"On praise, the experts have got it wrong: it should almost never be given in public," contends Lucy Kellaway in the Financial Times (September 16, 2013). In her article, Kellaway cites research showing that when a person is praised by the boss in front of peers, while the person praised may be motivated, his or her peers in the room end up resenting the person being praised and disliking the person giving the praise. Kellaway concludes:
"This means that most managers are getting it badly wrong. They have been taught that a vital part of their job is to stroll around the office dispensing praise here and there. They think they are justly celebrating the success of some and motivating the others to try harder. What they are actually doing is creating resentment and making themselves deeply unpopular."
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Comments (6)
Displaying All 6 CommentsUnited States
This is a crock. This person has obviously not worked in a positive supportive environment. The research does not support one bit of this thinking.
The Grand Child Care Center
United States
Hum! Interesting! Seems like praising one employee : her hard work , dedication etc may not be motivating others....? I'm not sure how much is truth to it! Are we talking about the private day care centers? In corporate preschools? Public schools? More research should be done before coming to any conclusion ..
But I will try to find out the answer by discussing this individually to each employee..I hope to get some true 'in between line' truth.
Community Care
Beaver Dam, WI - Wisconsin, United States
This is an interesting take on praise. Once I neglected to remember to praise a staffer for her completion of her degree in the newsletter. She was very angry with me. In fact the relationship was never the same. I guess there is a balance of recognition for accomplishments in private and in public.
United States
Actually, my question or comment isn't about this article. My question is: Where is the quote? Have you taken that out? I so looked forward to that every day.
Madera, CA, United States
Interesting... Especially as "praise" is such a highly used technique used by educators at all levels of education in the classroom versus "encouragement."
New Hampshire, United States
I am not so sure I agree with this 100% of the time. I think it depends on the culture you have created in your workplace and if you can find times to praise the work or accomplishments of many (not all, because just like not every child deserves a trophy) throughout the weeks or months I think that people will then try to rise to the level where they will then know the management will "recognize" them. There will always be those that resent the boss/management--no matter what.
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