These
days we are all hearing a lot about bullying in schools. If you
have kids, you may be learning about the steps your child’s
school is taking to deal with bullying. You may remember having
been bullied, or having witnessed bullying when you were at
school.
Have
you ever wondered what happened to all those schoolyard bullies
when they grew up and got out of school? Unfortunately, they are
alive and well - and may, in fact, be in your workplace.
Your
first response may be, "I think I would know if I had a bully
in my workplace." However, the relevant question is how
would you know? Would you recognize the signs of
workplace bullying? Are your employees likely to tell you that
they are being bullied? My experience, which reflects research in
this area, shows that the surprising answer to these questions is
… probably not.
How
do you recognize workplace bullying? It is rarely about overt
physical violence or threats, public taunting, yelling or
screaming. Workplace bullying tends to be much more subtle and
covert. It is generally about power and control. It is often
embedded in corporate culture, a legacy of the power based command
and control model which has dominated the military and competitive
sports for generations.
Take
the case of Helen Green, a former executive at Deutsche Bank AG.
Ms. Green was awarded more than $1.7 million Cdn in damages after
claiming that her ex-colleagues bullied her. Miss Green, who
worked in the firm’s secretarial division between 1997 and 2001,
said that she suffered psychiatric injury because of
"offensive, abusive, intimidating, denigrating, bullying,
humiliating, patronizing, infantile and insulting words and
behaviour." 1 Ms. Green claimed that Deutsche bank
knew about the bullying, particularly after she was forced to go
off work due to a nervous breakdown, but did nothing to stop it.
The
High Court described the behaviour complained of by Ms. Green as
"domineering, disrespectful, dismissive, confrontatory and
designed to undermine and belittle her in the view of
others."2
Workplace
bullying may involve intangibles like constantly changing work
responsibilities, deadlines or priorities. It may involve someone
taking public credit for joint projects. It may involve asking for
input and then ignoring it. In some cases there may be
embarrassing scenes in front of co-workers, or being spoken to in
a condescending or belittling manner. The intention, and it is an
intention, is to slowly undermine the target’s self-esteem and
self-confidence.
Why
won’t you hear about an employee that is being bullied? There
are a number of reasons that most complaints of bullying go
unreported. According to the results of a research study by Drs.
Gary and Ruth Namie,3 in over 80% of incidences of
bullying, the bully ranks higher than the target. This
means that in most cases, the bully is in a position of power.
This power dynamic alone is often enough to stop any employee from
raising concerns.
The
Namies’ research further suggests that while men and women
appear to be equally likely to be bullies, female bullies target
other women 84% of the time, while male bullies target women 69%
of the time. Therefore, in around 75% of incidences, the person
being bullied (the target) is a woman, and often a bright and
competent one, like Ms Green, who was promoted twice before
suffering a nervous breakdown due to the bullying behaviour.
This
is another distinguishing factor in workplace bullying.
Surprisingly, the targets tend to be bright, good at their jobs,
popular with co-workers and highly educated (university degree or
higher). They are not "nerds" or "geeks," or
social outcasts that are often the victims in schoolyard bullying.
Quite
commonly, when these women are targeted at work, they often fail
to realize what is happening to them, or they mistakenly assume
that what is happening is their fault. There is a lack of
awareness in most workplaces about the phenomenon of workplace
bullying. Combine this with the general tendency of women to
accommodate and avoid conflict, and the fact that the person they
are in conflict with may be their boss, and you have the basic
recipe for a "put up and make the best of the situation"
approach.
And
how come you can’t figure out who the bullies are? Like their
targets, they are often competent and efficient at work. They tend
to be bright, controlling and manipulative. They often display
inconsistent and unpredictable behaviour. They may fly into a rage
or have temper tantrums, but only in front of select audiences,
only in front of subordinates, and never in front of their
superiors.
In
some cases, bullies may be ambitious individuals that have picked
up on a workplace culture that encourages and rewards competitive
behaviour. In other instances, bullies may be supervisors or
managers that have found that management by intimidation is an
effective way to increase production. And in many cases, bullies
may be individuals interested in inventing flaws in others rather
than deal with their own feelings of personal inadequacy,
insecurity or self loathing. In my consulting practice I have also
encountered bullies disguised as victims; individuals that have
discovered the covert power that victims often wield.
