UCL School of Management Associate Professor Anthony Klotz has recently featured in a publication from the Academy of Management to share his insights on the widely accepted dichotomy amongst managers that workplace employees can either be categorised as ‘good soldiers’ or ‘bad apples’. An expert in workplace behaviour, Anthony’s research often explores how and why employees balance their good and bad deeds at work.

Resisting the notion that organisational leaders can simply categorise workers, Anthony argues that the reality of the situation is that employees engage in both positive and negative behaviours at work and managers should instead focus on the principle of moral licensing. According to Anthony, this refers to the individual setpoint that many of us use when performing day-to-day tasks. For some, consistent hard work or additional responsibilities may encourage ‘good’ employees to deviate from their usual behaviours and thereby pushing them further into the ‘bad’ category.

Conversely, if employees consistently notice mistakes or errors on their part, they may exceed this moral setpoint in other areas to alleviate this. The solution? According to Anthony, it’s getting to know your team and understanding the pressures they are under. If a company requires continuous growth and improvement, employees may start to deviate from their normal behaviour in other ways. Similarly, understanding their team will help managers to assign work in accordance with values and skills.

Check out more of Anthony Klotz’s research.