<BULLY BLOCKING AT WORK
A Self-Help Guide for Employees and Managers
Evelyn M. Field
CHAPTER TWO | What is workplace bullying?
Workplace bullying is complex
Bullying may feel like a pinprick, a slow-growing cancer or a vicious assault. You can be bullied by one person or mobbed by a group. Some bullies select one target while others bully a number. Sometimes the real bully is disguised, so you only see their puppet. Some behaviours like bantering, teasing, screaming and exclusion occur regularly in your private life with family or friends and function as everyday work practices, whereas other behaviours are violent, abusive and criminal.
More recently, the hazards associated with cyber bullying at school are infiltrating the workplace, providing bullying around the clock. The subtle, passive-aggressive tone of an email, a poorly expressed communication, the requirement to have your mobile phone on night and day, the lack of inhibition online and the use of inappropriate material constitute an abuse of power. The absence of immediate feedback about its impact on the receiver means that the sender cannot see the damage online and remains unaware when they have hurt the receiver.
What is workplace bullying?
Workplace bullying involves the repetitive, prolonged abuse of power.
Unwelcome, unreasonable, escalating behaviours are aggressively directed at one or more workers and cause humiliation, offence, intimidation and distress.
It places your health, wellbeing, safety and career at risk, interferes with job performance, and creates a toxic working environment.
Workplace bullying can attack anyone, in any career, at any level, within any organisation, at any time.
BULLY BLOCKING AT WORK
A Self-Help Guide for Employees and Managers
Evelyn M. Field
CHAPTER THREE | Understanding workplace bullying
Why does it happen?
Bullying can happen in any organisation, small or large, professional, commercial, public or trade. So far, the evidence is confusing and complex. Many factors can encourage bullying behaviours and maintain them such as the tribal cultures, individual personalities, work and social skills of target and bully; the actual work influences such as location, work culture, job stressors, quality of leadership skills, bystander behaviours, organisational structure and responses to bullying. In addition, all social behaviour, including bullying, can be affected by the economy, legislative changes, media, and the political climate.
When the employment world is tough, survival of the fittest, not the most competent, becomes the norm. Anyone working in a hostile environment should be ready to fight or flee to survive, even though this creates a less productive work culture. Many organisations create dysfunctional systems by allowing their boundaries or cultural systems to constantly change. Employees who do not know the rules of the game, or where the goalposts are located, can be oblivious to the onset of bullying and unable to protect themselves when they should. Like most other forms of abuse, bullying also thrives on secrecy and silence. It escalates because no-one con- fronts it and nothing effective is done to stop it when it is finally reported.
Although bullying can occur anywhere, when it occurs at work management is responsible for dealing with its consequences. Unfortunately, work complaints are often regarded as problems by management, although they should be interpreted as valuable feedback. Management may not realise that bullying represents incompetence and mismanagement, thus managers play adversarial games instead of focusing on their major goals. They don’t have effective strategies to deal with bullying, so they employ antagonistic tactics instead of collaborative techniques, thereby exacerbating the situation. Unfortunately most organisations fail to respond quickly, effectively and respectfully when bullying occurs. Their denial of bullying behaviours, lack of responsibility and manipulation of the evidence further sabotages their employees and their company.
BULLY BLOCKING AT WORK
A Self-Help Guide for Employees and Managers
Evelyn M. Field
The main types of bullies
The bullies you may have met at school also go to work. They include the malicious or serial bully, the nonmalicious bully and the provocative bully/target. Most bullies are ordinary people who use a mixture of bullying behaviours to achieve their goals, avoid confrontation or survive at work. They don’t realise that their toxic patterns of behaving are harmful and humiliating, nor do they consciously wish to hurt others.
They can experience real distress when confronted. However, most bullies intuitively identify when their employer and managers encourage, silently condone or passively enable them to bully.
Animal quiz
Have you seen any of these creatures around the office lately?
Lion constantly roaring throughout the w
…orkplace.
Saltwater crocodile enjoys taking you into the death roll.
Wolf charming to your face then attacks from behind.
Octopus slowly engulfs you with aggression from all sides.
Giraffe seems innocent, then leans in from afar to bully.
Peacock so confident they don’t care how their words or actions hurt.
Gorilla only placated by subservient behaviours.
Shark takes a bite out of you first and asks questions later.
Cat scratches away but pretends to be righteous.
Grizzly bear rears up and towers over you, ready to pounce.
Piranha keeps chewing away until nothing’s left.
Spider invites you into their web and then destroys you.
Bee attacks you when it perceives a threat to its hive.
BULLY BLOCKING AT WORK
A Self-Help Guide for Employees and Managers
Evelyn M. Field
CHAPTER ELEVEN | Action for organisations
Respect and resilience
Most organisations want to remain in business, expand if possible and stay profitable. They don’t want to waste or lose money. Although any business is controlled by the economic bottom line, when employees are not feeling safe or respected, they cannot work effectively because their attitudes and values influence their level of work satisfaction and job performance.
Basically, employees who experience constructive working relationships within an open learning culture will be more motivated than those shredded by conflict and backstabbing.
Thus, like a family, school or sports club, the workplace is a system. It requires clear structures to function effectively, and appropriate social skills to work together. A best practice organisation creates a cooperative, collaborative work culture where employees feel safe, involved and empowered. This requires strong leadership and effective management to promote clear goals and values.
Therefore, companies need to review their business ethics, and incorporate ideas such as social responsibility and social and human capital to reinforce the concept of valuing staff. Clearly, it is better business practice to respect every employee and treat them as a valuable asset, instead of fostering gladiatorial survival games.>
Jog on ———————————–>
enough about this collins project you really need psychiatric help if you refuse to move on from this…
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