Bad Bossology: Protecting People & Companies from Bad Bosses

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Why grievance procedures are inappropriate for dealing with workplace bullying

Grievance procedures are inappropriate and ineffective in dealing with bullying a for a variety of reasons:

* bullying is equivalent to rape (it's psychological and emotional rape because of its intrusive and violational nature) and grievance procedures force the victim of this rape to have to relive the trauma repeatedly - this could be a breach of Article 3 of the Human Rights Act: no one shall be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment

* the person who normally handles the grievance is usually the bully

* if the bully is a co-worker, the manager who would handle the grievance has already failed as a manager for allowing the bullying to occur and for failing to deal with the bullying beforeit got to the grievance stage

* the bullying manager has lots of friends in HR and management and will blacken the target's reputation before grievance procedures begin

* most bullies will successfully lie, cheat and deceive their way through grievance

* the bully will make sure the grievance lasts as long a possible (e.g. a year or more)

* the bully will deny the target access to records, sometimes rifling the target's desk and stealing notes

* the bully will ban the target from having contact with fellow employees

* the bully will threaten fellow workers into withdrawing support for the target

* the bully and the employer will limit representation to a union representative (many reps are untrained, unsupported, and some are part of the problem) or co-worker (all of whom are too frightened to stand up for a fellow worker)

* plus all the additional reasons listed at www.bullyonline.org/workbully/standup.htm

Red Tape: A Site About Abuse in the Workplace

"Bullying at work is more common place than most realize, and it's a problem that needs to be discussed and confronted, not ignored or treated as trivial."

Bully at Work : Interview with Tim Field

Question: How is it different to adopting disciplinarian measures, maintaining strict supervision, or oversight?

Answer: The purpose of bullying is to hide the inadequacy of the bully and has nothing to do with "management" or the achievement of tasks. Bullies project their inadequacies onto others to distract and divert attention away from the inadequacies.

In most cases of workplace bullying reported to the UK National Workplace Bullying Advice Line, the bully is a serial bully who has a history of conflict with staff.

The bullying that one sees is often also the tip of an iceberg of wrongdoing which may include misappropriation of budgets, harassment, discrimination, as well as breaches of rules, regulations, professional codes of conduct and health and safety practices.

... Question: What are bullying's typical outcomes?

Answer: In the majority of cases, the target of bullying is eliminated through forced resignation, unfair dismissal, or early or ill- health retirement whilst the bully is promoted. After a short interval of between 2-14 days, the bully selects another target and the cycle restarts. Sometimes another target is selected before the current target is eliminated. ..."

This page is hosted by various sites, so if this link ever goes bad, just copy and paste the same page title into a search engine, and you should be able to find it.

How to Cope with Abuse in the Workplace by Sam Vaknin

"When the mirror (the subordinate) acquires a personality and a life of its own, the narcissist (the boss) is incensed. When independent minded, an employee might be in danger of being sacked by his employer (an act which demonstrates the employer's omnipotence)

...Narcissists feel suffocated by intimacy, or by the constant reminders of the REAL, nitty-gritty world. It reduces them, makes them realise the Grandiosity Gap (between their self-image and reality). It is a threat to the precarious balance of their personality structures (mostly "false", that is, invented) and treated as such.

Narcissists forever shift the blame, pass the buck, and engage in cognitive dissonance. They "pathologise" the other, foster feelings of guilt and shame in her, demean, debase and humiliate in order to preserve their sense of grandiosity.

Narcissists are pathological liars. They think nothing of it because their very self is FALSE, an invention.

... Narcissists cannot be "handled", or "managed", or "contained", or "channeled". They are, by definition, incapable of team work. They lack empathy, are exploitative, envious, haughty and feel entitled, even if such a feeling is commensurate only with their grandiose fantasies. Narcissists dissemble, conspire, destroy and self-destruct."

Women and office or workplace abuse of females

"It is insidious. It does not leave bruises but it cuts to the very core of who you are, slowly tearing down your self-esteem and dignity. It goes by such names as verbal abuse, workplace aggression, bullying, and violence in the workplace.

It has increased by 200% in the last ten years.

... What is verbal abuse?

Verbal abuse can take many forms. It can be overt. That's when your boss screams at you or ridicules your opinions in public.

It may also be very subtle. It is the gaggle of workers who go to lunch together and don't invite you, or whispers at your approach.

It is the supervisor who gives you the silent treatment or is never pleased.

Through the use of fear, humiliation, and intimidation, the "aggressor" intends to control you."

Bullying and Harassment at Work: Guidance for Employees

What are bullying and harassment?

These terms are used interchangeably by most people, and many definitions include bullying as a form of harassment.

Harassment, in general terms is:

unwanted conduct affecting the dignity of men and women in the workplace. It may be related to age, sex, race, disability, religion, nationality or any personal characteristic of the individual, and may be persistent or an isolated incident. The key is that the actions or comments are viewed as demeaning and unacceptable to the recipient.

Harassment can also have a specific meaning under certain laws (for instance if harassment is related to sex, race or disability, it may be unlawful discrimination). From December 2003 the law also gives protection against harassment relating to religion or belief and sexual orientation..

Bullying may be characterised as:

offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse or misuse of power through means intended to undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient.

Bullying or harassment may be by an individual against an individual (perhaps by someone in a position of authority such as a manager or supervisor) or involve groups of people. It may be obvious or it may be insidious. Whatever form it takes, it is unwarranted and unwelcome to the individual.

Examples of bullying/harassing behaviour include:

* spreading malicious rumours, or insulting someone by word or behaviour (particularly on the grounds of race, sex, disability, sexual orientation and religion or belief)

* copying memos that are critical about someone to others who do not need to know

* ridiculing or demeaning someone - picking on them or setting them up to fail

* exclusion or victimisation

* * unfair treatment

* overbearing supervision or other misuse of power or position

* unwelcome sexual advances - touching, standing too close, the display of offensive materials

* making threats or comments about job security without foundation

* deliberately undermining a competent worker by overloading and constant criticism

* preventing individuals progressing by intentionally blocking promotion or training opportunities.

Bullying and harassment are not necessarily face to face. They may also occur in written communications, electronic (e)mail, phone, and automatic supervision methods such as computer recording of downtime from work or the number of calls handled if these are not applied to all workers.

The legal position

Employers are responsible for preventing bullying and harassing behaviour. It is in their interests to make it clear to everyone that such behaviour will not be tolerated — the costs to the business may include poor employee relations, low morale, inefficiency and potentially the loss of staff.