Content provided in partnership with

Business Services Industry

Bullying: it's not just on the playground; Bosses report being targeted in the workplace

HR Magazine, June, 2005 by Kathy Gurchiek

A subordinate ignores a manager's instructions, does not deliver messages to the manager, makes sure papers are not delivered to meetings in time, spreads lies about the supervisor, and changes documents to remove their supervisor's contributions in planning meetings.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Bosses being bullied in the workplace? By their subordinates?

It happens. Managing Conflict At Work, the results of a survey presented in March at the annual British Psychological Society Symposium on Workplace Bullying, found that 12 percent of all accusations of bullying were made against people the complainants supervise.

More Articles of Interest: Facing up to the brutal reality of bullying in the workplace WORKING; Lurking in the shadows - Management - includes related articles on workplace...; Bosses bullied at work by junior employees; Bullying and sexual harassment rife in the workplace; Workplace Anger

Most Popular Articles in Business: Research and Markets : Tesco Plc - SWOT Framework Analysis; Do Us a Flavor - Ben & Jerry's Issues a Call for Euphoric New Flavors; eBay made easy: ready to start an eBay business? These 5 simple steps will ...; Katrina's lawsuit surge: a legal battle to force insurers to pay for flood ...; Wal-Mart's newest distribution center opened last month near the southwest ...; More »

The survey was conducted in July and August 2004 in the United Kingdom and Ireland by the London-based Chartered Institute of People and Development (CIPD), and findings were based on the previous 12 months. More than 1,100 CIPD members and nonmembers responded to the survey.

Bullying is repeated nonphysical, health-impairing psychological mistreatment that falls outside discriminatory harassment, according to the Washington state-based Workplace Bullying & Trauma Institute (WBTI), which claims that bullying is more prevalent than sexual harassment and racial discrimination.

Although the WBTI had no statistics on the financial impact of workplace bullying in the United States, bullying costs U.K. businesses about 80 million lost workdays annually, accounts for at least half of all work-related stress and can cause "significant mental health and social problems," according to Bullying at Work: Beyond Policies to Culture of Respect, a CIPD paper based on the survey findings.

In addition, it affects turnover and organizational costs by reducing productivity and raising the potential for litigation, the paper noted.

"Bullies are rarely psychopathic; the majority [of bullies are] opportunistic, intelligently reading the pattern of who gets promoted and who gets drummed out of competition-worshipping workplaces," according to the WBTI's web site.

Bullying typically involves a target who is new to the job, group or role, said Gary Namie, co-founder of the WBTI. New managers set themselves up when they come in and say, "This is how I did it at the last job" because it challenges the status quo.

Clamping down on bullying requires senior management's support, Namie stressed. Confronting the bully must be done by a supervisor at least two levels above the targeted boss, he noted, because bullies "respond to power and they respond to organizational pressure." That high-level supervisor must tell the bully that the behavior will not be tolerated, that the organization will monitor his or her actions, and that he or she will be fired if the behavior continues.

"You either want them to change their conduct ... or leave," Namie said. "They'll be written up enough times, they'll be leaving."

KATHY GURCHIEK IS ASSOCIATE EDITOR FOR HR NEWS.

Business Services Industry

Bullying: it's not just on the playground; Bosses report being targeted in the workplace

HR Magazine, June, 2005 by Kathy Gurchiek

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: Reference

Most Popular Articles in Business

Most Popular Publications in Business