilt generate more risk-taking. Across several experiments, researchers made participants complete activities that induced these feelings of guilt. Other participants were simply made to feel other emotions, such as sadness.

The participants were then presented with a series of decisions. The guilty participants consistently made riskier decisions than the other group.

The researchers argue that we experience guilt when we believe we had control over the outcome of a situation. For example, guilty participants in one study believed they had much greater control over uncontrollable factors such as the economy.

So, a focus on blaming employees, rather than fixing workplace conditions, could actually be promoting the illusion of control.

How does this ultimately play out? Blaming employees reinforces this illusion of control. Employees continue to believe that their safety and performance are in their own hands.

Employees, therefore, are indirectly encouraged to rely on their own judgment and make decisions on the fly rather than seek help and recommend or make smarter, long-term changes to their working environment.

When a colleague hurts himself or cuts a corner it’s just his fault for failing to take personal responsibility and accountability. The cycle continues.

Imagine if workplaces were strongly encouraged—and even rewarded—for actively looking for long-term and enduring changes to the workplace. What would really happen if there was a ‘no blame’ policy?

Would people revolt and do silly things or would they now have the right mindset to start fixing the workplace?