Avoiding the Workplace Mediocrity Trap

In team-based settings, workplace exclusion can push high-achieving employees to intentionally sabotage productivity, a costly risk for organizations across industries, Rutgers researchers find

Confidence. Persistence. Ingenuity. Conventional wisdom tells us these are some of the traits needed for success at the office. But within teams, less laudable characteristics – maintaining the status quo, for instance – might be just as desirable, according to new Rutgers research.

Cong Liu, an expert on organizational thinking at the Rutgers Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, reports in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology that teams with high rates of envy often ostracize their best performers, in turn leading those standout employees to sabotage productivity.

“In organizations, there are good soldiers who help facilitate workplace efficiency and effectiveness and bad apples who hinder productivity and well-being,” Cong wrote. “Over the years, there has been mounting evidence that this distinction between good and bad behaviors … might not be as stark as we think.”

What’s often overlooked is how workplace ostracism can blur this line. When high-performing employees – good soldiers – are excluded or undervalued by their peers, their motivation can shift from driving success to undermining it, Cong said. This exclusion can lead to frustration, disengagement, and even intentional underperformance, effectively turning them into bad apples.

To illuminate this process, Cong and colleagues surveyed 630 workers in 131 workplace teams across a wide swath of industries based in China, including health care, finance, real estate and manufacturing. Participants worked in teams of three or more. More than two-thirds of respondents were women, and most participants had been on the job for about six years. While the study was conducted in China, its findings are universally applicable, especially in team-driven environments like those found in the American workforce.

“If proactive employees are ostracized by their coworkers, organizations will bear a heavy toll,” Cong said.

Two in-person surveys were administered a month apart. In the first survey, employees rated perceived levels of proactivity, envy, coworker ostracism, negative emotions and job satisfaction. In the second, employees were asked to evaluate their own “production deviance,” a measure of intentional underperformance.

Through statistical modeling, the researchers found that teams with higher rates of envy were more likely to exclude proactive employees – and that the targets of this exclusionary behavior exhibited greater production deviance.

While the study didn’t quantify productivity losses, Cong said previous work demonstrates that poorly managed workplace dynamics can lead to significant production fallout. In today’s fast-paced work environment, where collaboration is key, even small disruptions in team dynamics can have far-reaching consequences.

Addressing team-based ostracism and potential production declines is never easy, said Cong. Jealousy, envy and pride are human characteristics, as is so-called “upward comparison” – the sense of inadequacy someone might feel when working with higher-yielding colleagues. In corporate America, where performance metrics are often public and competition is encouraged, these emotions can be amplified, making it even more critical for managers to intervene.

“Take sales,” Cong said. “If one team member beats the sales quota, the entire team benefits but underperforming colleagues might still be viewed by management as less effective.” 

This can lead team members to assume that being a “middle performer” is the safest place to be, she added.

There are steps employers can take to guard against these corrosive dynamics, said Cong. Most important is recognizing that every employee should be judged on their own merits – rather than against the output of the top performers.

“Managers should always encourage proactive behaviors but should also ensure that performance evaluations are based on required outputs, rather than comparing employees to top performers,” Cong said. “It’s essential to treat each team member as an individual, valuing their unique contributions rather than viewing them through the lens of their peers.”

Cong added: “In today’s workplace, where collaboration and innovation drive success, creating an inclusive and supportive environment isn’t just effective management – it’s a strategic advantage for any business.”