Credit and Blame at Work

Exploring the psychological forces at play while you work.

by Ben Dattner

Mindlessness at Work

Whether or not we are employed as actors on television or the silver screen, all of us have pre-programmed “scripts” that guide our actions in many situations. Read More

When leaders succumb to the temptation to look the other way, to deny blame, to blame others, or to scapegoat individuals in the short term, they and their entire organizations or constituencies end up paying a huge price over the longer term. James Murdoch is currently in the process of learning this lesson at News Corp. Read More

Re-enacting family dynamics in the workplace

Sometimes, workplace emotions and behavior, whether our own or others', seem hard to understand. A confident and decisive executive may lose her nerve when her boss comes to a meeting, two co-workers may get caught up in what seems to everyone to be analogous to sibling rivalry, and everyone might have disproportionate dread of their annual performance review. Read More

Don't try to game credit and blame

Too much of a focus on avoiding blame and getting credit can cause us to paradoxically achieve less and to anger our colleagues, coworkers and bosses. Read More

Preventing "Groupthink"

"Groupthink" is a dynamic wherein members of a team see the world through a biased, narrow lens, reach premature conclusions, and make bad decisions. Read More

The tragedy of the commons makes the organizational pie smaller

Leaders don't just manage organizations, they also manage cultures and hidden economies of credit and blame. Patterns of credit and blame in a workplace can either foster organizational growth, evolution and learning or cause companies to stagnate and devolve into dysfunctional politics and finger pointing. Read More

Are You Playing the Blame Game?

We all tend to give ourselves undue credit when things go well and to shirk responsibility when things go badly. Read More

An Overview of The Blame Game

How the hidden rules of credit and blame determine our success and failure Read More

Chapters of Blame

Here's a preview of the chapters in my forthcoming book, The Blame Game: How the hidden rules of credit and blame determine our success and failure (Free Press, March 15, 2011) Read More

Q + A about "The Blame Game"

Author Q&A with Ben Dattner, Ph.D. for "The Blame Game: How the hidden rules of credit and blame determine our success and failure" (Free Press, March 15, 2011)

Why does credit and blame matter? Read More

Opportunity to take a free "Credit and Blame Type Assessment"

Hello Everyone-As part of my forthcoming book, The Blame Game, I have developed a psychometric assessment in partnership with Robert Hogan of Hogan Assessment Systems, and Performance Programs Inc, based on the Hogan Development Survey.

If you'd like to see a sample of what the report looks like, it's viewable at:http://www.creditandblame.com/cbta Read More

The Blame Game- Publication Date March 15 2011

"The Blame Game" will be published on March 15th, 2011.

Chapters include:

1. The Nature of Credit and Blame- how human evolution has influenced the dynamics of credit-taking and blame-casting

2. The Nurture of Credit and Blame- how early life experience, culture, gender, and socialization influence how people assign, and react to, credit and blame Read More

Opportunity to take new, free, online "credit and blame" assessment

I'm working with Performance Programs and Hogan Assessments on a new "Credit and Blame" style assessment that will be referred to in my upcoming 2011 book on the topic of Credit and Blame in the Workplace.

This assessment will provide valuable feedback about how you assign, and react to, credit and blame. Read More

Energy-killing blame, energy-creating credit

I had a fascinating conversation yesterday with Tony Schwartz, the author of "The Way We're Working Isn't Working" and founder of The Energy Project. Tony's work is focused on how we can meet four key energy needs:

Sustainability (physical)

Security (emotional)

Self-expression (mental)

Significance (spiritual) Read More

Credit and Blame at Work

For better or for worse, the dynamics of credit and blame are at the heart of every organization and make or break every career. Unfortunately, credit and blame are rarely assigned in an objective or fair manner, and individual psychology, team dynamics, and corporate culture all influence the process by which credit and blame are allocated. Read More

