Group Distruptors

What do whiners, martyrs, saboteurs, bullies and deadbeats have in common? They, according to researchers David Jalajas and Robert Sutton, are people who, through their own behavior and attitude, contribute to disrupting any attempts by groups to succeed in achieving their goals. Even though Jalajas and Sutton introduced these classifications of what I call "group disruptors" in 1984 in an article in Journal of Management Education, in many ways their observations remain viable today. In blunt terms, we still have groups today and often the efforts of many of them are compromised by those interested only in their own agendas.

As described by Jalajas and Sutton, whiners feel most everything the group does is very inconvenient; martyrs are certain they are being given the worst assignments; saboteurs often get in the way of progress by initiating on their own what they believe are better solutions; bullies are not shy about telling everyone else how things should be done; and deadbeats simply do not do their fair share of the work. Depending upon the extent of their negative behavior, any one or several of these individuals can totally compromise the work of groups to carry out certain tasks, including advancing the progress of their organization.

The question then becomes: what does one do about these disruptors? Jalajas and Sutton offer up three solutions: group members should make sure everyone knows what they are responsible for; members should speak up if they feel choices made by other members are not workable; and members should focus on treating their partners with respect and openness. While modest conflict within groups is not uncommon and, at times, even healthy as it can stimulate good discussion, following the Jalajas-Sutton solutions groups improve their chances of successfully meeting their goals.