Episode 13: How to Blame and Punish Employees Like a Pro (But Really, Don’t) with Dr. Bertram Malle

The Management Theory Toolbox

Key Topics:

• Blame and Punishment:
  • Examination of blame and punishment as tools for maintaining organizational balance.
  • Discussion on the psychological and organizational impacts of these mechanisms.
• Norms and Behavior:
  • Importance of norms in guiding behavior and responses to violations.
  • Punishment should be a last resort; other corrective measures are preferable.

Takeaways:

• Harsh punishment can be destructive and damaging to organizational climate.
• Punishment should be a last resort; other corrective measures should precede it.
• Importance of norms in governing behavior and responses to violations.
• Distinction between private and public blame, and the importance of fair and constructive criticism.
• Exploration of restorative justice as an alternative to punitive measures in organizations.

Further Reading:

• Podsakoff et al. (2006), "Relationships Between Leader Reward Behavior and Punishment Behavior and Subordinate Attitudes, Perceptions, and Behaviors: A Meta-Analytic Review" Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
• Trevino (1992), "The Social Effects of Punishment in Organizations: A Justice Perspective" Academy of Management Review.
• Molemaker et al. (2016), "The Impact of Personal Responsibility on the (Un)Willingness to Punish Non-Cooperation and Reward Cooperation" Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

Links to Our Guest:

• Dr. Bertram Malle, Brown University.
  • Brown University Faculty Directory
  • Social Cognitive Science Research Lab
  • Google Scholar

Bertram F. Malle [Guest] earned his Master’s degrees in philosophy/linguistics (1987) and psychology (1989) at the University of Graz, Austria. After coming to the United States in 1990 he received his Ph.D. at Stanford University in 1995 and joined the University of Oregon Psychology Department. Since 2008 he is Professor at the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences at Brown University. He received the Society of Experimental Social Psychology Outstanding Dissertation award, a National Science Foundation CAREER award, and he is past president of the Society of Philosophy and Psychology. Malle’s research has been funded by the NSF, Army, Templeton Foundation, Office of Naval Research, and DARPA. He has distributed his work in 130 articles and several books, on the topics of social cognition (intentionality, mental state inferences, behavior explanations), moral psychology (cognitive and social blame, guilt, norms), and human-robot interaction (moral competence in robots, socially assistive robotics).

Chapters

1. Episode 13: How to Blame and Punish Employees Like a Pro (But Really, Don’t) with Dr. Bertram Malle (00:00:00)

2. Blame, Punishment, and Organizational Norms (00:00:01)

3. Response to Transgressions and Moral Psychology (00:05:40)

4. Consequences of Punishment and Blame (00:17:21)

5. Transformative Justice and Community Transformation (00:25:41)

6. Effective Workplace Discipline and Consequences (00:30:03)

7. Disciplinary Procedures for Organizational Fairness (00:34:28)