Workplace bullying is becoming an epidemic. Employers are not responding as they should. People are being bullied physically, psychologically and emotionally. They are harrassed sexually and for their beliefs. There are many things you can do about that. We help people who are the victims of bullying and can provide a legal resource for you. There are other actions you can take, as well. Below is an article about How Bullying Happens. You will note that there is a lot of responsibility placed on the employer. That is as it should be - because the employer has a responsibility to make sure that you have a bully free workplace. Unfortunately, some employers actually encourage workplace bullying, thinking that they are fostering healthy competition between employees that will create a better profit margin for them. Of course, this type of management strategy ultimately creates a dysfunctional workplace.
I have lived through that type of management style. I worked as a trainer and marketing officer for a large banking franchise. The regional manager with whom I worked was emotionally and verbally abusive. After a period of time, he created a completely dysfunctional environment. The only people that could work for him long term had to be able to tolerate his abusive style. He thought he was a brilliant manager because he could beat better profits out of his region than nearby regions were reporting. His bosses loved him because of that. On the other hand, HR had a file two feet thick full of complaints and letters of resignation with his name all over it. In the end, profits won over people. I left the position because of him and changed companies, as well. The difficulty was that he had such influence and power over people that we all felt he was bulletproof.
Later, after I went to law school, I learned about ways to legally fight someone like that. Now, I try to help other people who are suffering in similar circumstances. If you have questions or would like to speak to me about this or other types of injuries, please call me 865-357-1949 or email rlvogel@robertvogellaw.com. Also, visit our website: The Vogel Law Firm . I hope this information is helpful. Bob Vogel
How Bullying Happens
Employers Create the Bullying-Prone Environment and Can Stop It
Special Note: See the results of the WBI 2012 Instant Poll asking why bullying happens. The pattern fits well with our model below that we have adopted for years.
Employers define all work conditions -- employee selection, job descriptions, work assignments, creation of the management group, compensation, leave policies, termination without cause (except in rare circumstances). So, bullying - the system - can only be sustained or eliminated by employers.
"The Way We Do Things Here" Work Culture Provides Cutthroat Competition Opportunities
Zero-sum competition. Employees are pitted against each other in positions or tasks that allow only one winner to emerge from deliberate battles, creating many losers. Winning is carved out of the hides of the vanquished. It's a routine way to design work in sales jobs, but unnatural and destructive elsewhere. In government service and financially-strapped industries, budgets are tight and competition for scarce resource dollars ensues. Scarcity generates competition. Simply put, people attack one another to survive at work.
The Workforce Mix
A small percentage of employees see the Opportunities and are willing to harm others, at least willing to try to harm others if they can get away with it. They are the manipulators. They are Machiavellian, not necessarily disturbed or psychopathic. Machs can and would stop their behavior if punished for hurting others. However, in most instances, they are encouraged, rather than discouraged. Some people are truly disturbed and have to be detected because their anti-social tendencies are irreversible given an employer's limited resources.
Ambition in eager job applicants looks good to hiring employers. Unfortunately, the overly-ambitious snakes willing to hurt others are hired. Hiring managers rarely (if ever) talk to the manager applicant's former subordinates to assess the level of narcissism. Asking only the applicant's boss for a reference risks getting an incomplete behavioral portrait. Bosses of bullies like them and consider them qualified.
The Employer's Response to Bullying
If positive consequences follow bullying, the bullies are emboldened. Promotions and rewards are positive. But, it is also positive if they are not punished. Bullies who bully others with impunity become convinced they can get away with it forever. They will continue until stopped. Even reluctant bullies can be taught to be aggressive over time. We are all susceptible to changing our behavior in light of work environment conditions.
Stopping bullying requires nothing less than turning the workplace culture upside down. Bullies must experience negative consequences for harming others. Punishment must replace promotions. And only executives and senior management can reverse the historical trend. To stop bullying requires employers to change the routine ways of "doing business" that have propped up bullies for years. Bullies are too expensive to keep, but convincing executives, the bully's best friends and supporters, is difficult.
