#Bullying on the job how to#

Glares at the targeted person or deliberately avoids eye contact when the targeted person speaks. “ut-downs, insults, belittling comments, name-calling.”Ĭonstantly criticizes the targeted person’s competence. īullying is not about a “clash of personalities,” a “misunderstanding,” or “miscommunication.” According to two psychologists who have conducted surveys on bullying, (1) bullies use surprise and secrecy to gain leverage over those targeted, (2) they are never interested in meeting someone else halfway so trying to negotiate with a bully is useless, (3) they routinely practice psychological violence against specific individuals whom they intentionally try to harm which is devastating to the targeted person’s emotional stability “and can last a long time.” According to the Namies, this psychological violence can take many forms:

#Bullying on the job how to#

Harvey Hornstein Brutal Bosses and Their Prey: How to Identify and Overcome Abuse in the Workplace.

Never take responsibility for their own “errors.” Suffer from low self-esteem so belittle targeted persons (can be obvious or subtle put-downs).Įxperts at lying, deceiving and betraying. orchestrating battles and watching others disembowel each other). insulting and/or rude words or gestures, or INDIRECTLY ( e.g. They try to make others feel less powerful.Ĭan act DIRECTLY (e.g. Only interested in power and control and protecting their turf. Hornstein’s view bullies fall into 3 types: īullying is not about being “tough” or insisting on high standards. While appearing to be acting reasonably and courteously on the surface, in reality they are engaging in vicious and fabricated character assassination, petty humiliations and small interferences, any one of which might be insignificant in itself, but taken together over a period of time, poison the working environment for the targeted individuals. Some bullies are obvious – they throw things, slam doors, engage in angry tirades, and are insulting and rude. Bullies can be superiors, subordinates, co-workers and colleagues. Bullying behavior can exist at any level of an organization. Because bullies are cowards and are driven by deep-seated insecurities and fears of inadequacy, they intentionally wage a covert war against an organization’s best employees – those who are highly-skilled, intelligent, creative, ethical, able to work well with others, and independent (who refuse to be subservient or controlled by others). Recent commentators have used different ways to describe bullying behavior, but they agree that a bully is only interested in maintaining his or her power and control. The purpose of this article is to review current research on workplace bullying, to help organizations learn how to identify bullies, and to suggest ways that an organization can eliminate this workplace toxin. In order to survive, organizations must root out workplace bullying before it squelches their employees’ creativity and productivity, or even drives out their best employees, thus fatally impacting an organization’s ability to compete in this new era. Although workplace bullying is being discussed more than ever before, and there may eventually be specific legislation outlawing such behavior, organizations cannot afford to wait for new laws to eradicate the bullies in their midst. The problem with workplace bullying is that many bullies are hard to identify because they operate surreptitiously under the guise of being civil and cooperative. As a result, enterprises are robbed of their most important asset in today’s competitive economic environment – precious human capital. Bullies not only stifle productivity and innovation throughout the organization, they most often target an organization’s best employees, because it is precisely those employees who are the most threatening to bullies. In such an environment, one of the surest ways for an organization to fail is to tolerate workplace bullying. In a hyper-competitive global economy, where competition is no longer limited by geography or industry, new formidable competitors can arise seemingly overnight. To succeed in this economic environment, organizations must be able to inspire all levels of employees to be innovative or risk being overtaken by more nimble and creative competitors.