Revenge is sweet but justice is sweeter

When people think of workplace revenge they usually think of a situation where a worker or ex-workers goes into their workplace and uses a gun on another worker, but they are wrong.  Workplace revenge comes in many other forms as well.   

Workplace revenge can be an everyday occurrence.  Without knowing it you could be the one carrying out revenge.   

According to authors, Thomas Tripp and Robert Bies of the book Getting Even: The Truth About Workplace Revenge - And How To Stop It, workers seek revenge in subtle ways for injustices that happen in the workplace. 

“The book is filled with stories of revenge, and many readers will find themselves feeling more sympathy for the person seeking revenge than the person on the receiving end- in fact, you might, unexpectedly find yourself sometimes cheering the revenge-seekers on.”

The authors say revenge can be sweet. Revenge is sweet because it is about justice. Employees need to see their workplaces as fair. Employees want justice restored when they perceive certain acts as unfair.

"Victims want to see offenders punished, and possibly to get back whatever the offenders took away from them, whether it be their money, their sense of 'law and order' in the organization, or even their reputation," the authors write. Either the organization acts to restore justice, or the upset party takes vigilante action.

The authors state that if a particular workplace has many occurrences of revenge then it is sign that the organization and its members are thought of as unjust.  It also indicates that the workplace does not have adequate channels for addressing perceived wrongs. 

"You can view revenge as a sometimes positive phenomenon. It's a way of restoring justice where justice has broken down, and it can be a potent motivator for constructive change," the authors write.

Revenge occurs when an individual harms, mistreats, insults or otherwise offends another individual. The upset person might be unable to achieve their goal, see someone breaking the rules and social norms, or feel his or her reputation has been damaged.

If the upset person feels that the offender acted intentionally, he or she is more likely to blame the person. Then the upset person has a choice: the person can pick reconciliation, forgiveness or revenge.

The individual choosing revenge is dependent on three factors. “The first is social power: The more power the aggrieved person has relative to the offender, the more means that person has for a retaliatory action- and therefore, the more likely he or she will choose a way to get even.”

The next factor is the organizational climate: “The fairer the organization, the more likely the victim will use official grievance channels, such as appealing to a respected manager or using an ombudsperson, over revenge.”

“Finally, personality traits play a role: Some people are more forgiving of offences than others.”

Most often getting revenge will stop with revenge-seeking fantasies. However, that does not guarantee that an act of revenge won’t follow.

The upset person could isolate the other individual from their work-life. He or she might decline to respond or assist a colleague who caused the trouble. Or he or she could work slower to get even with a boss.

More extreme acts of revenge include unloading crappy assignments on other individuals, tattling to colleagues or a boss about the wrong someone committed, or setting out to damage the other individual's reputation inside or even outside the workplace.

An effective way to prevent workplace revenge is to make sure employees are treated fairly.  By doing so, employees will avoid seeking revenge.  Employees will also feel they have a sense of law and order.  They will deal with their problems through the workplace system instead of taking their problems into their own hands.

Read more here

Posted by: suhujitha on 2009-05-11 12:34:09

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