Abstract
It is a common assumption that organizations should avoid “bad” behaviors, as such behaviors have very few positive outcomes or they are likely motivated by undesirable antecedents. In this symposium, we question this prevailing wisdom, in several ways. We suggest that bad behaviors may both inspire positive outcomes (task performance) and be motivated by seemingly “positive” or innocuous antecedents (gratitude, psychological distance). Additionally, we find that engaging in “bad” behaviors (expressing anger) may have positive relational consequences. Together this symposium explores a series of counterintuitive findings that help explain why bad may be good, and good bad in ways that helps illuminate unexpected behavioral mechanism in workplace relationships.