The theory of rotten apple says that in every organization there is a worker whose attitude or personality can. . . the rest for his behavior.
These presences are not only a source of unrest, sick leave and unhappiness at work, but they also represent significant economic expenditure for businesses.
- I hired the wrong guy and destroyed everything I worked for 10 years?These words were uttered by Steve Jobs when he recruited Apple CEO John Sculley.
- Someone for whom he had to leave the company he founded in a moment.
This famous case is not the only one; as a glassdoor group study shows, 95% of companies report renting at least one rotten apple a year.
How is that possible?What influence does a single person have to change the foundations of an entire organization and have such a negative impact?Many experts talk about a domino effect.
There are personalities so harmful that they are able to damage the environment of an entire team. And that’s not all: in many cases the impact doesn’t just affect peers; customers are also influenced by such misconduct or harmful personalities.
We’ll look at more data on the subject
“Hiring people for a company isn’t always easy, especially when interviews and personality tests are considered inaccurate in predicting the candidate’s future professional performance.
The rotten apple theory has been known for years, but even today we do not yet know what steps to take to prevent this phenomenon. The University of Washington conducted an interesting study in 2007, led by Dr. William Felps, in which he demonstrated and explained the causes of this theory.
We can see, for example, that the negative behavior of a single member of a company can have a big influence across the organization.
Not only that, labor problems usually overcome this scenario to also reach a personal and family level, labor disputes do not stay at work, we take them with us, so the impact is considerable at all levels.
If you’re wondering how these people are taking the role of rotten apples, others, we may very well know some of these behaviors:
This is what the rotten apple theory reveals: companies generally follow the practice of rapid hiring and slow layoff. What does that mean? In many organizations, the need to fill a position can force a rapid and ineffective selection process.
Sometimes this immediacy does not take into account important values and variables. In addition, there is another essential fact: often, a candidate’s assessment tests do not allow to evaluate hidden personality factors or future behaviors in the workplace.
In many cases, we can get carried away by technical skills, a comprehensive curriculum, training, experience, how to develop and assert ourselves.
However, it’s not always time to delve into personal skills, such as the ability to work as a team, positive attitude, interpersonal sensitivity, self-control, or emotional intelligence.
As we mentioned at the beginning, on average, each company ends up renting one rotten apple a year, the selection processes fail and the consequences are obvious.
A polluted work environment is created, employees become frustrated, they live on the defensive, stress, layoffs and productivity problems arise.
What to do in these cases? In addition to what may seem, these situations are often not resolved quickly, the rotten apple theory says that, on average, it takes a long time to intervene, and the first to suffer the impact of these toxic and negative presences are workers.
Presumably, it is not always easy to report these behaviors or convince management to intervene. Today, many organizations continue to operate vertically, not horizontally.
In other words, there is not always a flexibility that allows direct communication between employees and management, this corporate hierarchy makes bad apples last, infects more and more scenarios and increases instability.
That’s not enough. Rotten apples should be detected as quickly as possible for the good of the entire organization. After identification, informational training is possible to improve your teamwork skills. The person can be transferred to a position with a less interactive position. or finally, you can continue with the dismissal.
In all cases, such situations require firm, fast and effective action, passivity only causes wear, which results in significant losses.