LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
World No 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic accidentally hit aline umpire with a ball and was removed from the US Open. Djokovic was becoming frustrated after suffering a fall and having dropped serve to trail 5-6, he hit a ball reasonably hard to the back of the court, striking a female line judge above the shoulders.He immediately apologised and stood over her as she appeared in distress on the floor.
Djokovic was clearly making the point that he had not intended to hit the official but under the rules of tennis his fate was already sealed.
The Grand Slam rules state: “Players shall not at any time physically abuse any official, opponent, spectator or other person within the precincts of the tournament site.
So in spite of the fact that he did not do it intentionally, that it was a complete accident, the rules were triggered.
Relevant here is the paper published by Harvard sociologist Robert K Merton in the year 1936. Titled ‘The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action’, a.k.a. the theory of unintended consequences. It states that actions of people, and especially of governments, always have effects that are unanticipated or \”unintended.\”Say for instance, you had a few drinks and then drive a car. Even if you didn’t want to hit a pedestrian, the act of drinking increases the probability of ‘accident’ occurring. Hence ‘drinking and driving’ has been deemed to be illegal.
Sometimes, we draft laws against a problem symptom and think it’s an easy fix, only to find that an unintended consequence has happened
In your organisation also, have there been instances where you have taken action against individuals for breach of rules, even when it was clearly evident that the action was completely unintentional.
Do you follow rules in letter or in spirit?
Do you take past experience also in to consideration. Say, the person’s track record?
Thanks & Regards,
Sonia