Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered

Bored Panda reached out to professor Jeffrey Thomas, student engagement leader and lecturer in behavior management at University Of Tasmania to find out more about group punishment, which punishes a group of people for the actions of one or more unidentified culprits. Thomas explained that we see this frequently in the school system where a teacher may require all students to stay in at lunchtime because one student did not follow a class rule.

Sometimes the punishment can be applied to a whole school community, Thomas told us. “For example, not being allowed to go on an excursion because rubbish was left in the yard. It is a technique that has been around ever since schools have existed and is based on the understanding of behaviorism –the idea that you can modify a person’s behavior through the introduction of external factors,” he explained.

In terms of punishment, the professor argues, the external factors are designed to be so unpleasant that the person will not carry out the same behavior in the future. “At an individual level, common classroom punishments could include detentions, cleaning, or missing out on activities that other students enjoy.”

On the other hand, strategies of group punishment are morally and educationally questionable. However, “it is possible to gain short term compliance through the threat of punishment,” Thomas said and added that “in group punishment, the culprit’s actions result in them – and everyone else in the group – being punished.” According to the professor, in this way, students realize that they are the reason for their peers’ punishment and that idea of the associated social harm aims to be the unpleasant external factor that will modify their future behavior.

However, the education system is not the only place where group punishment is used. In a workplace, group (or collective) punishment may look like less flexibility, more accountability or additional restrictions placed on when and how employees can work, Thomas argues.

“The aim, like in schools, is to rely on individual members of the team to pressure the less productive members into being more diligent and therefore more profitable. The problem is that this approach is unlikely to work in the long term for the underperformer, and is probably going to damage the performance of the other team members,” the professor explained.

The way that punishments produce compliance is by making the person afraid of being caught doing the wrong thing. “This leads to either modifying future behavior through shame and guilt – or being better at not being caught!”

However, the result of group punishment may be exactly the opposite. “In a group punishment situation, the unidentified culprit is doing his or her best to not be caught by not taking responsibility for the behavior – which demonstrates that the initial threat of punishment was ineffective at modifying future behavior – and that culprit has no regard for the class or team.”

According to Thomas, the only mechanism left for being an effective strategy is that the group imposes its own punishment on the culprit. “In a school, this might look like social exclusion or even violence (no one likes their lunchtime taken away!) and can lead to a ‘toxic’ work environment,” he added.

In addition to being unlikely to change the culprit’s behavior, group punishment is likely to create worse behaviour in the rest of the group, the professor argues. “Being punished for something you did not do causes resentment towards the authority (teacher or manager), which in turn will lead to less productive behavior in the workplace or classroom. We know that students who have a good relationship with their teachers are much more likely to exhibit positive classroom behavior, and group punishment is a perfect way to destroy that relationship,” he commented and added that “similarly, a workplace wants to create a culture where the team is intrinsically motivated to be the best.”

For these reasons, group punishment is not the most ideal way to deal with problematic behavior. Thomas argues that instead, the best way to do so, whether it be in the school or in the workplace, is to address the underlying cause of the behavior.

He explained: “A teacher or manager can only do this if they understand the reasons why the individual is acting the way they do. Is the student acting out because they have no friends? Is the employee not productive because they are unsure of the task? When these underlying causes are known, then a solution can be implemented that is likely to benefit the whole group.”

Moreover, Thomas added that addressing problematic or unproductive behavior is part of a teacher or manager’s job. “They need to be equipped with the knowledge and strategies that will produce long-term gains rather than short-term compliance.”

“Group punishment may look like it is working when it is applied – students and employees will appear to be doing the right thing for a while – but without addressing the underlying cause of the problem, leaders who impose this strategy should expect an increase in undesirable behavior in the future,” the professor concluded.