The Bad Apple Theory: The Bad Coworker Effect

The rotten apple theory tells us that in every organization there is a worker whose attitude or personality can ‘infect’ the rest through their behavior. These presences not only cause discomfort, sick leave and unhappiness in the work environment, but also represent a great economic expense for the companies themselves.

“What can I say? I hired the wrong guy and he destroyed everything I had been working on for 10 years. ”  These words were spoken by Steve Jobs when he recruited Apple CEO John Sculley, a person for whom he had to leave the company he created at one point. Now, this famous case is not the only one; in fact, as a study by the Glassdoor group reveals, 95% of companies claim to hire at least one bad apple every year.

How is it possible? What influence does a single person have to alter the foundations of an entire organization and generate such a negative impact? Many experts speak of a domino effect.

There are personalities so harmful that they are capable of undermining the morale of an entire work team. And that is not all, in many cases the impact does not only reach the co-workers, but also the clients are targets of these bad arts, little success or harmful personality.

Let’s see more data on the subject.

The rotten apple theory or how one person destabilizes an entire organization

The theory of the rotten apple has been known for years, but to this day we still do not know what measures to use to prevent this phenomenon. The University of Washington carried out an interesting study in 2007 led by Dr. William Felps to demonstrate and explain the causes of this theory.

It could be seen, for example, that the negative behavior of a single member in a company can have an immense influence on the entire organization. And not only that, work problems often circumvent this scenario to also reach the personal and family sphere. Conflicts at work don’t stay at work, we take them with us. The impact is therefore considerable at all levels.

If we now ask ourselves how are those people who assume the role of bad apples ‘infecting’ others, it is very possible that some of these behaviors are known to us:

• People who avoid their own work and responsibilities, even putting their own tasks on the shoulders of others.
• Pessimistic, defeatist and tremendously critical of everything.
• Workers who act like real bullies. They are figures who use an aggressive attitude, applying intimidation, mockery, criticism, etc.
• Dishonest behaviors are also common . They are people who come to make use of illegality, writing false reports, making use of deception, blackmail, etc.

Why don’t companies have filters to identify bad apples?

Something that the bad apple theory reveals to us is this: In general, companies follow the practice of hiring quickly and firing slowly. What does that mean? In many organizations, the need to fill a position can force a rapid and inefficient selection process.

Sometimes, this immediacy means that values ​​in important variables are not taken into account. To this is added another essential fact, and that is that frequently the tests to assess a candidate do not allow us to intuit hidden factors of personality or future behaviors in the workplace.

Thus, in many cases, we can get carried away by hard skills, by that extensive curriculum, by training, experience, the way to function and assertiveness. However, time is not always available to delve into soft skills, such as team-building skills, positive attitude, interpersonal sensitivity, self-control, or Emotional Intelligence.

What to do when a bad apple escapes the filters of the selection processes?

We pointed it out at the beginning: on average, each company ends up hiring a bad apple every year. Selection processes fail and the consequences are quickly felt. A polluted work climate is created, employees become frustrated, they live on the defensive, stress, casualties and productivity problems appear.

What to do in these cases? Beyond what it may seem, these situations are often not resolved quickly. The theory of the bad apple tells us that, on average, it takes a long time to intervene, when the first to suffer the impact of these toxic and negative presences are the workers. As we can assume, it is not always easy to report such behaviors or convince management to intervene.

To this day, a large part of the organizations continue to function through verticality and not horizontality. In other words, that flexibility, that direct communication between employees and management is not always abundant. This corporate hierarchy makes the bad apples last, infecting more and more scenarios and increasing instability.

It is not the right thing to do. Bad apples need to be caught as soon as possible for the good of the entire organization. After identification, you can carry out information work to improve your skills when working as a team, you can be moved to a position with a less interactive position or, finally, you can proceed to dismissal. Be that as it may, these types of situations require firm, fast and effective actions. Passivity only causes wear and tear situations, from which only losses are derived.