leadingtoday.org

Leadership Tip of the Month

August 2004

Copyright 2004ã weLEAD, Inc.

Dealing with the Workplace Bully

If you have spent a considerable amount of time working in an office or at a manufacturing plant, chances are you have discovered a workplace bully! Some common bullying tactics include creating arbitrary rules to harass a worker, isolating a worker, making unreasonable demands, insulting or putting down a worker and yelling or screaming at a worker. Other tactics include blaming others for mistakes, taking credit for another’s work and casting doubt on the quality of another person’s work.

Allowing bullies to roam the workplace takes a severe toll on a worker’s mental and physical health. If allowed to continue it can cause depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Bullying adds dramatically increased costs to companies including lost productivity, increased sick time and employee turnover. As Gary Namie, an organizational psychologist and co-author of The Bully at Work has said, “Take a look at the dollars these jerks cost. You don’t have to be a tenderhearted fellow. If you are just a cold-blooded, cost-benefit kind of guy, you’d understand that the bully has to go”.

Sadly, some research indicates that when the target confronts the bully, it is the bully who usually keeps their job. Up to seventy percent of the time the target either gets fired for exposing the bully to management, or quits to escape the situation. In addition, as long as the bully does not stalk, sexually harass or physically touch the target their actions are not considered illegal.

Some recent surveys indicate the following problems in the American workplace associated with bullying. Some of these results may surprise you!

· Seven times out of ten the bully outranks, or has a superior title than the target person.

· A female is the target in eight out of every ten cases.

· In six of ten cases a female is the bully! This is because they often see that aggression is rewarded in the workplace culture.

· About one worker in six is bullied in any given year.

· Thirty percent of the targets are in jobs of an equal rank or even higher rank than the bully.

What are some of the things a leader can do to eliminate the attitude of bullying in their workplace? Here are a few things to consider…

1. What kind of example are you and other senior managers setting? Are you modeling the right positive culture by your own actions and demeanor? As Rick Banning, a human resource consultant in Boston has written, “The tone is set at the top. It’s real tricky if the CEO’s the bully.”

2. When someone comes to you with a complaint of being the target of bullying, take the time to listen and do some internal investigation. Be a little more observant of what is going on with the individuals in question. It takes a lot of courage or desperation for someone to come to you and point out this kind of a problem! They know they are putting their job and future on the line to do this so don’t simply dismiss the complaint. If they are a good employee you will most likely lose them if you do little or nothing. Monitor complaints to see how bad the problem really is.

3. Examine the organizational culture. What is in the existing culture that allows this kind of behavior to exist? Have others been rewarded or promoted who were bullies? How many excellent employees have been lost in the past few years because they were bullied? What indications have there been in the past that should have alerted you to this problem?

4. Consider writing a policy that specifically addresses psychological harassment. Then set up a credible enforcement process that applies to every employee at every level throughout the organization.

The key is to firmly establish, mentor and enforce an environment of mutual respect among all workers at all levels! Let it be known that bullying behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in the workplace culture. Encourage a series of workshops to teach managers the effective positive ways to motivate employees.

For weLEAD, this is Greg Thomas reminding you that it was Samuel Butler who said, “Silence is not always tact and it is tact that is golden, not silence”.