RCRG
Syndicate
] "Despite its wide use, punishment can have unfortunate side effects. First, there is a high probability that the response will be reduced only when the punishment agent is present....Second, punishment may result in avoidance, hostility, or even counteragression toward the punishing agent." (p. 235)
"The lack of candor is one of the biggest tragedies in organizations because we don't speak truth to power. And so people who know the truth don't speak the truth where it would help. In my own study, I discovered that seven out of ten people will not speak up even if they know that what their boss is going to do is going to get him and the company in trouble. They will not be candid. They are not encouraged to speak up--they see dissenters being punished, not rewarded, and so the truth never gets out. There is no incentive for speaking up." (p. 34)
"The manager whose conception of cause and effect in human behavior is mechanical must rely on the 'orneriness' of human nature for an explanation of the many forms of indifference or resistance to managerial influence. The only way he can conceive of to counteract them is to increase the threat of extrinsic punishment (which often aggravates the symptoms he is trying to eliminate)." (p. 15)
"Punishments in business rarely have to do with performance. In the now famous Ford/Iacocca story, Ford is reputed to have told Iacocca that he just didn't like him. Ford suffers the bluntness of befuddled kings, but his comment describes the situation throughout business and government: careers rise and fall on such irrational judgements." (p. 298)