do more harm than good

Meaning

This phrase describes an action or decision that is intended to be helpful but actually makes a situation worse. In business, it is used to caution against hasty solutions, over-regulation, or intervention that might disrupt working systems.

Examples

• Rushing the product launch without proper testing will do more harm than good.

  Rushing the product launch without proper testing will do more harm than good.

• Micromanaging the design team will do more harm than good to their morale.

  Micromanaging the design team will do more harm than good to their morale.

• Sometimes, intervening in a minor team conflict can do more harm than good.

  Sometimes, intervening in a minor team conflict can do more harm than good.

• Implementing too many new software tools at once might do more harm than good.

  Implementing too many new software tools at once might do more harm than good.

• The price cut was meant to boost sales, but it did more harm than good to our brand image.

  The price cut was meant to boost sales, but it did more harm than good to our brand image.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ This decision will make more harm than good.

  ✓ This decision will do more harm than good.

  In English, the verb 'do' collocates with 'harm' and 'good'. Using 'make' is a common literal translation error from other languages.

• ✗ The new policy did more bad than good.

  ✓ The new policy did more harm than good.

  The standard idiomatic expression uses the noun 'harm' to contrast with 'good', not the adjective 'bad'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Sending an angry email to the client now will ___.

  💡 Make the situation worse instead of helping.

  Show answer

  do more harm than good

• Adding too many features to the app might ___ by confusing the users.

  💡 Have a damaging effect rather than a helpful one.

  Show answer

  do more harm than good