Workplace bullying: Difference between revisions

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	The targets of workplace bullying are usually bright, creative individuals, and often excel at their jobs. . In terms of gender, more than half of all bullies are female (58%), with the vast majority of bullying targets also being women (80%). Race, nationality, physical handicaps, religion and other social factors may contribute to the bullying,{{fact}} but the target's self-confidence and individuality seem to be the main factors. These aspects of the target's personality often contrast sharply with the bully's aggression and incompetence.		The targets of workplace bullying are usually bright, creative individuals, and often excel at their jobs. . In terms of gender, more than half of all bullies are female (58%), with the vast majority of bullying targets also being women (80%). Race, nationality, physical handicaps, religion and other social factors may contribute to the bullying,{{fact}} but the target's self-confidence and individuality seem to be the main factors. These aspects of the target's personality often contrast sharply with the bully's aggression and incompetence.


			== Leading Pioneers in the understanding of Workplace Bullying ==

			The follow pioneers made particularly important contributions to the understanding of workplace bullying.

			* Heinz Leymann
			* Andrea Adams
			* ]
			* ]
			* Paul Babiak
			* Gary Namie

			It was Andrea Adams who first coined the expression "workplace bullying".

	== References ==		== References ==

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Abuse

Types

Workplace Bullying and US Law

Court action based on workplace bullying is problematic at best. In the United States, a plaintiff must prove a) that the bullying actually occurred, b) that the bully's actions fall into at least one of the four categories mentioned above and c) that the plaintiff's subsequent problems stemmed from the bully's actions. As of this writing, only five states have legislation against workplace bullying pending, and no state has ever passed laws against it. However, some states do have laws against creating or maintaining a "hostile work environment". Many states also have general laws against harassment, but charges of harassment are notoriously hard to prove.

Two laws that have proven useful in the United States are the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans With Disabilities Act. However, the plaintiff must prove that the bully's actions violate the conditions of these statutes.

Workplace Bullying and UK Law

In the United Kindom, although bullying is not specifically mentioned in workplace legislation, there are means to obtain legal redress for bullying. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 is a recent addition to the more traditional approaches using employment-only legislation. Notable cases include Majrowski v Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Trust wherein it was held that an employer is vicariously liable for one employee's harassment of another, and Green v DB Group Services (UK) Ltd, where a bullied worker was awarded over £800,000 in damages. In the latter case, at paragraph 99, the judge Mr Justice Owen said:

"...I am satisfied that the behaviour amounted to a deliberate and concerted campaign of bullying within the ordinary meaning of that term."

Bullying behaviour breaches other UK laws. An implied term of every Employment_contract in the UK is that parties to the contract have a (legal) duty of trust and confidence to each other. Bullying, or an employer tolerating bullying, typically breaches that contractual term. Such a breach creates circumstances entitling an employee to terminate his or her contract of employment without notice, which can lead to a finding by an Employment Tribunal of unfair dismissal, colloquially called Constructive_dismissal. An employee bullied in response to asserting a statutory right can be compensated for the detriment under Part V of the Employment Rights Act 1996, and if dismissed, Part X of the same Act provides that the dismissal is automatically unfair. Where a person is bullied on grounds of sex, race or disability et al, it is outlawed under anti-Discrimination laws.

It is important to bear in mind that the foregoing statements are made on the assumption that one's definition of "workplace bullying" includes identifiable, provable acts (or deliberate failures to act) which put the claimant at a measurable disadvantage.

Common Motives for Bullying

The most common motives for bullying are laziness, prejudice and fear of being outperformed.

Laziness becomes a motive for bullying when a productive employee is coerced into doing the work of one or more less productive co-workers. A lazy worker will try to avoid work by coercing his co-workers into performing his tasks for him. This causes a drop in productivity as more productive team members must spend part of their workday performing the lazy worker's jobs. It also causes predictable personality conflicts as the more productive team members complain about the work load as the less productive member tries to defend his actions. This is the most basic motive for bullying: to enjoy the rewards of having a job without doing the work.

Prejudice comes into play when less desirable jobs and special forms of mistreatment are reserved for minority members. Much attention is given to prejudice against blacks and women, but prejudice against Jews, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian Americans, homosexuals (gays and lesbians), and the mentally and physically handicappped is also prevalent. Gender stereotyping is also common, along with discriminatory conduct against employees with different religious or political views, and socioeconomic status.

Fear of being outperformed is the most common reason for bullying in an office setting, but it is by no means limited to offices. A person who is afraid of a more competent coworker will often use obstructionist tactics to impede that person's performance. The bully may withhold information. He may refuse to train new employees. Perhaps the bully will try to monopolize supplies. Most often, the bully will try to hide his own incompetence by sharply and constantly criticizing the performance of a more competent worker.

Demonstration of authority is yet another motive for bullying. A manager may assign meaningless, unrewarding or even humiliating tasks to an employee just to prove that people must obey him/her.

Common Tactics of Bullies

(Note: from this point forward, victims of bullying are referred to as Targets.)

Constant criticism is the bully's attempt to undermine the target's self-confidence. By exaggerating the target's mistakes, the bully intends to a) make the target look incompetent in the eyes of co-workers, b) make his own work look better by comparison, or c) divert attention from his own mistakes. Often, the bully will expand his criticism to the target's private and social life. Since criticism can become habitual, the target will be criticized by the bully no matter how well the target performs.

Isolation is a tactic intended to separate the target from the workplace's social circles and information networks. Cut off from all social and business interaction, the target is more vulnerable to the bully's threats and verbal assaults. The bully takes a "divide and conquer" approach.

