Setting up to fail
"Setting up to fail" is a phrase denoting a no-win situation designed in such a way that the person in the situation cannot succeed at the task which they have been assigned. It is considered a form of workplace bullying.[1]
There are also situations in which an organization or project is set up to fail,[2][3] and where individuals set themselves up to fail.[4]
The first known documented use of "set up to fail" was in 1969 in the United States.[5]
In the workplace
Setting up to fail is a well-established workplace bullying tactic.[6][7][8] One technique is to overload with work, while denying the victim the authority to handle it and over-interfering;[9] another is the withholding of the information necessary to succeed.[10]
If a person puts another individual (usually a subordinate) in a
There can be cases where an employee is set up to fail because the stated goals of the task are considered harmful to the organization; an internal investigation is one example. Institutions may protect themselves by "going through the motions" of a sham investigation in which the findings conveniently fail to find any evidence of wrongdoing by the authorities involved with setting up the investigation.
Another case where employees are set up to fail is one in which new employees, or redundant employees, are considered harmful or a threat to other employees, resulting in their efforts to
Bigotry
Minorities seeking positions in society are often set up to fail in the face of covert
Families
Parents may have excessive expectations for their children's academic success for instance, thus setting them up for
Therapy
Therapy may be sabotaged by either the client or the provider. The client, both hoping for and fearing the possibility of real help, may impose conditions on the therapy that all but guarantee its failure.[16] Conversely, the helper, needing to keep clients in a state of dependency,[17] may be threatened by the prospect of success/closure, and undermine the therapy accordingly.[18]
Setting oneself up to fail
A person setting themselves up for
In television
It is a tactic used in
9/11 Commission
In popular culture
- In the 1967 film The Producers and its later adaptations, two Broadway producers try to set up a show to fail by intentionally selecting an offensive script.
- In the film The Hudsucker Proxy a corporation attempts to find a "dimwit, a proxy, a pawn, somebody we can really push around" for CEO, in order to manipulate the stock price to crash so that the board of directors can gain greater control of outstanding shares.
- Reginald Perrin tried to set himself up to failby starting a shop called Grot, which only sold useless goods.
See also
References
- ^ Stambor, Zak."Bullying stems from fear, apathy." APA.com. Originally published in Monitor on Psychology. American Psychological Association. July/August 2006, vol. 37, no. 7. p. 72
- ^ a b Quotes - 9/11 Commission member said Commission was set up to fail.Skeptic Project. Accessed September 5, 2015.
- ^ a b c d Fenton, Andrew and Anna Brain. "Insiders say sleep deprivation and setting contestants up to fail are common tricks of the trade". The Daily Telegraph (Australia). September 5, 2015. Accessed September 5, 2015. Originally from news.com.au Archived 2020-06-20 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ R. E. Boyatzis/A. McKee, Resonant Leadership (2005) p. 156
- ^ Economic Opportunity Amendments of 1969: Hearings, Ninety-first Congress, First Session, on H.R. 513
- ^ Peyton, PR. Dignity at Work: Eliminate Bullying and Create a Positive Working Environment (2003)
- ^ Rayner C, Hoel H A. "Summary Review of Literature Relating to Workplace Bullying", Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, volume 7, issue 3, pages 181–191, June 1997
- ^ Randle J Workplace Bullying in the NHS (2006)
- ^ J-F Manzoni/J-L Barsoux, The Set-up-to-fail Syndrome (2007) p. 5 and p. 12
- ISBN 978-0-9529121-0-1
- ISBN 978-0-9529121-0-1
- ^ S. White, An Introduction to the Psychodynamics of Workplace Bullying (2013) pp. 31–2
- ^ Paul Stillwell/Colin L Powell, The Golden Thirteen (2003) p. 98 and p. 86
- ^ Debra Wesselmann, The Whole Parent (2003) p. 104
- ^ Polly Young-Eisendrath, Women and Desire (London 2000) p. 107 and p. 113
- ^ Neville Symington, Narcissism (2003) p. 70
- ^ P. Casement, Further Learning from the Patient (1990) p. 144
- ^ Eric Berne, Games People Play (1966) pp. 126–7
- ^ De Mijolla, Alain. "Failure neurosis". Enotes. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (1946) p. 506
- ^ S, Freud, On Metapsychology (PFL 11) pp. 292–3