There was an article from the New York Times about Women Bullying Women at Work (5/11/2009). According to research, 40% of office bullies are women. Male bullies tend to bully both men and women while women choose other women as victims in as much as 70% of the time.
Women who bully other women employ a different strategy than men. Male bullies scream and shower their targets with tirades whereas female bullies prefer sabotage, backstabbing and gossiping. It is not easy to spot a bully in the workplace. Some bully bosses would reason out that their bullying is akin to tough love – to mold the person into a better employee. The bullies may even cite their victims as too soft. This line of thinking is two-prong, in my opinion. Either the bullied employee accepts it as a challenge and endeavors to improve himself or better yet, tailor-fit his work ethic according to what the bully boss expects him to do. Or the employee would simply treat it as abuse, an unprofessional behavior and most importantly an inhumane, ineffective and degrading management style to boost morale.
In addition, the bullying itself is done in bits and pieces. You don’t get showered with bullying in one day. You may even regard it as a harmless joke but when you carefully analyze it, your colleague, whether it’s your boss or peer is actually bullying you.
Bullies create a tense working environment. It lowers employee self-esteem and at times, force out valuable employees to leave the company. Employees who opt to stay request transfers to other departments or put up with the bully for as long as they can until they find a new job.
What can HR do about office bullies?
Since bully behavior is different from discriminatory harassment and bullying in itself is not illegal, the offense may be regarded as a minor violation. That said, the bully may be sanctioned to HR counselling only or written/verbal warning.
What are the signs of bully bosses?
- They ridicule other employees.
- They embarrass staff in front of others.
- They pick on people who are different from who they are or what they stand for i.e. politics, religion, etc.
- They play favorites.
- They impose discipline for no reason at all.
Employers should be mindful of the effects of bullying in the workplace. It is bad for business and costly in the long run.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Bullies at work
Labels: Corporate slavery
Posted by Mari at 5/18/2009
5 comments:
I think we have at least a couple of such women at work. :D
Seriously, I think every successful Boss in this world has to have some "Bully" qualities in him. The approach bosses take may differ. Some may employ a subtle approach while others could be quite obnoxious or intimidating but in a positive and fair manner. Without such bullying quality, any good boss won't be able to influence their employees to work on achieving a department's goals.
I can't stand any form of bullying. The last time I had a bully boss, I left the company.
Bullies find pleasure in tormenting others in the workplace. And I don't want to contribute to that pleasure of theirs.
In this part of the world, with the sexual harassment rules firmly in place, men now have second thoughts about bullying women.
The company culture also influences how people behave at the office. And of course, the attitude of the boss who is the leader, affects everyone.
Last year our boss got rid of a black sheep, one of the managers in our division. Since then peace has reigned :) It is amazing how one person can de-stabilize and entire division.
Bullying is nothing more than a power trip. And bosses who use bullying tactics are most likely compensating for their lack of proper skills in dealing with employees. There is always a better way than intimidation to keep subordinates in line and at the same time letting them keep their dignity intact.
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From my standpoint, I'm afraid I have to dis-agree with panaderos and partially agree with Anonymous.
Our current PM, got his appointment thru sheer butt-licking. He doesn't know the technical aspect of our work nor know how to handle people. To get what he wants, he resort to bullying. It works on new employees but he leaves "old timers" like me alone. Because when "push becomes shove", we have no qualms in exposing his stupidity in front of the ministry people.
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