When Being “Good” Is Actually a Cover for Chaos: Moral Scrupulosity at Work
You’ve probably heard the phrases during staff meetings, the ones that praise a coworker for their “rigor”, their commitment to detail”, or their “strict adherence to policy”.
When compliance is valued this highly, it’s easy to miss where rigidity becomes more harmful than helpful. The colleague who triple-checks every email, or the staff member who panics at the idea of going one minute over on break, might be labeled “conscientious.” But for some, these outwardly “good” behaviors are not a sign of diligence, they’re symptoms of distress.
We have to look past the surface-level behavior and ask: What is the true motivation behind this behavior?
What Happens When Internal Distress Drives External Control
What looks like intense focus can often be attributed to something entirely different: Moral Scrupulosity.
This is a lesser-discussed subtype of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) where a person experiences intrusive thoughts related to making moral, ethical, or religious transgressions. The intense distress is not about the task itself; it's about the fear of betraying your own moral standards as well as being perceived bad, unethical, or wrong by others.
What others often notice (and praise) are the compulsions: the relentless checking, the need for certainty, the paralysis around mistakes. These behaviors aren’t motivated by ambition or perfectionism. They’re attempts to manage unbearable internal anxiety through external control.
In the workplace, this might look like rigid adherence to company policy, constant re-reading of emails to ensure nothing “inappropriate” slips through, or anxiety about being accused of “time theft.” That person isn’t overly detail oriented and focused, they’re fighting off an invisible threat.
As clinicians and consultants, we know that the public sees the behaviors but often aren’t aware or knowledgeable on what’s happening in the background. They simply see the outward result of compliance and thoroughness. And what often gets left out of the discussion is the personal suffering required to produce it.
The Relational Integrity Gap
This is where organizational culture has the ability to either act as a support system or add fuel to the internal distress.
At DRSC, we talk about Relational Integrity as the understanding that people’s emotional realities are always shaping team dynamics, whether we name them or not.. When an organization has a psychological safety gap, where employees fear negative consequences for small infractions, it reinforces the internal logic of scrupulosity.
In a culture defined by rigidity and consequences, a person’s fears get confirmed rather than challenged: “A mistake is catastrophic, so I must never make one”. The result is an exhausting cycle of overwork, excessive checking, and self-protection designed as dedication.
What Leaders Need to Remember
Psychological safety isn’t the same as comfort. It’s about clarity and care. It's not about being nice; it’s about building systems where people can be honest about their capacity, their struggles, and their mistakes without being punished for them.
When leaders understand this, they stop praising rigidity and start building trust. They replace fear with structure, and perfection with belonging. Because when your culture demands perfection, it amplifies the unseen pressure on those already carrying the heaviest load.
When organizations are intentional about psychological safety they notice the difference between care and control, they start to see how many “high-performing” behaviors can actually be coping mechanisms in disguise. The goal isn’t to pathologize diligence, it’s to understand what drives it. Because when organizations make space for humanity alongside accountability, people don’t have to choose between being good and being well.