360 degrees of credit and blame

As mentioned in earlier postings, credit and blame is at the heart of organizational psychology, for better or for worse. The "who, what, where, why, when, and how" of the assignment of positive regard or negative feedback in the workplace is a key driver of either productive or dysfunctional dynamics and performance at the individual, team, and organizational levels. Read More

Rationalizing your boss's rationalizations

Credit and blame are at the heart of organizational behavior. Over the years, issues of credit and blame have been among my clients' top concerns. When working well, credit and blame can enable individuals, teams, and entire organizations to confront reality and effectively move forward. When broken, however, credit and blame can derail efforts at any level of an organization. Read More

Introducing a new interactive blog series: Credit and Blame at Work

Dear Readers,

I am pleased to launch a new interactive "series" on this blog: "Credit and Blame at Work".

I'm currently working on a book about credit and blame, and will give due credit to anyone who can post an interesting response or a helpful link in response to the topics that we will be exploring together. Read More

Making the Most of Your Promotion

What's worse for your mental well being- being laid off or being promoted? Read More

The baggage we bring to work each day

Henry Ford reportedly once complained that all he wanted from a worker was a pair of hands, but that he had to deal with the whole person instead. Each of us brings our whole self to work each day, regardless of whether we have a chance to express and actualize ourselves in our jobs. Read More

Holding managers accountable for their hiring decisions

Imagine you're the CEO of a hypothetical mutual fund company with 10 different mutual funds and 40 managers of those funds. Now, imagine you didn't know which manager had bought which stocks. Absurd, right? You would never be able to make adjustments as far as which managers were good stock pickers and which ones were not. Read More

Valid and invalid concerns about the validity of 360's

360 degree feedback is an increasingly popular tool for executive coaching and leadership development. An individual evaluates him or herself along some predetermined quantitative and qualitative dimensions, providing numerical ratings for the quantitative items and comments for the qualitative ones. Read More

Good feedback, bad feedback

In the current economic environment, it is crucial for individuals, teams and organizations to continuously improve their performance. Getting and giving useful performance feedback, whether through a formal performance appraisal system, or through less formal, more ad-hoc tools like Rypple, can help greatly. Read More

The unavoidable conspiracy in every workplace

Everyone has their own favorite indicators of the sorry state of our economy and the stress that it is causing. Some people point to empty restaurants in New York City, plunging condo prices in Miami, or lengthening unemployment lines. Others point to the growth in prescriptions for anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medications. Read More

Better interviewing through psychology

In these difficult economic times, many people are in transition and looking for new jobs. Even though employment interviews are often unreliable and invalid predictors of job performance, they remain the most common and most heavily weighted selection methodology for most employers.

Influence without authority

In the current economic turmoil, one thing has become clear. In an enviroment of cutbacks, downsizing, and restructuring, formal lines of authority and accountability have been seriously disrupted and blurred. Read More

Screwing up in the workplace

Much has been said and written about how President Obama differs from his predecessor in the oval office in both substance and style. These distinctions were highlighted yesterday when President Obama candidly admitted "I screwed up" in the cabinet nominations he had made. Read More

So you want to be an I/O Psychologist?

Since I teach in the Industrial and Organizational MA Program at New York University, I often get asked to describe the field. I/O Psychology might sound like a narrow field of study and practice, but in fact it's quite broad, encompassing topics as from individual motivation in the workplace to team dynamics to organizational culture change. Read More

Assessing and developing your company's assessment and development system

In the current economic environment, companies are increasingly realizing that their only endurable source of competitive advantage is how well they can assess and develop their human capital. Pre-employment intelligence and personality testing are more common than ever, and leadership development and executive coaching programs are becoming standard in organizations large and small. Read More

Does your boss hover over you?

If your boss hovers over you in a figurative sense, you are likely to perceive micromanagement and may become resentful after a certain point. You may need to have a candid conversation with your boss about feeling that you are not given sufficient empowerment or autonomy in your role. But what do you do if your boss is hovering over you in a literal, physical sense? Read More