Are you creating Little Hitlers?

The security guard at the main gate in my condominium rose smartly and said ‘Good Morning Sir!’ while dashing off a salute at the same time. I smiled back indulgently at him and nodded my head. I could not help thinking to myself – what a nice well-mannered chap! I stepped into the guardroom to use the intercom to call my apartment for something I had forgotten. On the other side was a queue of about 5 people standing to get the security’s nod to go inside. Their faces bore a sullen look and they were all watching the polite guard. One of them asked for his pass saying that he had been waiting for 10 mins. My polite guard snapped at him and told him to wait since he was ‘busy’! He then proceeded to talk to the other guard about something to do with the water supply in his village. He was deliberately harassing the people in the queue!

THE LITTLE HITLER EXPERIMENT

You may have encountered similar behaviour from a junior person at your office or a public utility/government office; an extreme case of this was witnessed in the way the common soldiers tortured their prisoners for fun in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

‘Little Hitler’ – a ‘menial functionary who employs what power he has to annoy and frustrate others for his own gratification’ exist in every walk of life. What creates them? In a research (recently published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology) led by Professor Nathanael Fast of the University of Southern California’s Marshall Business School , this phenomenon has been studied within a framework of power (on its own – not original) AND status (the combination makes it interesting).

The experiment involved randomly assigning each of the participants into one of four situations representing different combinations of power and status. For the full paper, read here.

The paper, titled ‘The destructive nature of power without status’ goes on to argue that it is first necessary to understand how power and status operate separately before studying their impact together (Fig 1.1 and Fig 1.2).

Fig 1.1 – Effect of Power on behaviour

Fig 1.2 – Effect of Status on behaviour

In the experiment, participants were split into the 4 combinations of High Power/High Status, High Power/Low Status, High Status/Low Power, and Low Status/Low Power. Participants were then asked to choose tasks (from a set with ‘demeaning’ and other tasks) to assign to other coworkers.

Statistically, the most significant observations were in the High Power/Low Status and Low Power/Low Status groups – Fig 2.1. Those with High Power (therefore the tendency to act aggressively) but Low Status (therefore the need to seek self worth) choose more ‘demeaning’ tasks for their co-workers than any other group. Those with Low Power (inhibited ability to act in self interest) and Low Status (seeking self worth) tended to choose the least demeaning tasks for their co workers.

Fig 2.1 – Effect of Power and Status on behaviour

Dr Fast then goes on to hypothesise that not all in a High Power/Low Status situation will react in the same way (there being different personality types) and that it is also observable that High Power/Low Status can be modified by the recipient by satisfying the self worth need of the person.

NOT A TRAIT BUT SITUATIONAL

From my observations of the security guard – the classical gatekeeper with low status, I have also seen it to be ‘situational’ – everyone could at some point of time or other be in a potential ‘Little Hitler’ situation as the perpetrator or recipient. Here is how I have seen it play out for the security guard:

Fig 2.2 – ‘Situational’ behaviour as a result of Power and Status

ARE YOU CREATING A LITTLE HITLER?

In organisations, when situations get created that reduce people to ‘gatekeepers with low status’, the environment is ripe for the birth of Little Hitlers.
By design there are gatekeeper jobs, sometimes at lower levels (the admin assistant, reimbursement officer…..) where we see the different facets of Power/Status behaviours. And we all know how a sweet word or a well placed ‘Sir’ gets the reimbursements cleared fast!

What is however more damaging is when leadership behaviour creates “Little Hitlers”., A boss, who is forever demeaning and deriding his juniors is creating the environment for the little Brown Shirts to grow.. As he strips his one downs of their ‘status’, they in turn demonstrate demeaning behaviour with those over whom they have power! The workplace could soon start resembling Abu Ghraib with one change – the prisoners may choose to leave.

So the next time your security guard rises to greet you, maybe you could surprise him and say ‘Good Morning’ first. It may well result in him extending a little courtesy to the plumber who has come to fix your bathroom pipes.