Workplace Revenge the Topic of New Book by Management Professor Tom Tripp

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"Getting Even: The Truth About Workplace Revenge - and How to Stop It," By Thomas M. Tripp and Robert J. Bies

San Francisco, CA - Revenge at the workplace happens every day in every corporation and government organization around the world. Though workplace revenge is usually not violent, it does beat down productivity and company morale. Little things, such as badmouthing a boss, giving a colleague the silent treatment, or insulting a co-worker, have proven to show long-term repercussions. Managers are left hanging about what they can do about it.

GETTING EVEN (Jossey-Bass, February 2009; $27.95) by Thomas M. Tripp and Robert J. Bies, is not a how-to manual for revenge seekers, though it does provide scores of lively anecdotes to detail the variety of ways in which employees get even. Rather, Tripp and Bies take a deep look at the psychological and situational factors that cause the revenge in the first place.

"Most workplace revenge is about justice, restoring the balance of what's fair and right," explains Tripp, Professor of Management at Washington State University Vancouver. Bies, Professor of Management at Georgetown University adds: "When people don't feel that leaders and managers have corrected the injustice done to them, they will take matters into their own hands by getting even through revenge."

From their research, Tripp and Bies learned that avenging employees are not unprofessional, out-of-control employees; rather, they are victims of offenses who feel compelled to seek justice on their own.

  • The authors address specific questions, such as:
  • What kinds of offenses result in revenge?
  • Why do some victims respond more aggressively to harm than others?
  • What role does the organization play in how victims respond to offenses?
  • What's the best advice for managers who wish to prevent their employees from seeking revenge?

Upon vacating the White House in January 2001, Clinton administration staffers, upset that that Republicans had beat the Democrats in the elections, removed or damaged the ‘‘W'' keys on computer keyboards throughout the White House-so when George W. Bush took office, the new staffers could not type his nickname, ‘‘W.''

Their conclusions are based on fifteen years of their own research on the topic, having interviewed nearly 500 managers and workers about on-the-job revenge and retaliation, as well as the latest scientific research in social psychology, cognitive psychology, and organizational justice.

The authors offer a model that sequences avengers' thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, from the beginning of the conflict to its end. Through this model, Tripp and Bies educate employees and managers about the right and wrong ways to deal with workplace conflict, specifically revenge.

The authors have also amassed dozens of lively stories, insights and counter-intuitive truths to bring to the book. Not only will managers and employees find this information useful and entertaining, but most readers will find applications in their home lives as well as in their work lives. As Stanford Professor, and author of the popular book The No Asshole Rule, Robert Sutton remarked: "GETTING EVEN isn't just the most useful and engaging book ever written on revenge in the workplace. It is the best book I've ever read about the root causes of destructive workplace behaviors and how to stop the vicious circles that hurt so many people and organizations. "

About the Authors

Thomas M. Tripp is a Professor of Management at Washington State University Vancouver. Tripp earned a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Washington. His research has focused on workplace conflict, and especially on workplace revenge and forgiveness. With Robert Bies, Tripp has published more than a dozen scientific studies on workplace revenge, and his professional service has focused on conflict management research. He serves on several editorial boards including Negotiations and Conflict Management Research. In 2009, Tripp also chairs the Conflict Management Division of the Academy of Management.

Robert J. Bies is Professor of Management and Founder of the Executive Master's in Leadership Program at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. He holds BA and MBA degrees from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. Bies's current research focuses on leadership, the delivery of bad news, and revenge and forgiveness in the workplace. He has published extensively on these topics. Professor Bies currently serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Management, International Journal of Conflict Management, and Negotiation and Conflict Management Research.