{
  "title": "Conflict management: does imposing a penalty restore cooperation?",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/gestion-du-conflit-sanctionner-retablit-il-la-cooperation-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2025-10-14",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "When commitments are repeatedly broken, imposing a penalty seems reasonable. Research nevertheless shows that a penalty can support cooperation or change the very meaning of the rule.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Conflict Management",
  "place": {
    "name": "Sion",
    "region": "Valais",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Uri Gneezy and Aldo Rustichini (2000, The Journal of Legal Studies) studied the introduction of a fine for parents arriving late at childcare centres."
    },
    {
      "heading": "When punishment supports cooperation",
      "point": "Ernst Fehr and Simon Gächter (2002, Nature) show, in a public goods contribution experiment, that allowing participants to punish one another can support cooperation, even when punishment is costly to the person imposing it."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "It would therefore be excessive to conclude either that penalties undermine cooperation or that they systematically restore it."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What these findings cannot decide",
      "point": "Neither parental lateness nor an experimental game reproduces a workplace conflict embedded in ongoing relationships, operational constraints and employment law."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Sion",
      "point": "Within SHR's “Gestion du conflit” programme, one possible exercise is to select, with a Sion-based team, a recurring commitment that is not safety-critical: administrative handovers in hydropower or healthcare, or coordinating availability in winegrowing or Alpine tourism."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Rustichini",
      "year": "2000",
      "source": "The Journal of Legal Studies"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Gächter",
      "year": "2002",
      "source": "Nature"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 430,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-Training-Conflict-Management-Sion-gestion-du-conflit-sanctionner-retablit-il-la-cooperation-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/gestion-du-conflit-sanctionner-retablit-il-la-cooperation",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/gestion-du-conflit-sanctionner-retablit-il-la-cooperation-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/gestion-du-conflit-sanctionner-retablit-il-la-cooperation-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/gestion-du-conflit-sanctionner-retablit-il-la-cooperation-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/gestion-du-conflit/sion",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/sion",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}