You encounter an employee who — through skill, hard work and great powers of perception — saved the company from disaster. Except the whole story is a lie.

Physicians refer to it as “Munchausen syndrome — in which someone claims to have an illness or causes illness in another, just to garner sympathy and praise for overcoming the illness or helping another struggle through and conquer it. It happens at work, too.

Here’s how it usually plays out, according to researchers at Georgia Tech’s school of business management:

• An employee reports on a major problem or crises — such as a foul-up that could cost the loss of a major customer.
• The employee then promises to “handle it” and make things better.
• The employee reports back that he pulled off a near-miracle and got the customer back into the fold.
• Further investigation shows there was never a crisis with the customer.

Or:

• A valuable and crucial piece of equipment mysteriously breaks down.
• An employee volunteers to “work all night if I have to” to get the equipment back up and running.
• The employee does as promised, and fixes the problem.
• Investigation reveals the employee caused the problem in the first place.

Why do people do it? There’s of course the craving for praise and admiration. That’s always a factor.

Often, however, an employee who exhibits that kind of behavior feels unappreciated or unrewarded for previous (real) efforts. Playing the Munchausen card is just a reaction to those feelings — and a signal to the manager that there’s an underlying problem that needs to be addressed.

Tags: Georgia Tech, Munchausen syndrome