As
was the case with Ms. Green, the bullying behaviour tends to go on
for months or years. The target’s work may suffer and her
physical and psychological health may deteriorate. Ms. Green
suffered two nervous breakdowns as a result of the bullying
behaviour she suffered at work and was ultimately terminated by
her employer.
As
with schoolyard bullying, workplace bullying behaviour affects not
only the target, but the bystanders as well. Co-workers that
witness the ongoing bullying behaviour may also become
uncomfortable, fearful and/or traumatized due to the
psychologically unhealthy work environment. The bullying really
starts to hit the employer’s bottom line when the whole team’s
productivity declines. Costs go up as lost time, absenteeism and
employee turnover increase.
So,
what is an employer to do? The first step is to acknowledge that
workplace bullying behaviour exists, that it is a serious problem,
and that it must be dealt with. Employers need to take a good look
at their workplace culture and ensure that it is not, as the High
Court found in Ms. Green’s case, "a culture of
bullying."
The
next step is to clearly define what constitutes workplace bullying
behaviour and to advise all employees, in particular those in
positions of power, that workplace bullying is unacceptable
behaviour. This means adopting an anti-bullying policy that
clearly defines bullying behaviour, states that workplace bullying
is unacceptable and outlines consequences for engaging in it. The
policy must also have a safe and effective avenue for targets to
access if they believe they are being bullied at work.
The
next step is to ensure that all employees are aware of the new
policy. A clear message must be communicated, in the form of
information, awareness and/or training sessions about workplace
bullying. Ongoing monitoring of workplace behaviours and effective
management of bullying complaints must take place, with
appropriate remedies for targets and corrective penalties for the
bullies.
In
June 2004, the government of Quebec followed the lead of
Australia, Great Britain, France and Scandinavia and passed
legislation prohibiting "psychological harassment" -
which is, in effect, another name for workplace bullying. It
creates a positive obligation for employers to manage this
behaviour at work, in a manner similar to the statutory liability
for employers created in human rights law to maintain a
discrimination and harassment free work environment. In 2007, the
province of Saskatchewan introduced Bill 66, an amendment to the
Occupational Health and Safety Act, which recognizes harassment,
broadly defined to encompass workplace bullying, as behaviour
which can constitute a threat to the health and safety of a
worker.
The
case law is clearly signaling that workplace bullying is no longer
to be tolerated in Canadian workplaces. Employers in today’s
tight labour market no longer have the luxury of waiting for a
complaint to find out that there is a bully in their workplace.
Workplace bullying affects an organization’s bottom line, and
its ability to attract and retain the best and brightest
employees.
BC
Business Magazine included an article on workplace bullying in it’s
December 2006 issue entitled Bad Boss, Bad Boss. This article
elicited such an overwhelming response from readers, the magazine
did two follow up articles, one in May 2007 and another in June
2007.4 Those articles confirm what I have experienced
in my consulting practice; incidences of workplace bullying are on
the rise. One major reason for this increase is the increasingly
diverse, multi-cultural composition of our workforce, which is
creating new challenges for employers and for existing workplace
cultures.
Don’t wait until
you get a complaint to find out that you are harbouring a bully.
Decide whether or not workplace bullying has a place in your
organization. Take proactive steps to define workplace bullying as
unacceptable behaviour, and then monitor and manage your workplace
culture.
Footnotes:
1
London
Times, ₤800,000 Payout for Bullied City Secretary.
Adam Fresco, Tuesday, August 1, 2006
2
Vancouver
Sun, Bank Owes Bullied Employee $1.7 Million. Megan Murphy,
Wednesday August 2, 2006 D8
3
The
Bully at Work, Gary Namie Ph.D & Ruth Namie, Ph.D, 2003
4
BC Business Magazine, Bad Boss, Bad Boss, Vicki
O'Brien, December 2006, Battling the Bully, Sara Tyson, May
2007, Mob Mentality, Vicki O'Brien, June 2007
About The Author:
Erica
Pinsky is a consultant in the business of promoting human dignity
in the workplace. She assists employers in dealing with issues of
discrimination, harassment, bullying and conflict in the
workplace. She can be reached at ejpinsky@shaw.ca
or visit her online at www.ericajpinskyinc.ca.
Be sure to read all the previous articles and e-Newsletters
