Very early in my career I was working on a team project that had fairly broad implications for my firm.  There were seven of us in total and we typically convened via phone two to three times a week.  We began with a quick roll call, and without fail you would hear this long, drawn-out, exhausted sigh from Wendy.  Actually it was more of a hiss, like air escaping slowly from the human balloon that supported Wendy’s exasperated soul.  Wendy’s slithery response drained all energy from the living. Did I mention that she was the executive sponsor? Following several painful weeks, the project was eventually euthanized by Wendy’s depressive and pessimistic persona.
In a late December episode of “This American Life”, host Ira Glass interviewed Rotterdam School of Management professor Will Felps regarding the so-called Bad Apple Effect.  Felps designed an experiment to test whether one bad apple did, in fact, spoil the bunch.  An actor was hired to play the role of either a jerk, slacker or depressive during a highly incented group activity.  The group had no idea that a confederate was in their midst and the actor’s behavior was both abhorrent and laughable (listen to the podcast for details). Â
Conventional wisdom states that groups are powerful forces that can overcome the actions of a sole participant. Â Felps’ results suggest otherwise:
“Invariably, the groups that had the actor…performed 30 to 40 percent worse. Â People would argue and fight, not share their relevant information and communicate less when he was any of these types of the bad apples. Â What was eerily surprising was how the [other] team members would start to take on his characteristics!” – Will Felps
Ira Glass was a bit “haunted” by the realization that groups are a function of the actions of the WORST team member. He goes further by wondering how often he himself has been the bad seed. Â
What about you?  Have you been the hostile jerk?  The indifferent slacker?  The aching depressive?  Have you single-handedly derailed the success of a project?  I know I have.  Repent by sharing your bad apple stories and let’s keep the conversation going.
10 Comments
wow! Great topic. I think there is a relationship between this and the idea that sometimes removing a bad team member is the best management decision you can take. I tend to believe that a bad attitude is a cancer that will spread, this is essentially what you are showing here.
@Meg Bear – I think you’re on to the more interesting angle. The question is how to measure the merits of who is being “bad” and whether it’s temporary or systemic. I personally know that I’ve been a bad apple, but I’m not always that way.
In another life, in another job, the brains behind the organization hired a harassing, groping, chest-staring kind of jerk for our VP. And in a staff leadership meeting of which I was a member, I told him that I would do everything in my power to get him fired. Said that in front of other people. Talk about sucking the air out of the room.
I suspect that I was the bad apple and the hostile jerk. I was (and am) the kind of person who will say things the don’t normally get said, but with age, I am a little more tactful. And oh did he eventually get canned.
That was fun is a bad, hostile sort of way.
As HR Maven began, in another life…I was one reporter of several who had covered a catastrophic airliner-small plane mid-air collision. Horrific. The team’s editor asked us to come up with ideas for how to follow up on the story. Maybe I was just burned out, but my response was something like: the system is doomed, nothing will ever change. Etc. The editor semi-glared at me, thanked me for my input and….I was not on the reporting team that went forth and did a terrific job of pouncing on the story and detailing what went wrong and how it could and should be changed. She was right to leave me out, given what we’ve heard in this story. I think I got my act together after that…at least I hope so.
I was on a huge ERP implementation some time back, and we had a guy on the team who, if left on the project any longer, would have killed the whole thing. We nicknamed him ‘The Scowler’. Here was his deal: We had an ‘end of the day’ status meeting every day at 5:00. If you were working on something with this guy he would grab you at 4:55 and give you an update on that part of the project. When the project manager called on you in the meeting, and you repeated word-for-word what the guy just told you, he would immediately begin sighing, fidgeting, and visibly scowling at you. If he had to, he would deny saying whatever it was he just told you. He basically made it a regular habit of throwing anyone he could under the bus. Mercifully, he was sent packing, and the status meetings became somewhat bearable.
@HR Maven – You bring up a really good follow-up question. Are you truly the “bad apple” if your cause is just and purposeful? Sounds like the guy was a real tool.
@Carroll Lachnit – That’s an awful situation. On one hand you’re being asked to set aside the emotions associated with a terrible catastrophe. On the other you “doomsdayed” the team. (This is one of the reasons I got out of broadcast journalism in college.) Sounds like your boss handled the situation well while still giving you the opportunity to learn.
@Steve Boese – I think I’ve worked with ‘The Scowler’ on some of my projects!
Unfortunately, Bus Drivers seem to find careers in systems implementation work all the time. It’s a nice second career. And the real kicker? They never take one bit of responsibility for their own contributions (or lack thereof). I feel your pain on this one.
I have been thinking about your comment – in another way, do the ends justify the means? He would probably say no. I was younger, and brash, and would probably say yes. But I could have done it differently – more thoughtful and discerning, less abrasive, in-your-face. Same ends, perhaps different means.
What it has helped me do is call out those in meetings who have an agenda, or a disagreement but a little more tactfully and thoughtfully. At least I learned from it.
@HR Maven – I think negative lessons are much more powerful than positive ones. Maybe you could teach me this elusive concept of “tactfully and thoughtfully” sometime, hmm?
I think the worst thing is when you get the Bad Apple at the top of any work group. You have someone with a massive ego and no impulse control in charge of a large project or business, and single-handed, they manage to bring an entire work group or organization to a grinding halt.
It is tough to manage when you report to that person. I have been in that situation a couple of times. Once I left. Once I was responsible for the other person leaving. There seemed to be no other alternative.
Just realized, it sort of sounds like the current White House… shit
@Michael VanDervort – I’ve experienced some variation of this in virtually every client situation. Sometimes Bad Apple behavior is rewarded, resulting in work group leaders who are known for “getting sh** done” regardless of the amount of carnage or broken glass. Like you, I’ve been responsible for “coring” a few of those folks myself.