Lurking in the shadows - Management - includes related articles on workplace bullying

HR Magazine, Oct, 1999 by Rudy M. Yandrick

WORKPLACE BULLYING CAN CAUSE HIGH TURNOVER, LOW PRODUCTIVITY AND DECREASED MORALE.

What is one of the most insidious and destructive problems, yet also one of the least documented and most tolerated?

Answer: Workplace bullying.

The problem often surfaces in such behavioral forms as verbal abuse, sexual harassment and discrimination. But bullying is a subsurface problem in many organizations, causing stress-related illnesses, turnover, defective work, stifled creativity and, for its targets, shattered careers. It is a problem that knows no geographic boundaries and is not confined to a particular industry.

In December 1992, Tim Field was a customer services specialist for a United Kingdom-based software development company. His department manager was known as an excellent "people person" and team builder, and working life was good for everyone in his charge.

Things turned upside down that month when the department manager resigned suddenly and unexpectedly and was replaced with "Mr. Hyde." By the following spring, department morale had sagged due to the new manager's autocratic and biased style of management. Field bore the brunt of the abuse.

"Within days of the manager's arrival, criticism had replaced compliments, achievements were undermined, requests were denied and decisions overruled," says Field. "My responsibility increased in the department, yet authority was taken away from me. I could never pin him down to an explanation about what was wrong and, when challenged, he would become impatient, aggressive and often made veiled threats of demotion."

Later that year, Field suffered a psychiatric injury from the accumulation of verbal abuse and piling on of job responsibilities, which had tripled since the manager's arrival. He quit shortly afterward.

As Field later learned by studying literature on harassment, discrimination and bullying, and by conducting his own research at U.K. workplaces, he had been the target of a workplace bully who knew how to exploit a vulnerable organization. The company conferred unbridled authority on its supervisors, lacked an antiharassment or anti-intimidation policy, had no dispute resolution or effective employee-grievance process and was clueless about the characteristic behaviors of a workplace bully. Absent company defenses, Field's unfortunate encounter was an episode waiting to happen.

But his experience is not unique or even rare. According to a 1996 study by the International Labor Organization (ILO), 53 percent of U.K. employees were targets of workplace bullying and 78 percent were witnesses. High-prevalence statistics were produced for other countries, too.

Today, Field helps employers and targets of workplace bullying trough the U.K. National Workplace Bullying Advice Line, which he founded in 1996. In retrospect, Field believes the bullying manager he knew was a "socialized psychopath," a profile he says applies to most workplace bullies.

What Is Workplace Bullying?

Workplace bullies exhibit a variety of behaviors that fall under the rubric of "low-level violence." Workplace bullying is commonly thought of as workplace harassment, emotional abuse and targeted aggression. Bullying follows a pattern of behavior and is not an isolated incident.

Examples of bullying behaviors are:

* Yelling at or ridiculing a co-worker or subordinate publicly for disagreeing, while exhibiting stony silence in private.

* Undermining an individual or group with vindictive or humiliating words or acts.

* Stalking and other forms of intimidation.

* And, as it applies to males more than females, an implied threat of physical attack, especially in blue-collar environments.

In supervisor-subordinate relationships, bullying may include excessive dumping of work or assignment of unpleasant jobs.

"The typical recipe for workplace bullying includes cutthroat competition with a scarcity of talent and time, along with a fear-laced culture," says Gary Namie, coordinator of the non-profit organization Campaign Against Workplace Bullying, headquartered in Benicia, Calif.

"Complaining is equated with whining or weakness and may be taboo. So, there's denial and no responsibility for the problem. If a manager says, 'Work out the interpersonal conflict between yourselves because I don't want to get involved,' that is a green light for the bully. A lot of times, this is how it's played out in a polite, well-dressed office. And bullying happens most often in a workplace that's continually in crisis mode."

Bullying seldom boils into an open confrontation, and victims and witnesses are typically cowed into silence, according to conflict experts. Because visible evidence of the problem is often scant, it can appear as though the bully's target is creating the problem.

"Once someone does muster the courage to complain, the entire force of the organization may bear down on him, resulting in adversity from two directions instead of just one," says Namie. "If you go out on workers' compensation, you're written off as delusional, since stress disorders are not well-understood as biological illnesses. You are also likely to come out of psychological testing as paranoid. I hate to see people leave their jobs, but sooner or later people have to make a decision to choose their health over their work."