Workplacetorment1

�Irish Times September 2,�2004. Health Supplement�
Kieran Fagan�& Paul Heslin��

Workplace torment

�� A bullying expert tells Kieran Fagan that we are only

�� treating the symptoms of workplace bullying and failing to confront

�� the causes.

�� Why bullying has emerged as a major workplace problem in the past 10

�� years is not exactly clear. Some observers believe aggressive

�� results-driven management styles are to blame, others say that

�� virtually full employment has made managers of people who are

�� untrained for such responsibilities. Some suggest the decline in

�� trade unions as a factor, still others say unions are better at

�� protecting members who are bullies than those who are bullied.

�� What is not in contention is that staff absence caused by bullying

�� is a cost to industry - estimated at up to 8 per cent of payroll

�� costs. Nor is the increase in the problem. In 2003, the Health and

�� Safety Authority reported a 100 per cent increase in inquiries to

�� its anti-bullying unit.

�� What cannot be quantified is the unhappiness, waste of effort and

�� loss of career development caused by workplace bullying. It has been

�� likened to a cancer in a business. One set of cells sets about

�� destroying another. The purpose of the business, to provide goods or

�� services, is lost in a wasteful internal bloodletting which usually

�� results in performing employees being driven out and the culprits

�� remaining. There is no known means of reckoning such losses.

�� An expert group chaired by Paul Farrell of IBM Ireland meets for the

�� first time this month to consider what measures are needed to

�� address workplace bullying. It is due to report to the Minister for

�� Labour Affairs, Mr Frank Fahey, in three months.

�� Dr Paul Heslin, a workplace coach, counsellor and a medical doctor,

�� has a particular interest in finding innovative solutions to

�� bullying. He cites the testimony of a person who found herself being

�� drawn into bullying: The boss was bullying the new girl. To tell you

�� the truth, she didn't have a lot of experience or confidence and she

�� was always asking questions, and she was getting up people's noses.

�� Then I caught myself I was bullying her too. I'm not like that, but

�� I picked it up I know that's no excuse...

�� "In my experience, when the boss bullies, we all tend to follow

�� Heslin says: Of course, we don't see it as bullying. It just

�� comes into the workplace like an invisible mist. Before we know it,

�� we are part of something we did not want or even agree to. We find

�� ourselves sucked into being bullies. We call it the system. We call

�� it normal.

�� I see patients reporting migraine, headaches,

�� insomnia, eating disorders and much more. Sometimes these symptoms

�� are part of a larger picture - bullying. We are all only beginning

�� to realise the real costs of bullying. Bullying at work and school

�� causes a significant proportion of ill health and absence. We apply

�� 'band-aids' to symptoms, ignoring destructive underlying patterns."

� ��A bullied worker may be prescribed anti-depressants for his stress

�� but if he feels pressured to return to work before work has created

�� safety for him, work will remain a dangerous place for him. The

�� bullying is causing the illness. The medication will not make the

�� workplace safe. It is called his problem when, in fact, he is

�� showing symptoms of a larger problem - toxic stress and bullying at

�� work.

�� We focus narrowly on the victim of bullying whom we see as weak for

�� his inability to deal with stress. But this time, stress is neither

�� reasonable nor healthy. The problem lies in the environment. We all

�� have our breaking points. There are no exceptions to this rule. As

�� doctors, if we are too busy to ask the question 'How is school/work

�� going?', we may fail to make the connection between ill health and

�� work environment, says Heslin.

�� He believes bullying is not being identified as bullying. We think

�� of bullying as being caused by a person. He suggests that bullying

�� can also be caused by an idea (doctors should never make mistakes),

�� bullying by an organisation (financial institutions may push

�� employees into abusing practices with customers) and bullying by

�� unreasonable expectations (we will halve the workforce and do the

�� same work). We can even bully ourselves after we internalise the

�� bullying and run the abusive tape over and over in our heads( I,, a

�� human being, should never make a mistake").

�� Stress is sometimes good and even healthy. However, destructive

�� distress caused by fear and intimidation has an enormously negative

�� impact on health. This distress is caused by toxic work practices.

�� This distress is not accountable to any reasonable corporate goal.

�� It achieves nothing positive.

�� When a lion is roaring inches from our face, it makes sense that

�� our focus is on the lion's mouth, with its sharp teeth. We want to

�� live. However, unless we take a step back and take a wider view, we

�� will not notice that the lion is chained tightly to the back wall.

�� The lion can never reach us. Bullying causes fear and sometimes

�� paralysis, Heslin says.

�� So the problem-solver must take the wider view, he argues. The prime

�� need is to stand back and gather information, slow things down, be

�� slow to criticise and fast to create safety, not vice versa. We must

�� accept the various experiences described.

�� ";Two opposing experiences do not have to be judged by you to create

�� solutions." If the victim and bully both say they are bullied, you

�� may not have to adjudicate on the truth to make progress. ";You need

�� to work with the target of bullying, not on the target. Remember,

�� the victim is telling you something, even if it cannot be called

�� bullying for legal reasons. He/she may be struggling to find the

�� language to say something important, Heslin says.

�� The judicial approach to internal workplace investigations often

�� doesn't work, he says. The remedy for workplace bullying is

�� proactive and concentrates on what the victim/target wants: safety.

�� A legalistic witch-hunt while the victim is left in limbo is not

�� justice and can undermine safety and trust. The victim becomes the

�� pariah of the whole organisation. The opportunity is lost because it

�� was not seen.

�� Moving the victim from the department and leaving the bully in place

�� is seen as injustice and causes more problems for managers later.

�� The victim's difficulty must be seen as a symptom of a larger

�� opportunity. The target of bullying becomes the messenger of useful

�� information, not the scapegoat of our fear, Heslin concludes.

�� Paul Heslin is a workplace consultant and bullying

�� counsellor. He can be contacted at 087-6722892 or

�� [email protected]

�� The Irish Times��

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