| BULLYING IN THE WORKPLACE | | | | What is Bullying? | | | “Workplace bullying is repeated inappropriate behaviour, direct or indirect, whether verbal, physical or otherwise, conducted by one or more persons against another or others, at the place of work and/or in the course of employment, which could reasonably be regarded as undermining the individual’s right to dignity at work. An isolated incident of the behaviour described in this definition may be an affront to dignity at work but as a once off incident is not considered bullying.”
(HAS Task Force 2001 – (cited by Codes of Practice HAS & LRC) | | | Bullying is a gradual wearing down process, often triggered by a work-related conflict. During the early phases of bullying, the victim is subjected to aggressive behaviours that are difficult to pinpoint by being very indirect and subtle. The victim may not have insight into or recognise what is happening (‘it crept up on me’! The bully is just a difficult person’!).
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Exclusion is another form of bullying either by an individual or group. There may be a deliberate intent not to invite you to an important meeting, send you a copy of an important memo, let you know about work in progress, deliberately passing you over for promotion, or fail to give you information or the resources necessary for you to complete the assigned task. Another tactic is to give the target impossible workloads with unrealistic deadlines, in an attempt to set the target up to fall. These negative treatments that are meted out often result in the target feeling invalidated and worthless.
For the most part, bullying behaviours are covert and take place behind closed doors where there are not witnesses present. The target is worn down gradually over a period of time. It is often very difficult for the victim to gather tangible evidence due to the covert nature of such behaviour.
Some of the coping strategies most commonly applied are the belief by the target that it is their ‘fault’ their ‘problem’, believing that they are to blame. There is denial that it is happening, avoidance and thoughts such as “I should be able to handle this myself”.
Victims may trivialise the violence cognitively e.g. “making a mountain out of a molehill”. That does not mean that their emotions will necessarily follow such cognitions. There can be feelings of dread and nausea on a Monday morning at the thought of going to work.
Victims use personal interventions to try to deal with the problem by themselves. Personal interventions vary from obliging/appeasing the bully – going out of their way to please – to assertiveness and even aggressive strategies. By using an aggressive strategy, the victim challenges the integrity of the offender and enters the power struggle with the offender. Aggressive strategies are risky, as the most powerful person, the person with the ‘power’, be it status or ‘referred’ power, is most likely to win.
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