How The Expectation Of Reciprocity Squashes Good Ideas

Much is made about the importance of good ideas flourishing in the workplace.

Less often discussed is the crippling effect of a warped variation of the Law of Reciprocity on the fostering and enabling of those ideas.

This Law, said to date back to the time of the Code of Hammurabi — around 1754 B.C.E — postulated simply that if someone does something beneficial for someone else, the recipient is likely to feel they should repay the good deed somehow. Okay, so far.

I guess it was only natural that someone doing a good deed might then hope the other person would reciprocate in some way and at some point. You can see how the focus is beginning to creep away from the original thought of doing good to “Now that I’ve done it, what will I get in return?”

Where things really got crazy is when people began to make it their business to do good deeds for others with the up-front intent and for the express purpose of getting the other person to do something for them.

See how that plays out on business ideas:

• A supports B’s idea, regardless of his opinion of its merit, for the purpose of making B feel beholden to A when A’s idea comes up for consideration.
• B is initially delighted with A’s support.
• Then, when A’s own idea comes up for a vote, and B is reminded that he “owes one” to A, B begins to feel he’s been manipulated by A.

Scenario 1: B refuses to support A’s idea. A feels “cheated” by B for denying him the reciprocity he feels he has earned.

What happens to the relationship between A and B? Was B’s idea really any good?  What happens to A’s idea?

Scenario 2: Knowing they have to continue to work together, B grits his teeth and supports A’s idea.

In this case, there’s no obvious fracture of the relationship, but something unwholesome has certainly been injected into it. What about the ideas? Are either of them any good for the company and its customers? How would we know?

In neither scenario were the ideas subjected to objective scrutiny on their merits by A or B. This is one way bad ideas get the green-light, and others never see the light of day. Soon, people stop coming up with ideas, knowing they won’t get a fair hearing.

It is absolutely critical to the health of any business that there be a an open highway for new ideas for products and services. The only way that process can flourish is when every idea is evaluated on its merits by people unfettered by either obligation or personal animosity toward the person proposing it.

When mutated versions of the Law of Reciprocity are present in the organization, they can lead to damaged and counterfeit relationships and stifle the entire creative process that’s the lifeblood of every company.