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The Perils of Punishment!

The short version of this article. For the full version please email us.

Related articles: Normal Expectations, Motivation: A Whistlestop Tour, Tale of Two Managers, Challenging & Changing Team Norms, Behaviour & The Traffic Light Concepts, Why People Don't Do What They're Supposed To Do The GAP Movie,Bullying Report, and Bullying Quiz

If you would like the full, extended version of this article please email us for a complementary copy for your personal study.

Right, you're done!

Some folk have mistakenly formed the impression that PUNISHMENT is an effective management strategy - nothing could be further from the truth!


While it might be true that punishment sometimes works to eliminate unwanted behaviours and to increase wanted behaviours, the results of punishment are so unpredictable and unreliable that using it only makes senseif you're a high risk gambler!


Punishment (like poorly designed rewards) is quick and easy, relieves stress and anxiety...and often produces COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE RESULTS (the OPPOSITE of what is wanted).


This is because

A) Punishment encourages people to AVOID the punishment - BUT does NOT
indicate what behaviour they should use instead - ie it does not shape or
guide FUTURE behaviour.

So they may cover up, or hide, or get sneaky, or replace the punished behaviour with ANOTHER or WORSE unwanted behaviour... rather than doing what you want.

This is especially the case when the behaviour produces both YOUR PUNISHMENT of them PLUS other rewarding outccomes for them (eg Maybe I get yelled at but... I also get fame, attention, recognition, stress relief, a sense of power, the admiration of my co-workers etc!).

B) The discouraging effects of punishment wear off over time if the person persists with the behaviour (law of diminishing return) - eg first time I yell, you desist, second time you go ouch..third time you yawn and think 'there she goes again'...

This sets the punisher up to fail - so what do you do? Keep increasing the severity of punishment and end up defeated by the numerous laws and policies that limit you? Or give up and let the badly behaved and poorly performed win?

Either way - once you start punishing, you lose!


C) You've gotta be there and catch 'em and punish EVERY TIME in order for punishment to be effective - otherwise, if they are only intermittently punished then... they are also intermittently rewarded!

In other words, each time they get away with the behaviour without punishment they are rewarded - with a sense of satisfaction or power or relief or pleasure... this is how the game of 'catch me if you can' begins - it's exciting and quickly becomes addictive!

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D) If people believe that the punishment is unfair - look out!
When people perceive that punishment is unfair - and that can happen whether it is or not - then their motivaton shifts away from work and to doing whatever it takes to make things fair again. There are some predictable, and common ways to do this - each one guaranteed to cause you even greater frustration. They will

  1. reduce their effort or contribution (eg slow down; stop using their brains, put in less thought, care, energy or time)
  2. increase their take-outs: look for ways to get what they believe to be their fair and earned rewards (take longer breaks; use work equipment for personal use; surf the net; take sickies when they're not sick; pilferg; etc)
  3. change their perception of you (stop respecting or trusting you)
  4. act on you (make life harder; sabotage or seek revenge; lobby you; go over your head, or argue with you)
  5. leave - either actually or - more troublesome for you - mentally (I call this 'doing a ROJER...where ROJ means 'retiring on the job')

All this RATHER THAN improving their performance...


In summary then, the findings from research and practice strongly suggest that relying on punishment to shape desired behaviours WILL LIKELY FAIL and FRUSTRATE.

But hey... If you're committed to using punishment despite the evidence...it's your choice!

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If you're not... what can you do?

The ABCs of Active Management!

There are a number of approaches you can use - here we concentrate on two - Leveraging the Power of Natural Consequences and The ABCs of Managing Learning

Here's a short intro into using the A-B-Cs of Managing Learning that you might find helpful...

A = Antecedents - a fancy word for 'triggers'

B = Behaviour - the thing you want them to DO

C = Consequences - what THEY EXPERIENCE when they do that Behaviour



A) Provide effective Antecedents

Use effective TRIGGERS for the behaviours you want. Here are a few ways to do that

B) Catch people doing the right Behaviours and doing the Behaviour right

Notice what they do well instead of focusing on what they do badly or wrong.
Get clear in your mind what behaviours you WANT - then look for them - because it's easy to miss what people are doing right!
If you only pay attention to what they're doing wrong - they'll resent it! And you'll get caught in punishment's traps.

If you do catch 'em doing wrong - then COACH' EM on what to do right.

So plan what to look for and catch people behaving the ways you want them to behave. Then...

C) Provide positive Consequences to reinforce the behaviour

Make it worth their while and make it REWARDING to do right.

How? Find out why they don't do it the way you want - listen to learn.

Look for ways to make it rewarding, satisfying/interesting, safe, exciting, and easier to do the things you want them to do...do whatever you can to minimse frustration, pain, obstacles, difficulties, energy drains, failure etc. Find out what frustrates them and drains their enrgy and enthusiasm. Tackle these things. Set clear goals that make sense and make people part of your success.

Provide positive recognition when they do it right, for the people who do right and do well - show that you notice - say thanks, say nice job; show appreciation; and of course make sure your reward system actually rewards them.

It takes more skill and thought to do this of course... But that may just be what's expected of you as a manager! AND it may just save you a few premature grey hairs - not to mention improve business!

 

If you would like the full, extended version of this article please email us for a complementary copy for your personal study.

You are person number to read this article since 20-10- 2003!
Remember to exercise judgment and discretion in choosing whether, when and how to use any of these concepts and suggestions to inform your consideration of issues.

Nothing in this article constitutes advice for specific matters or issues you may be considering - so please ensure that you source appropriate, professional advice on specific matters you confront.

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