Great at Work: The Hidden Habits of Top Performers

by Morten T. Hansen

After you fight, you must unite. That means people on a team have to commit to a decision—to agree to it and exert effort to implement it. So why wouldn’t people commit? Research on the topic of fair processes in groups has shown that employees have trouble committing to a decision when they perceive the process as unfair. In a meta-analysis of 148 field studies covering 56,531 employees, Professors Yochi Cohen-Charash and Paul E. Spector conclude that employees viewed a process as unfair if they could not voice their opinions before a decision was made. That perception in turn led people to harbor negative attitudes and engage in counterproductive behaviors (including spreading rumors, doing work incorrectly, and even stealing and destroying equipment!).34 The first requirement to get people to commit, then, is to make sure everyone on the team has a chance to express their opinions and that people consider and discuss them. Then people will be more likely to commit to a decision, even if they disagree with it.