Monopolizing is another tactic. The bully works his way into a position in which he is the only source of certain supplies or information. The target is thus given a choice between submitting to the bully or doing without necessary facts and supplies. The target gets what he needs only if the bully gets what he wants.

Gossip is perhaps the most common tactic of workplace bullying. Simply put, the bully starts a rumor about the target. As the rumor moves through the workplace, the target finds himself the subject of suspicion. Since the bully often controls the target's contact with co-workers, the target has no way of knowing what's being said about him behind his back. Coworkers who have little contact with or were hired after the target may judge him by the bully's gossip rather than by his performance. By spreading rumors about the target, the bully is turning his coworkers against the target. This is a form of mobbing.

False documentation, also called the ghost gripe, is an effective tool for the bully. The bully claims that complaints have been filed about the target's behavior or performance. The bully will either fabricate an incident or misdocument a real event to place the blame on the target. He will refuse to identify the complainants, citing the company's confidentiality policy and saying that he wants to prevent retaliation. In reality, he is preventing the target from investigating the complaint and disproving the allegations. The bully uses the company's policies to achieve control over his coworkers. Countless targets have been disciplined and even fired over ghost gripes. False documentation is most common in companies that do not have at-will hiring/firing policies, since the manager must give a valid reason for firing employees he personally dislikes.

Stealing the credit is a very common bullying tactic. The bully places himself in a position in which he can claim credit for the target's efforts and ideas. The target is unable to document his efforts, so the bully gets the rewards while the target is stuck with all of the work. An excellent example of this occurs in the comedy movie Nine to Five when an abusive boss steals credit for a secretary's idea.

Verbal abuse is often used by the bully to attack the Target personally. Verbal abuse includes -- but is by no means limited to -- profanity, shouting and racial or ethnic slurs. It may consist of giving the target a disrespectful nickname or subjecting him to a constant stream of insults.

Passive aggression is a common tactic of lazy bullies. By leaving certain jobs undone or incomplete, they force the target to do their work for them. Moreover, if they discover behaviors which irritate the target, they will repeat those behaviors until the target loses his temper, perhaps giving the target an undeserved reputation for violent behavior. Procrastination is a common form of passive aggression.

Sexual harassment is another common tactic. The problematic and heated topic in the United States since the 1980s, sexual harassment is when an employee (either a superior like a manager or colleague) sexually attacks (physically or verbally) another based on gender.

Violence is the bully's last resort. Unlike schoolyard bullying, surprisingly little workplace bullying involves physical violence. Since violence is illegal, such behavior will usually cost the bully his job and perhaps his freedom. While violence makes headlines, most other acts of workplace bullying are not considered newsworthy. Thus the public is frightened by stories of violence in the workplace while the causes of the violence are ignored.

It should be noted that bullies seldom rely on just one tactic. Most will combine several different tactics in an organized assault on the target. For instance, many bullies will effectively combine isolation and gossip.

Common Mistakes of Management

Appeasement is perhaps the most common mistake managers can make when dealing with bullies. This approach assumes that the bully's aggressive behavior will cease when he is given what he desires. History has proven this approach to be counterproductive. A person who uses aggression to satisfy his desires has no logical reason to stop. He may calm down for a while when given what he wants, but he will resume and possibly escalate his aggressive behavior when he wants something else.

Blaming both parties is also a common mistake. When this happens, the manager punishes the bully for aggression, but also punishes the target for failing to get along with the bully. The manager ignores the possibility that the bully is purely to blame.

Blaming the Target is an even more serious mistake. Instead of acting against the bully, the manager may simply order the target to stop complaining. If the target continues to complain about the bully's behavior, the manager will discipline the target and may even come to the bully's defense. Thus the target is made to suffer twice, once at the hands of the bully and once at the hands of management.

Ignoring the issue. Management may believe that problems will vanish if the bully's behavior is ignored. Thus the bully goes unpunished. A bully who goes unpunished has no logical reason to relent. His aggressive behavior will continue, and may even escalate to physical violence. This approach involves wishful thinking on the part of the manager.

Emphasizing teamwork and ignoring individual effort plays into the bully's hands. Often, the target is a creative, productive individual whose ideas often work. In today's workplace, the emphasis is on team effort. Management tends to dislike subordinates who think for themselves, regardless of how good their ideas are. This makes it easy for the bully to accuse the target of "not being a team player".

Believing the group means taking the word of multiple employees over that of the target. The assumption is that the majority is always right. When a target comes into conflict with a group of coworkers, the Abilene paradox comes into play. The group may be lying about the target or acting out of ignorance, but the manager is reluctant to stand against multiple employees. After all, it is easier to discipline one person than it is to discipline a group. In their efforts to appease the group, managers will often ignore compelling evidence supporting the target.

Stereotyping often skews management's judgement. Racial and ethnic stereotyping have fallen out of favor, but other, less obvious or conventional forms are still practiced. For instance, companies with written policies against workplace violence may still allow women to behave violently toward men because "women are weaker" and "men are tougher". A physically large person may be blamed for an accident because of the perception that "big people are awkward and clumsy".

Who Gets Targeted by Bullies?

The targets of workplace bullying are usually bright, creative individuals, and often excel at their jobs. . In terms of gender, more than half of all bullies are female (58%), with the vast majority of bullying targets also being women (80%). Race, nationality, physical handicaps, religion and other social factors may contribute to the bullying, but the target's self-confidence and individuality seem to be the main factors. These aspects of the target's personality often contrast sharply with the bully's aggression and incompetence.