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D I S S E N T A D D S S P I C E ,
S P I R I T , A N D A N
F
or many employees,
working within an
organization means forever
saying “yes.” Fearful of losing their
jobs, eager to please, and ambitious
for promotion, subordinates are
often happy to pass on good news,
but reluctant to deliver bad news.
This might be good for their
manager’s ego but it can be
damaging for the business—if
bad news is hidden, managers lack
vital information and can make
bad decisions as a consequence.
This can happen at the highest
levels with catastrophic results.
A Financial Services Report in
2012 on the Royal Bank of Scotland
(RBS) suggested that the bank’s
failure in 2008 was, in part, due to
“a lack of effective challenge by the
board and senior managers to the
CEO’s proposals, resulting in risks
being overlooked and strategic
mistakes being made.”A tolerant business culture
Being an effective leader involves
recognizing that it is impossible to
be right all of the time. Seeking,
and graciously accepting, critical
feedback from trusted colleagues
can help maintain a balanced
perspective. The challenge forIf managers
are only brought
good news......they are forced to make
decisions based on incomplete
or inaccurate information.Leaders should beware
“the yes-men”
and embrace constructive
conflict in their companies.Sometimes “no”
is ultimately more
useful than “yes.”IN CONTEXT
FOCUS
Behavioral managementKEY DATES
1992 Indian economist Abhijit
V Banerjee looks at how
decision makers refer to the
choices made by previous
decision makers for guidance,
in his book A Simple Model of
Herd Behavior.1993 US economist Canice
Prendergast writes A Theory of
Yes Men, identifying the
tendency of subordinates to
agree with their superiors
as a “market failure.”1997 US psycholinguistics
expert Suzette Elgin writes
How to Disagree without Being
Disagreeable.2000s Leadership theory
encourages leaders to embrace
constructive conflict as a
healthy, and necessary, part
of the business environment.I N V I G O R A T I N G Q U A L I T Y
BEWARE THE YES-MEN