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

HR Magazine,  Oct, 1999  by Rudy M. Yandrick

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Fourth, train people who are repeat aggressors on the use of "soft skills," including stress management, interpersonal communication and dealing with difficult people.

Fifth, implement an antiharassment policy featuring a nonretaliation provision. Encourage employees to document incidents that may fall within the policy's guidelines.

Sixth, companies can express their commitment to organizational justice, which will minimize employees' perception of unfairness. Scaringi says that organizational justice takes two forms: interpersonal justice, in which expressions of active caring for employee welfare are made; and informational justice, in which the employer habitually discloses to employees the "why" of its decisions in addition to the "what."

Seventh, use conflict management services as an early-intervention resource for disputes and other behaviors that can lead to bullying. According to Daniel Dana, president of the Dana Mediation Institute in Overland Park, Kan., bullying results from the aggressor's inadequacy, vulnerability and fear.

"Because of the social-psychological factors that motivate bullying behavior," he says, "a conflict mediation should be linked with an individual problem assessment, such as that offered by an EAP [employee assistance program]. This should be done for the target as well as for other issues that lead to the victimization."

Last, because lack of communication and miscommunication underlie many disputes, obtain a commitment on the part of all members of the organization to interact openly and civilly. For example, Dana has written a "Communication Creed" featuring seven self-responsible behaviors. Managers and subordinates can take the creed, and it can be instituted as a condition of employment with the aim of reducing the incidence of bullying and other inappropriate workplace behaviors.

Legal Ramifications of Bullying

If all else fails, the courts may have the final say. Employees are now protected by laws that prohibit harassment and discrimination on the basis of sex, race and other characteristics, as well as by safety and health regulations imposed on employers to provide a safe workplace.

Despite these public policies, though, David Yamada, associate professor of law at Suffolk University in Boston, claims that other factors have actually increased the likelihood of bullying and have led to pleas for additional legal protections. These factors include the decline of unionism, growth of the service-sector economy, expansion of the contingent workplace, greater diversity in the workplace and pressures created by the global economy.

For example, whereas a union would have provided immediate and powerful recourse for workers threatened in one fashion or another by superiors, the vast majority of non-management employees today lack this option.

There are two primary avenues of legal relief for employees who are the victims of bullies, Yamada notes. The first is a personal injury lawsuit against the bully and the bully's employer based on intentional infliction of emotional distress. However, favorable verdicts are few. Second, federal and state employment discrimination and harassment statutes provide for relief - but only to protected classes.