It is well-known that negative interactions have a bigger impact than positive ones, and that people tend to remember a person’s bad qualities more vividly than their good ones. These observations were included in a recent Wall Street Journal Story titled, “How a Few Bad Apples Ruin Everything.” The story relates directly to Crestcom training this December - Dealing with difficult people.

Such statements have serious implications for productivity in the workplace. Or, as the Journal article notes, citing an experiment from the Rotterdam School of Management: “Having just one slacker or jerk in a group can bring down performance by 30% to 40%.”
“I am quite sure that bad is stronger than good,” says Wharton operations and information management professor Maurice E. Schweitzer. “It is true in most incentive domains and it is true with respect to emotions. Anger, for example, is typically a more durable emotion than happiness.”

In terms of employees or members of an organization, Schweitzer adds, “a bad employee can cause considerable damage. One unpleasant interaction can have incidental effects on many other, unrelated judgments and decisions. My own work and the work of others document this. Bad employees can harm the morale, effectiveness and even the connection others feel with the organization. For example, the pride I feel as part of my institution is diminished when others I dislike are also a part of it.”

You can read the whole story at:
http://knowledgetoday.wharton.upenn.edu/2011/11/the-bad-apple-syndrome/