Managers must make guilt work for them with unruly staff

Have you had a subordinate or peer who’s always late for work, misses meetings or does not carry his share of the work? Despite your reminders, cajoling or even angry demands, things barely improve. The solution – put him on a guilt trip.

Guilt, as it turns out, is a powerful motivator to steer change towards positive behaviour.

When an employee behaves undesirably, tell him exactly what he has done wrong and how it has impacted other co-workers or the company. This produces feelings of guilt, which in turn, elicits behaviour to repair the harm caused. Better future behaviour is then engendered.

To assess the veracity of this, my research colleagues and I conducted a three-phase study. In Phase 1, employees were asked how often they engage in negative behaviours, or what is called counterproductive work behaviour, such as playing a mean prank on someone at work or taking an additional or longer break than is acceptable at the workplace. The extent to which they felt guilty for such behaviour was also measured.

In Phase 2, half of them were given feedback on their behaviour, and the other half were not. For those who engaged in relatively high levels of counterproductive work behaviour and were given feedback, the feedback made it clear that such behaviours were harmful for other employees and for the organisation.

Feelings of guilt as well as intention to engage in positive organisational citizenship behaviours such as assisting others with their duties and offering ideas to improve the functioning of the organisation were recorded for all.