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Wed, Nov 12, 2008 16:37 EST

Office Scapegoating: How to Avoid Being Thrown Under the Bus

Topic: Personal Management

Blog: Career Connection

Current Rating: 5 Comments: 8

Economic downturns pose all manner of threats to professionals in the workplace. There's the threat that your employer will go out of business. The threat that you'll lose your job. And the threat that you'll have to take on more work when you already feel like your brain is bursting from its meninges.

All of those risks are easy to anticipate. Less obvious—but potentially even more dangerous—is the threat that a colleague jockeying for job security will try to throw you under the bus, either by scapegoating you for a problem you didn't create or by simply bad-mouthing you behind your back. I've seen it happen, and it's ugly. (See How to Stab Your Boss in the Back and How to Sniff Out a Staff Uprising.)

Workplace scapegoating is more prevalent when the economy is bad because people go into self-preservation mode as a result of feeling threatened, says Paul Harvey, an assistant professor of management at the University of New Hampshire's Tuck Whittemore School of Business.

"In the workplace, there usually are more challenges and failures during tough economic times, and because of self-serving attitudes, it's common to want to make sure the blame is on someone else," he says. "It's a common human tendency for people to convince themselves that they are the cause of the good things but try to assign blame to others when things go wrong. It's an ego defense mechanism."

Scapegoating is also more common during a recession because bad economic times draw attention to problems and inefficiencies inside companies that might otherwise be ignored during a boom, says Harvey.  

"When things tighten up, inefficiencies and problems become bigger issues. You can no longer hide them," he adds.

It's easy to get blindsided by a co-worker playing the blame game, because such subterfuge takes place behind the scenes and because people are so focused on the specter of a layoff that they fail to recognize coworkers' machinations. Thus, a victim of workplace scapegoating often doesn't realize what's happening until his boss calls him into the office for a tense discussion about why the victim's software contains more bugs than the Amityville Horror House.

In such situations, the victim of workplace scapegoating is caught off guard, and his attempt to defend himself may come off as desperate excuses or as an attempt to blame someone else, says Harvey.

So what should you do if you find out a co-worker is trying to throw you under the bus? Harvey says addressing the situation isn't easy because you're presumed guilty of whatever problem you've been accused of creating.

Nevertheless, you have to defend yourself. Harvey recommends sticking to the facts. "Don't start making excuses. Say, 'This person is blaming me. It wasn't my fault because of X, Y and Z reasons. It wasn't in my area of responsibility, or it was out of my control," he says.

The best defense, though, is to avoid being made a scapegoat in the first place.

If you know of a situation that could lead to scapegoating, make sure your boss and everyone around you knows your responsibilities and the limits of your span of control, says Harvey. If you do that effectively, the professor adds, it's harder for someone


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Average (3 votes)
5
 
 
Thu, Nov 13, 2008 1:01 EST
Anonymous user
Posted by: unknown
Rating: 10

Scapgoating is a sure sign of an incompetent organization.

If your employer tries to push a lot of BS drama on you; go find another job.

There is always work available for people who can really do things or make stuff.

Of course if you ARE incompetent just blame someone else.

 
Thu, Nov 13, 2008 4:53 EST
Anonymous user
Posted by: Anonymous
Rating: 70

It's not just colleagues you have to watch out for. I accidentally caught my boss using my PC to look at his own porn collection early one morning. He sacked me on the spot!

 
Thu, Nov 13, 2008 8:34 EST
Anonymous user
Posted by: Anonymous
Rating: 50

Now there's the best reason for Locking your Desktop before leaving the office and having your password known only to you and the IT manager if at all possible.
Good grief. What a Jerk.

 
Mon, Nov 17, 2008 10:08 EST
Anonymous user
Posted by: Anonymous
Rating: 70

Scape goaters usually have managements ear because they provide them with intel and are seen as individuals worried about the company or the boss. Determine if these people exist and make every effort to ensure your boss knows what you've been doing. Get everything in writing and save a copy for your personal use. Make sure you are high profile when doing important things.

 
Mon, Nov 17, 2008 15:14 EST
Ugh
Anonymous user
Posted by: Anonymous
Rating:

>>Make sure you are high profile when doing important things.

This might be the hardest thing for me to do. Need to learn it, though.

This is not because I'm some great and noble person, but rather that I get hyper-focused on the tasks themselves and manage to neglect everything else.

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