Rowley Associates

Fast facts:

• 1 in 10 people are bullied at work every year; over 1 in 3 will experience being bullied at work over their lifetime
• In our research a major Corporate Life Event for men was significant conflict with a colleague

As a bookend to Leslie Osborn’s blog on ‘Love in the Workplace’ I want to consider its opposite: bullying. I have to admit I was surprised to read the prevalence of bullying at work. Whilst estimates vary population based studies conducted in the US suggest the rate of bullying over a 12-month period is approximately 12.6%, with a further 24% reporting being bullied at some time during their working lives.  This represents over 50 million American workers. Such is the extent of the problem that the UN International Labor Organization cautioned that, “violence at work is increasing worldwide and has reached epidemic levels in the European Union.” It seems the US may not be far behind.

So what constitutes bullying and who are the perpetrators? In an attempt to standardize the definition psychologists have differentiated between ‘Mobbing’ and ‘Bullying’. Mobbing is the “non-sexual harassment of a co-worker by a group of others in the organization with the purpose of removing the targeted individual from the team, business or organization”. In contrast bullying is, “abusive and harmful behavior directed at a specific person by a lone offender.” Both mobbing and bullying include behaviors such as sabotage, verbal abuse, threatening behavior, intimidation and humiliation. The most common forms of bullying are ‘withholding information which affects your performance at work’, followed by ‘being given tasks with unreasonable or impossible targets or deadlines’. The most common perpetrators are men; the most common victims are women.

However, psychologists believe mobbing is a far more destructive experience for the victim as it has an organizational component where many conspire against an individual. This group collusion makes it hard for the victim to enlist any form of social support or intervention. In addition to the more ‘traditional’ forms of harassment there is now concern about the rise of ‘cyberbullying’. This type of bullying includes derogatory or threatening emails and forwarding personal or confidential correspondence. A preliminary study found that victims of cyberbullying were also likely to experience face-to-face bullying.

Traditionally perpetrators of mobbing or bullying have been regarded as ‘Bad Apples’, abnormal individuals suffering from some kind of personality disorder or psychopathology. Yet as far as perpetrators are concerned most (72%) are bosses who often enjoy the support of higher ranking managers (43%), peer managers (33%) and HR (14%). It would seem the bad apple explanation should include the whole orchard!

There have been few studies of the psychology of workplace bullies. In one, bullies were found to be high on aggressiveness and social anxiety but low on social competence. These characteristics led some psychologists to suggest bullies are narcissistic and egocentric. But this is not the whole story. Many believe organizational factors can increase the risk of bullying occurring.

• Structure – rigid hierarchies can be a risk factor for bullying. Name calling, physical contact and overt accusations are common at lower levels. Attacks on professional ability, job transfers and dismissals more common at middle and upper management levels.
• Strategy – If the strategy of an organization emphasizes productivity and competitiveness at the expense of job satisfaction and well-being this can foster workplace mobbing.
• Culture – Bullying is directly related to a negative work climate including high workload and unsatisfactory working relationships. In addition, if the mores (or the way we do things around here) support abusiveness or the use of coercive power, bullies become emboldened and more likely to see the culture as not just supporting but endorsing their behavior. Management must critically examine their own behavior to see if it contributes directly or indirectly to bullying.
• Leadership – Clearly for bullying to occur it must have some ‘support’ from management who either turn a ‘blind eye’ (laissez-faire management) or support the victimization of an employee. In addition a very autocratic leadership style has been shown to correlate with higher reports of bullying.

So what is the solution to workplace mobbing or bullying? There are 3 strategies a leader can use;

1. Mediation. In some occasions the perpetrator and victim need to sit down with a skilled mediator and work through the problem. Occasionally this approach can help the perpetrator understand the consequences of his or her actions and the victim feel more supported and empowered with the intervention of an ‘expert’.
2. Coaching – helping an overly aggressive or critical manager understand the implications of his or her actions is a critical step in changing behavior. These people need to understand an overly macho or confrontational style has no place in the organization and without significant change there is no future for them in the company.
3. Ownership – this is perhaps the most important of the three. The healthy organization is one that views bullying as an organizational problem to be solved, not an isolated incident provoked by a personality conflict. Ownership requires the recognition that even in the best run companies bullying can exist and every organization should have effective anti-bullying policies.

In conclusion I’d like to ask whether anyone reading this blog has been bullied or has seen someone else being bullied. One of the big surprises I had in researching this piece was what constitutes bullying. I misguidedly thought bullying would be an extension of playground behavior – physical aggression or teasing – but this is not the case. Bullying includes behaviors such as:

• Opinions and views being ignored
• You are ordered to work clearly below your level of competence
• You are ignored or excluded
• Your work is excessively monitored
• Someone withholds information, which affects your performance

Given these behaviors it might well be that a number of people don’t realize they are being bullied and prevalence estimates may underreport the extent of the problem. If you want to take a survey to identify if you have been bullied, or to help you recognize the bullying of others click here.