Dr. Steven Rogelberg is a chancellor’s professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, former president of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and author of Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings.
We often repeat cliches because, due to simplicity or familiarity, they sound accurate. That can be dangerous, however, especially when evidence disproves them. Although there may be seeds of truth in the following workplace myths — and times when they can be true — research generally has debunked each of them.
Happy workers are always more productive
Happier workers do help others more, provide better customer service, and so forth — but let’s not confuse the cause and effect. More productive workers often feel greater happiness, the science strongly suggests, because their success breeds happiness. That could be due to the satisfaction of succeeding, recognition, and extra rewards.
If that sounds like you should become a stricter and less kind manager, though, our next myth is that…
Punishment is a key mechanism for changing behavior
Research does not support that. Punishment can indeed lead to the employee avoiding certain behaviors when they are being observed by the punisher, but it ultimately does not teach, reinforce, or encourage the behaviors you desire to see.
Stress is a productivity killer
Too much stress can indeed burn us out, but the relationship between it and job performance can best be described by an inverted U-shape. Namely, too little stress and too much stress are both not optimal; small to moderate levels of stress can energize behavior at the highest level.
You should avoid conflicts at work
Conflict in and of itself is not the issue, but instead how it’s resolved. Performance, innovation, and relationships can thrive with constructive resolutions. When conflict is handled in a personal manner — less about the ideas, more about the people — it can serve to derail all.
