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Are you being bullied?
According to the results of a study presented at the annual
conference of the British Psychological Society in April 2005,
more than one in eight people admit to being bullied at work,
and ganging up against the boss - often a middle manager - is on
the increase. But what are 'bullying behaviours', and how can
you tell if you yourself are being bullied?
According to the trade union AMICUS in their publication
'Bullying at work: How to tackle it', the type of workplaces
where bullying is more prevalent are those where one or more of
the following factors exist: * An extremely competitive
environment * Fear of redundancy or downsizing * Fear for one's
position of employment * A culture of promoting oneself by
putting colleagues down * Envy among colleagues * An
authoritarian style of management and supervision * Frequent
organisational change and uncertainty * Little or no
participation in issues affecting the workplace * Lack of
training * De-skilling * No respect for others and/or
appreciation of their views * Poor working relationships in
general * No clear published and accepted codes of conduct *
Excessive workloads and demands on people * Impossible targets
or deadlines * No procedures or policies for resolving problems
Being bullied is an isolating experience. It tends not to be
openly discussed in case this increases the risk of further
ill-treatment, and because the 'target' often feels ashamed to
discuss it with colleagues in case their professional
credibility is called into question. Even the mildest form of
intimidation may be very disturbing, and, as this intensifies
over time, the effect on the victim can be severe.
Early warning signs of being bullied include: * 'This
relationship is different to anything I've experienced before' *
'I'm persistently got at for no good reason' * 'My work is
forever being criticised, even though I know my standards
haven't slipped' * 'I'm beginning to question my own ability' *
'I wonder if all these mistakes are really my own fault' * 'My
supervisor is overbearing and constantly rude' * 'My boss is
constantly ridiculing me in front of my team' * 'I don't want to
go into work anymore. It's making me ill'
It's not unusual to hear complaints from individuals that their
professional competence has been called into question by their
colleagues or managers. These attacks might be overt actions
such as a public 'dressing down' for work errors, or covert
behaviour such as circulating rumours or gossip that appear to
question an individual's ability. One difficult area is where
this includes 'non-action' - for example not giving
acknowledgement and/or approval for a good piece of work, or not
asking for an opinion from the person who is clearly best
qualified to provide that input. These areas are also very
difficult for the targets of bullying to raise, as they question
their own validity.
Examples of bullying behaviour Bullies will typically: * Make
life at work constantly difficult for their targets * Make
unreasonable demands: constantly criticising * Insist that their
way of carrying out tasks is the only way * Shout at victims,
publicly, in order to get things done * Give instructions and
then subsequently change them for no apparent reason * Allocate
tasks which they know the person is incapable of achieving *
Refuse to delegate when appropriate * Humiliate their targets in
front of others * Block promotion, refuse to give fair
appraisals or refuse to endorse pay increases or bonus awards *
Exclude the victim from meetings or other legitimate business
activities * Constantly make attacks on the professionalism or
personal qualities of their targets
Personal attacks In addition to attacking a person's work role,
bullying behaviour may also include actions and statements that
are intended to undermine them personally, for example where
someone has an interest that is easy to ridicule; or by making
comments related to physical characteristics such as their
height, weight, clothes or hairstyle - all of which are clearly
inappropriate in a work environment and can undermine the
person's standing at work.
Isolation Social isolation and its effects should not be
underestimated. It is reminiscent of the playground and can be
just as miserable and humiliating for adults as it is
for
children (if not more so as it can jeopardise their livelihood).
Enforced social isolation of an individual within a group also
requires enormous courage for any one group member to break
ranks with their 'bullying' colleagues and risk the consequent
ridicule and rejection. Once these situations happen, for
whatever reason, they are typically very hard to stop.
Overwork Overwork, in a bullying sense, involves the imposition
of highly unrealistic deadlines where people are effectively
deliberately 'set up' to fail. This may also appear as 'micro
management', where every dot and comma, bolt, nut and screw is
checked so often that incompetence or inability is deliberately
implied.
Bullying by subordinates Bullying by subordinates can take many
forms such as not delivering messages, hiding notes, changing
documents, excluding people from social groups, or not
delivering papers for meetings on time - all of which are
designed to make the bullied manager seem incompetent.
Destabilisation People who are deliberately 'destabilised' feel
that they have lost control over their work environment and, as
a result, have ceased to be able to carry out their duties in a
relaxed manner without being threatened. Instead they live from
day to day as they fight to regain a position of normality,
often unsuccessfully.
Workplace behaviour such as obvious inconsistencies in the
allocation of rewards, unequal enforcement of working standards,
withholding privileges, changing objectives without warning, or
breaking agreements, also invariably leads to extreme discomfort
for the individual(s) concerned.
So to summarise, bullying behaviour includes overt action such
as yelling and shouting; covert action such as rumour and
gossip; non-action such as deliberately failing to include
individuals in discussions; or a more general inaction that
adversely impacts on the victim's situation (or security) at
work - all of which can be extremely distressing for the
individual(s) involved, and counterproductive for their employer.
About The Author
Carole Spiers combines three roles of broadcaster, journalist
and corporate manager in the challenging field of stress
management and employee wellbeing.
With 20 years as a top industry guru on stress management and
wellbeing, Carole's energy and dynamism extends to providing
professional comment to media including television (BBC, ITV,
Sky, NBC, CNN), print (Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, trade and
professional journals) and countless radio interviews.
A successful entrepreneur herself, Carole is the founder and MD
of the Carole Spiers Group - a dynamic, niche consultancy, and
the UK's No. 1 provider of Stress Management and Employee
Wellbeing from the shop floor to the Boardroom
A former Chairperson of the International Stress Management
AssociationUK, Carole was instrumental in establishing National
Stress Awareness Day™. Carole acts as an Expert Witness on
Stress Risk Assessment before the Courts, and is the author of
Tolley's 'Managing Stress in the Workplace'.
Free Special Report
Contact us to receive our FREE Special report 'The Ten Most
Frequently Asked Questions About Stress' please email
sb@carolespiersgroup.com
For more information on CSG'S services, including in-house and
public training, stress policy, stress audit, risk assessment,
attendance management, rehabilitation support, post trauma
support, mediation, impartial investigations, expert witness,
nationwide employee counselling team, coaching and mentoring
services, please contact us:
Carole Spiers Group International Stress Management & Employee
Wellbeing Consultancy Gordon House, 83-85 Gordon Ave, Stanmore,
Middlesex. HA7 3QR. UK Tel: +44(0) 20 8954 1593 Fax: +44(0) 20
8907 9290 Email: info@carolespiersgroup.com
www.carolespiersgroup.com
About the author:
Carole Spiers combines three roles of Broadcaster, Journalist
and Corporate Manager in the challenging field of stress
management and employee wellbeing. Over the past 20 years, she
has built up her corporate stress consultancy Carole Spiers
Group (CSG) Carole is frequently called upon by the national and
international media and provides keynote presentations on
stress-related issues.
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