When mistakes or perceived wrongdoings occur in the workplace, managers-like most human beings-demonstrate the tendency to locate someone to blame, including assigning responsibility and sanctioning perceived wrongdoers for their actions. We highlight that although this response can be motivated by organizational, legal, and psychological factors, blame can be detrimental to the organization and its employees when it occurs in a spontaneous and nondeliberative manner, which we label swift blame. We argue that swift blame can involve distorted perceptions and judgment, exacerbate conflict, erode employee engagement, and stifle organizational learning. We further argue that managers have a special responsibility to thoughtfully and carefully consider how they react to perceived wrongdoings. Drawing from dual processing theory of cognition, we propose that managers can respond more effectively by adopting perspectives that slow down these tendencies and promote more thoughtful reactions. To this end we highlight research opportunities for three alternatives to swift blame: (a) a no-blame approach, (b) systems of inquiry and accountability, and (c) mindfulness training.The authors acknowledge the support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada (#435-2014-0379) received by the first author. 222Copyright of the Academy of Management, all rights reserved. Contents may not be copied, emailed, posted to a listserv, or otherwise transmitted without the copyright holder's express written permission. Users may print, download, or email articles for individual use only. 1 We use the term swift blame as analogous to swift trust (Meyerson, Weick, & Kramer, 1996), which is similarly characterized as an instinctual and reflexive response to one's environment.
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