I received a copy of an article on workplace bullying by Rakesh Malhotra. I found the article to be a useful tool in helping understand this issue. Below is the article in its entirety for you.
Stories of workplace bullying are commonplace throughout the United States.
Some real-life examples:
Mavis: “When I started there, I was told that someone had been acting in the position and had expected to get the job. This person continually undermined me and turned other staff against me. I endured 12 months of hell, and felt as if I was sinking in quicksand.”
A male employee at a different company: “The misery took over my whole life. I turned nasty and bitter and treated my wife and kids like whipping posts. After many visits to a psychologist, I was able to think of all the positive things in my life. Now I look back and think I wouldn’t want to go through that experience again.”
In general, there are no legal repercussions for non-physical bullying except in specific cases, such as sexual harassment. In fact, bullying is a character trait that tends to be condoned in American society. Consider our national obsession — football. The object of this celebrated game is to get the ball to the other player’s goal, no matter what it takes: trampling, hitting, pushing, screaming. If football is a metaphor for American society, then the winner is the person who pushes others out of the way and wins no matter the cost.
Bullies win by controlling situations and people around them. They crave power and the attention that comes from getting what they want.
The effects of working with a bully
Adults have a difficult time performing their jobs effectively when subjected to bullying by a co-worker. It takes a toll physically because of our physiological responses to emotional stress. Typically, victims endure feelings of depression, guilt and shame, and they suffer sleep loss and fatigue. In some cases, victims begin to believe the bully’s behavior is warranted, and they develop feelings of worthlessness. They cannot complete tasks at the same level as others in their units.
Victims of bullying may suffer from panic disorders, post traumatic stress syndrome, agoraphobia and stress-induced high blood pressure. If they leave the job or are docked because of resulting lowered performance, they face economic issues. Some take their own lives.
The abuse takes a toll on victims in every way imaginable.
Are you a bully?
Being accused of being the bully can be difficult to accept. You may believe your actions were unintentional, or a justified emotional response to provocation. Perhaps, you see yourself as the only one in the office qualified to do anything right. However, whatever you have said or done, whether purposefully or not, you have created a culture of negativity for at least one person and you need to honestly assess the situation and your role in it.
Symptoms that you may be the bully include:
• Insulting a coworker (remember, one person’s “joke” may be another’s insult).
• Undermining another employee’s work by creating a hostile environment or perhaps by consistently calling their attention to “flaws”. (Bullies focus on a person, while constructive criticism focuses on a task.)
• As an employer, ignoring your employees’ suggestions.
• Humiliating your employee in front of others.
If any of these sound like something that you may be doing, it is important to address this immediately with your victim. You may want to speak with your doctor about getting help, such as counseling, sensitivity training, anger management and other seminars.
It is important to understand the signs and symptoms of a bully in order to help the victim and the victimizer deal with and exterminate the behavior.
If you are a victim, diligently record workplace bullying events. If you choose to make a formal complaint, you will be responsible for providing information should there be charges brought against the bully.
About Rakesh Malhotra
Rakesh Malhotra, founder of Five Global Values (www.FiveGlobalValues.com), is a world-traveled, values-driven business leader who specializes in organization behavior. Rakesh’s fascination with the connection between human behavior and core values was sparked many years ago. As a result of working, living, and traveling around the world to nearly 40 countries, Rakesh realized that the Five Global Values determine overall human behavior across all cultures. He is also the author of Adventures of Tornado Kid: Whirling Back Home Towards Timeless Values.
Writer Rachel Pomerance with the “US News and World Report” wrote a very interesting article called “How to Spot and Stop Bullying: 5 steps to help prevent, detect, and address bullying”.
The article, which talks about the issue of bullying today and also looks at five techniques for detecting and trying to stop bullying. These five steps include:
These five steps are just the beginning of the article, which goes into much more details on all these steps and other interesting information for you. To read the full article, click here to go the the US News and Word Report website.
Bruce Kugler, a contributing writer for USA Today wrote a very strong article on bullying titled “Bullying in USA: Are we defenseless?” In this straightforward article, Mr. Kugler brings up the latest victims of the bullying issue and asks the question to us all in his article title.
What’s the answer? At one point in the article, his daughter, after he tells her of a recent tragedy tells him that “It’s Not Going To Get Better”, changing the current catch phase of the anti-bullying movement. It is a sad, but honest article of some of the current cases of bullycide and victimization due to bullying.
In the article, Mr. Kugler shares a story of Amanda Cummings, who recently committed suicide due in part to bullying. He shares:
“On Dec. 27, a 15-year-old high school sophomore named Amanda Cummings walked onto the main boulevard in her neighborhood and, according to witnesses, threw herself into the path of an onrushing bus. She died from her injuries six days later. Police say that at the time of the accident, she was carrying a suicide note in her pocket. . .
She had beenbullied relentlessly at her school, mostly by other girls. She had suffered a failed romance that brought her into conflict with a female classmate. She had reportedly sunken into a fog of drugs and alcohol. And most sickeningly, even as she lay dying in the hospital, the bullying continued on her Facebook page. To make matters worse, police investigators have yet to rule the suicide a result of bullying, citing lack of evidence. . .
. . .According to the Children’s Defense Fund, one child or teen in America commits suicide every five hours. Additionally, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 attempts. And a review by Yale University finds that victims of bullying are two to nine times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims.”
The article talks further about how his daughter comes in soon after he finds this information out and as he talks to her, he shares her reaction, which as expected is not very positive. The article asks if bullying is a problem without a solution. Is there really any cure to bullying that can be implemented and work?
I have asked this same question and while I believe awareness and good anti-bullying programs are very important and worthwhile, they are NOT a cure. If someone chooses to be a bully, they will find a way to be a bully to someone at some time. And the fallout of someone choosing to bully can have cascading consequences, as the article also points out.
Another recent story, which by far shows the bigger problem with bullying is the recent suicide of Kevin Jacobsen. His story is one that shows just how deep the damage from bullying can go. He wasn’t the bullying victim, but the father of a boy who killed himself due to the bullying he experiences. Mr. Jacobsen lost his 14-year-old son, Kameron, last year due to bullycide. In the following year, Kevin Jacobsen became one of the leading anti-bullying activists, creating an anti-bullying website and appearing with Marlo Thomas to discuss the issue. But his son’s tragedy took a toll on him and his family and he chose to end his own life as well. What can be said here for this tragedy following on the heels of another? What answer is there to this?
Mr. Kugler ends his article with a statement saying his article is without a solution and asks “does anybody have one?” After reading his article, I’ll have to think longer about an answer to his question. What do you think?
