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
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.”
On
the weLEAD Website you will
find over 70 other free helpful
leadership tips. They are all available in a text version or as an MP3 audio!