Ever wonder why initiatives to change employee behavior achieve the opposite of what was intended? A well-meaning HR department decides to encourage employee healthy eating by replacing break room “junk food” with kale chips and rice cakes. A month later they discover that the break room is no longer being used, and that employees are taking longer breaks than ever for snack runs at a nearby convenience store1. The initiative failed to achieve it’s purpose and instead cut into productivity. In situations where you try to force someone to do something, psychological reactance explains behavior.
People Have Basic Needs
Self-determination theory explains that people have three basic needs–Autonomy (the need to feel they have control over their lives), Competence (the need to accomplish meaningful things), and Relatedness (the need to have good relationships with others). Our behavior is designed to meet those needs by seeking ways to control our environment, by seeking out activities where we can be successful, and by socializing with family and friends. Our motivation at work is determined by how well our needs are met. Highly engaged employees are those who find their autonomy, competence and relatedness needs are met at work.
Psychological Reactance Explains Behavior
When you try to force someone to do something (eat kale chips) or not do something (avoid “junk food”) you are threatening their need for autonomy. Often the best way to defend that need is defiance, sometimes with passive acts (avoiding the break room) or active acts (going to the nearest convenience store to buy donuts). Reactance explains why people sometimes do things that seem on the surface to be counter to their best interests, reflected in the expression “cut off your nose to spite your face”. It is a case in which someone might prioritize their autonomy need over other needs.
Managers Should Be Careful to Avoid Reactance
A manager’s job is to assign, coordinate, and direct the efforts of direct reports. Doing so effectively requires leadership skill and flexibility so that direct report needs are not threatened. When autonomy is threatened, employees will be motivated to resist. This might mean doing the opposite of what was asked or doing the bare minimum by going through the motions. Employees who are told they have to take a shorter lunch break might comply by returning at the required time, but then spend much of the afternoon cyberloafing (e.g., browsing the web or playing videos).
There are several strategies to minimize the threat to autonomy.
- Avoid micromanaging. Most people work best when you provide clear expectations and tasks, hold people accountable for results, and then get out of their way and let them do their jobs.
- Explain the why. Part of feeling in control is understanding why things are happening. Explaining the rationale can help people feel that they still have some control. They don’t have to agree–they only have to understand.
- Involve direct reports. One of the best ways to avoid reactance is to let employees have input. A health initiative is more like to be effective if you ask employees what healthy foods they would like to see in the break room.
- Individualize supervision. People vary in how much autonomy they prefer at work, and some will want more direction than others. Over time a manager can figure out who needs more direction and who works best on their own.
Managers should keep in mind that psychological reactance explains behavior as they create behavioral initiatives designed to accomplish particular objectives. Reactance can be an unintended consequence of imposing changes on employees without sufficient explanation or input. Of course, there are times when it is necessary to impose changes, for example, to meet legal requirements. And it isn’t possible to ask all employees for input on every decision every day. However, managers who continually provide explanations, solicit input, and avoid micro-managing will create a work environment where direct reports feel sufficiently empowered that when the manager asks, they will step up.
1Example was generated with the help of Claude 4.6 Sonnet, Image from Pexels.
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