Is Your Boss a Bully?

[David Baxter PhD]

Is Your Boss a Bully? Take This Test.
By Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D., Psychology Today
Sat, Feb 27 2010

Workplace bullying has reached epidemic proportions. A 2007 poll showed that 37% of workers are currently, or have been, the target of bullies at work. Another 12% have witnessed bullying in the workplace. That adds up to more than half of the U.S. workforce that has been impacted by bullying.

Bullying can make the workplace a living hell, and can lead to turnover as targets quit their jobs in frustration or fear. Targets of bullying can experience a sort of post-traumatic stress disorder, and in rare instances is linked to suicide and workplace violence. Interestingly, there has been little attention paid to workplace bullying in the United States, as many bullying activities can "fly under the radar" of workplace harassment (i.e., the targets are not members of protected groups; the harassment is more subtle). It is striking to me that there has been so little research on workplace bullying.

I practically stumbled on the concept of bullying recently from discussions with colleagues and a recent post. But looking back on my own work career, I can see many instances of bullying behavior that I observed (fortunately, I've never been a target - so I guess that puts me in the lucky portion of workers). In our earlier blog discussion, readers posted a number of sources for information on bullying, and I've found the work of Drs. Gary and Ruth Namie particularly useful in helping me understand it.

Although peer-to-peer bullying is quite common, bullying can be particularly harmful when the bully is your boss - a person in power. Bullying leaders' goal is to control the people they are targeting. To control, the bully mistreats, shames, and tries to humiliate the target (bullying researchers use the term "target" rather than "victim," in order to avoid having targets' view themselves as helpless victims; There are ways to combat bullies!).
Based on the Namies' research, here is a test to see if your boss is a workplace bully.

1. Does your boss blame you for fabricated "errors"?
2. Are you given unreasonable job demands or goals?
3. Does your boss threaten you with pay cuts or being fired?
4. Does your boss insult you and/or criticize your abilities? Does this happen in front of others?
5. Are you excluded by the bully and his/her "henchmen" or given the silent treatment?
6. Does your boss yell, scream, or curse at you?
7. Does your boss inconsistently enforce rules?
8. Does your boss deny or discount your accomplishments and/or take credit for your success?

In a future post, we will discuss the bully's motivation, and we will provide guidelines to help combat workplace bullying. But the first step is to identify bullying for what it is - an unreasonable and horrible attempt to control others and to cause psychological harm. The first step in dealing with bullying, is to recognize it for what it is, to realize that you are not to blame, and to protect yourself from harm.

Here are some valuable resources:

• Gary Namie & Ruth Namie (2009). The Bully at Work: What You Can Do to Stop the Hurt and Reclaim Your Dignity on the Job (2nd ed.), Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks.
• www.workplacebullying.com
• www.kickbully.com
• http://newworkplace.wordpress.com

 

[Retired]

I believe the reason this kind of behaviour has been largely ignored by management is because of the drastic change in management culture in the last two decades.

Being old enough to remember when employers valued their staff, providing them with benefits such as pensions, workplace lunch and even compassionate leave when required, the entrance of the new school of MBA's in the workplace changed all that.

The work environment has become bottom line oriented, where people are mere resources that have little or no value once the required work is completed. The bully fits into this kind of environment because the feelings of employees are considered irrelevant to the financial goals of the employer.

Having experienced the wrath of a bullying boss first hand, and seeing the response from management, it became clear the bully intimidated not only the subordinates, but also those at the same level and those above him in the menagement chain.

What has been your experience with workplace bullies and how did this person's behaviour affect your life and your mental health?

 

[busybee]

In my case I have been bullied at work by 2 people. For me my work was an escape from a home life that was difficult and to find that my work life did not give me the what I needed was demoralising.

I work in a fairly female dominated work environment. I was asked to sit in on this person's initial interview to become employed as a manager for the site where I was in middle management role. I had never done this before, and I was asked to write down all the things that I felt in points. So my phrases were as follows

. Climbing the ladder of success, will stop at nothing to get there.
. HR issues ...... very dominant person....... inflexible
. May be good for this site, regards culture change in short term, but negative in long term
. Manipulative
. I warned the Chief Operating Officer to guard their job.

This person with 8 weeks of being employed was like poison. She affected the lives of so many women. They were all carers of the elderly, which is not a great paying career $wise, but most people in this industry are caring, nurturing people.
Also all of the above statements occurred.
I know staff who have sought counselling for up to 2 years after she left the company. She got the COO job and then proceeded to destroy at a national level. I left the company. Sometimes you just have to draw the line. Obviously the company were not concerned at what a negative impact she was having on the workforce. But from the inside, I saw how she dug holes behind people, went into their office on the weekend and sabataged their work, destroyed work........ and everyone was too scared to report it. I did but I was not listened to. Once she got into the higher positions of power she approached me and said she had read my comments from her initial interview. By this stage I did not have a lot to loose. So I told her straight she backed off me. But I still left. I work in the same industry still, and she has also moved on and each time I hear about her, the web of destruction continues. How do these people succeed.??