Our 3-Factor explanation assigns responsibility almost entirely to employers. Employers can alter the work environment by changing how jobs are designed and how bullying is treated when exposed. It minimizes the people factor -- the personalities of the players. Truthfully, employers rarely get to choose employees whom they know very well. With a random mix of strangers, there are bound to be a few able and willing to hurt others if given the chance. The solution to bullying (as captured in Work Doctor's Blueprint for Workplace Bullying Prevention) emphasizes factors that are in employers' control.
In conclusion, the ultimate solution fixes responsibility for both the cause and cure squarely on the shoulders of senior management and executives. They put people in harm's way and they can provide safety by undoing the culture which may have inadvertently allowed bullying to flourish.
Of course, if executives instruct others to bully from the top, targeted employees can never be safe.
Resource: http://www.workplacebullying.org/individuals/problem/how-bullying-happens/
Please go to the website above to find more resources for Workplace Bullying.
Contact us: rlvogel@robertvogellaw.com The Vogel Law Firm - fighting workplace bullying
Special Note: See the results of the WBI 2012 Instant Poll asking why bullying happens. The pattern fits well with our model below that we have adopted for years.
Employers define all work conditions -- employee selection, job descriptions, work assignments, creation of the management group, compensation, leave policies, termination without cause (except in rare circumstances). So, bullying - the system - can only be sustained or eliminated by employers.
Factor 1
"The Way We Do Things Here" Work Culture Provides Cutthroat Competition Opportunities
Zero-sum competition. Employees are pitted against each other in positions or tasks that allow only one winner to emerge from deliberate battles, creating many losers. Winning is carved out of the hides of the vanquished. It's a routine way to design work in sales jobs, but unnatural and destructive elsewhere. In government service and financially-strapped industries, budgets are tight and competition for scarce resource dollars ensues. Scarcity generates competition. Simply put, people attack one another to survive at work.
Factor 2
The Workforce Mix
A small percentage of employees see the Opportunities and are willing to harm others, at least willing to try to harm others if they can get away with it. They are the manipulators. They are Machiavellian, not necessarily disturbed or psychopathic. Machs can and would stop their behavior if punished for hurting others. However, in most instances, they are encouraged, rather than discouraged. Some people are truly disturbed and have to be detected because their anti-social tendencies are irreversible given an employer's limited resources.
Ambition in eager job applicants looks good to hiring employers. Unfortunately, the overly-ambitious snakes willing to hurt others are hired. Hiring managers rarely (if ever) talk to the manager applicant's former subordinates to assess the level of narcissism. Asking only the applicant's boss for a reference risks getting an incomplete behavioral portrait. Bosses of bullies like them and consider them qualified.
Factor 3
The Employer's Response to Bullying
If positive consequences follow bullying, the bullies are emboldened. Promotions and rewards are positive. But, it is also positive if they are not punished. Bullies who bully others with impunity become convinced they can get away with it forever. They will continue until stopped. Even reluctant bullies can be taught to be aggressive over time. We are all susceptible to changing our behavior in light of work environment conditions.
Stopping bullying requires nothing less than turning the workplace culture upside down. Bullies must experience negative consequences for harming others. Punishment must replace promotions. And only executives and senior management can reverse the historical trend. To stop bullying requires employers to change the routine ways of "doing business" that have propped up bullies for years. Bullies are too expensive to keep, but convincing executives, the bully's best friends and supporters, is difficult.
Our 3-Factor explanation assigns responsibility almost entirely to employers. Employers can alter the work environment by changing how jobs are designed and how bullying is treated when exposed. It minimizes the people factor -- the personalities of the players. Truthfully, employers rarely get to choose employees whom they know very well. With a random mix of strangers, there are bound to be a few able and willing to hurt others if given the chance. The solution to bullying (as captured in Work Doctor's Blueprint for Workplace Bullying Prevention) emphasizes factors that are in employers' control.
In conclusion, the ultimate solution fixes responsibility for both the cause and cure squarely on the shoulders of senior management and executives. They put people in harm's way and they can provide safety by undoing the culture which may have inadvertently allowed bullying to flourish.
Of course, if executives instruct others to bully from the top, targeted employees can never be safe.
Resource: http://www.workplacebullying.org/individuals/problem/how-bullying-happens/
Please go to the website above to find more resources for Workplace Bullying.
Contact us: rlvogel@robertvogellaw.com The Vogel Law Firm - fighting workplace bullying
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