A joint study by American and Canadian universities published in the February issue of The Leadership Quarterly revealed that feelings of injustice in workplaces can be greatly reduced by sticking pins into voodoo dolls representing bosses.
Although revenge is generally perceived negatively, the study confirmed that a symbolic act of retribution - in this case, in the form of sticking pins into voodoo dolls - significantly helps the victims regain a feeling of justice. In essence, however, any form of symbolic retaliation, such as throwing darts at your boss's photo, can help as well.
Symbolic revenge helps both individuals and organizations
First, the study participants were asked to recall and imagine a work-related situation in which their boss treated them unfairly. Then they were given a simple written exercise to complete. Some of them were allowed to use an online program enabling them to create voodoo dolls, name them after their bosses, and then stick pins into them, burn them with candles or pinch them using pliers. It turned out those who could use a voodoo doll felt significantly less bitter and coped better with the assigned task.
"These findings suggest that retaliation not only benefits individual victims, but may also benefit the organization as a whole, given that justice perceptions is important for employee performance and well-being," the study authors were quoted by Telegraph.co.uk.
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