Are You a Victim of Work Place Bullying?
First Lady Michelle Obama spoke about bullying at Thursdays White House conference and introduced her husband President Barack Obama. She said that "as parents, it breaks our hearts to think that any child feels afraid every day in the classroom, or on the playground, or even online. It breaks our hearts to think about any parent losing a child to bullying, or just wondering whether their kids will be safe when they leave for school in the morning."
The President went on to talk about his own experiences with bullying, and the destructive impact it can have on children such as absences and poor performance in the classroom. Unfortunately for many of us, bullying does not end in school or on the playground. Incidents of bullying that take place in the workplace every day also have a destructive and negative impact on workers, thus affecting their work place performance and the overall morality of the department or organization as a whole.
What is a work place bully? Workplace bullying can take on many different forms. It can include constant humiliation, verbal abuse, non verbal abuse, psychological damage and in some cases physical abuse. Work place bullying is repeated, unreasonable actions of individuals or a group directed towards an employee or group of employees with the intention of intimidation. You may be a target of jokes, consistent monitoring, and social exclusion or treated differently. It is basically a misuse of power and results in defenselessness of the worker or workers.
I personally experienced work place bullying whilst working in the Legal Department of an organization. The bully in this instance was the head of the Legal Department; the General Counsel and Secretary to the organization. He led the department by assuming sole and absolute power on the department. Excessive monitoring was the norm; certain groups in the department were excluded from social events and were treated differently, leaving these workers feeling degraded and humiliated. This pattern along with other forms of bullying continued to take place, even after the victims made numerous efforts to report the issue to Human Resources.
The bullying resulted in constant grievances from the union, frequent absences from work due to stress related illnesses, requests for transfers to other departments and overall negativity in the department. The irony of this situation is that the organization's mission is to promote the health and safety of all workers.
Fortunately, there are organizations out there that provide counseling and advice on how to deal with bullying. Workplacebullying.org is a great resource if you consider yourself a victim. If you are a victim of bullying, it is always best to try to deal with the situation on your own or as a group before taking it further and making a report to upper management or Human Resources. Remember that bullies often operate within the rules and policies of the organization.
It is ultimately easier and better to move on from a toxic work environment to reduce stress and other health related problems associated with bullying. But then, if you don't stay and try to fix the issue, are you accepting and encouraging future abusive behavior to others?
The President went on to talk about his own experiences with bullying, and the destructive impact it can have on children such as absences and poor performance in the classroom. Unfortunately for many of us, bullying does not end in school or on the playground. Incidents of bullying that take place in the workplace every day also have a destructive and negative impact on workers, thus affecting their work place performance and the overall morality of the department or organization as a whole.
What is a work place bully? Workplace bullying can take on many different forms. It can include constant humiliation, verbal abuse, non verbal abuse, psychological damage and in some cases physical abuse. Work place bullying is repeated, unreasonable actions of individuals or a group directed towards an employee or group of employees with the intention of intimidation. You may be a target of jokes, consistent monitoring, and social exclusion or treated differently. It is basically a misuse of power and results in defenselessness of the worker or workers.
I personally experienced work place bullying whilst working in the Legal Department of an organization. The bully in this instance was the head of the Legal Department; the General Counsel and Secretary to the organization. He led the department by assuming sole and absolute power on the department. Excessive monitoring was the norm; certain groups in the department were excluded from social events and were treated differently, leaving these workers feeling degraded and humiliated. This pattern along with other forms of bullying continued to take place, even after the victims made numerous efforts to report the issue to Human Resources.
The bullying resulted in constant grievances from the union, frequent absences from work due to stress related illnesses, requests for transfers to other departments and overall negativity in the department. The irony of this situation is that the organization's mission is to promote the health and safety of all workers.
Fortunately, there are organizations out there that provide counseling and advice on how to deal with bullying. Workplacebullying.org is a great resource if you consider yourself a victim. If you are a victim of bullying, it is always best to try to deal with the situation on your own or as a group before taking it further and making a report to upper management or Human Resources. Remember that bullies often operate within the rules and policies of the organization.
It is ultimately easier and better to move on from a toxic work environment to reduce stress and other health related problems associated with bullying. But then, if you don't stay and try to fix the issue, are you accepting and encouraging future abusive behavior to others?