Workplace Bullying: Who is bullied; why it happens.

 

Workplace bullying is a subset of an abusive and toxic workplace. Suffolk University Law Professor David Yamada is an architect of a “bullying bill” for the Massachusetts state legislature. In his 2008 article Workplace Bullying and Ethical Leadership,  in the Journal of Values-Based Leadership, he describes what workplace bullying is, and what it is not:

 

Workplace bullying does not concern everyday disagreements at work, the occasional loud argument, or simply having a bad day. Furthermore, it does not involve interpersonally difficult aspects of work, such as giving a fair and honest evaluation to an underperforming employee. It also is not about gruff vis-á-vis easygoing bosses, as bullying often transcends management styles. Rather, bullying encompasses a power relationship, whether vested in organizational hierarchies, interpersonal dynamics, or both, that has crossed a line and become abusive.

 

Yamada says that in addition to the direct costs due to litigation and medical costs for workers’ compensation claims, there are other indirect costs that stem from the effect that bullying has on other employees, even if they are not direct targets. These are factors such as other employees or witnesses to the abusive behavior feeling an environment of fear, mistrust, withdrawal, hiding mistakes.  

There are types of bullying that occur between targets and aggressors. Yamada states that where in the workplace the bullying tends to be “top-down” it is “disproportionately harmful to female workers. He shares findings from a survey done by the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) and Zogby in 2007 that reported findings. A more recent survey done in 2017 by the Workplace Bullying Institute on U.S. Workplace Bullying adjusted the numbers somewhat a decade later. A random sample of 1,008 adults found the following:

·       70 percent of bullies were male: Their targets by gender were female targets at 65 percent and male targets at 35 percent

·       30 percent of bullies were female: Their targets by gender were female at 67 percent, male targets were 33 percent

·       The racial group breakdown for targets of bullies were: Hispanic – 25 percent, 14 percent were witnesses; African American – 21 percent, 22 percent were witnesses; Asian – 7 percent, 44 percent were witnesses; White – 19 percent, 19 percent witnessed the  bullying

(Gary Namie 2017, Workplace Institute, www.workplacebullying.org )

According to Yamada, bullying targets are varied and the reasons certain people become targets are equally varied. They include weak performers, who may be vulnerable to bullying because of personality characteristics. High-level performers are also bullying targets who “trigger reactions from insecure bullies who see them as a threat”. Other targets may be bullied because of race, gender other characteristics that bring out the bully’s biases. 

The way to address bullying in an organization, Yamada writes, is for leaders at organizations’ highest levels to make clear that workplace bullying is unacceptable. In addition, the way sexual harassment and workplace violence have been incorporated into employee education, so should the issue of workplace bullying be incorporated. He addresses the issue that undoubtedly exists in many organizations. The bully is often someone who has become skilled at the “kiss up, kick down” strategies and able to “hide his abusive side from superiors who review his performance”. He can also be popular with management “including those who will determine his fate”. Even so, Yamada says corrective actions such as coaching and counseling tend to yield changes that are only temporary. Ultimately increased morale and lower attrition boosts productivity overall, more than one individual [i.e., the bully] can over the long term. 

 

An important point the Professor makes is, workplace bullying is not a single issue, it is not an “isolated” problem: “Workplace bullying is strongly associated with other forms of aggression and misconduct at work.” He says the idea that people are “entitled to be treated with dignity at work remains a somewhat revolutionary concept.” This is because of what I personally consider the normalization of bad behaviors such as bullying, intimidation, and abusive conduct and the concept that power in the workplace entitles people who have no business managing others to wield their power over others. They believe that their direct reports should conform to their personal interests rather than that prioritizing the interests of the larger organization of which they are both employees.  (Yamada, 2008)

 

Disclosure, I interviewed Professor Yamada for a story on workplace bullying for a blog I maintained while in graduate school. 

 People go to work to earn an honest paycheck.  They don’t go to work to earn a paycheck with a dose of abuse and an extra helping of humiliation.  They go to work to use their talent to improve the organization that employs them, to work alongside colleagues who are also there to do the same thing.

Poor management prevents employees from reaching their potential to help the organization succeed. Organizations that truly value their employees they need to address the issues that keep employees from performing to the best of their abilities for the organization. This would include addressing supervisors and management that mistreat the people doing day-to-day work that makes to company run.

 

Citation: Yamada, D. (2008) Workplace Bullying and Ethical Leadership. Values Based Leadership Journal. 1(2).  http://www.valuesbasedleadershipjournal.com/issues/vol1issue2/yamada.php