When the Schoolyard Bully Graduates
Peter de Jager is a provocative Speaker, Writer and Consultant. His primary focus in on how we manage change, technology and the future.
In addition to speaking at conferences worldwide, he's also writen monthly columns for CIO Magazine and Computerworld Canada.
His goal is always to question what we think is so, and in so doing perhaps open up new opportunities.
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Unfortunately, bullying isn’t a childhood behaviour restricted to the schoolyard and
those terrifying moments when the teacher isn’t looking. It’s an anti-social behaviour which persists into adulthood. Sadly, bullies can reach positions of responsibility and power, perhaps
because their aggressive behaviour is perceived as a management strength.
Bullying is somewhat difficult define. At the root, it’s an abuse of power. It is perpetuated through the use of force, whether it is the ability of the schoolyard thug to generate fear of pain, or that of a manager with the ability to terminate
employment.
The key phrase is “an abuse of power”. The role of management always includes the ability to terminate employment of an individual, but a bully uses that ability as a threat to gain unreasonable control over other individuals. Sometimes the violation of dignity is
as obvious as it is in many forms of sexual harassment, other times the abuse is more subtle, even debatable. Consider the following example;
A manager from another department walks into the accounting office. An employee, well known to this manager as a long time dedicated
responsible worker, is sitting at her desk obviously in great pain. Her face is ashen, her breathing laboured and hands trembling as she types at the computer.
The manager asks what is wrong and the employee answers she has a swollen abscess on a wisdom tooth. The manager advises the employee to leave the office and get to a doctor immediately. The employee responds that she
can’t leave; because her manager is out of the office and that “there will be hell to pay if this work doesn’t get done.” She continues to work in pain because she
believes that leaving would result in the loss of her job.
It is obvious to the manager, the employee is more afraid of the thought of her manager getting upset, than she is of the pain she’s enduring.
Is this the act of a dedicated employee willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to meet a deadline? Or is it an example of an abuse of power? Personally, I cannot think of any deadline in a normal office environment which could justify the type of fear capable of chaining a seriously ill employee to a desk.
What is also interesting is that the “bullying” manager wasn’t even present. They had created a poisonous office environment which
posed a threat even when they were absent. This observation highlights that bullying does not have threaten physical violence. Economic violence, executed at a later date is as much an abuse of power as a punch on the arm.
The word “fear” is important to this discussion. I suffer from migraine headaches and the pain is often debilitating. I’ve worked through a headache from time to time to meet a deadline, but I did so out of a sense of responsibility and certainly never out of fear of losing my job.
It should be obvious that “fear” has no legitimate place in the workplace, yet if HR headlines and anecdotes contain any grain of truth… bullies thrive and prosper in both the rank and file and management. The cost of bullying to the organization is significant, even if it is difficult to measure. How many sick days can we attribute to a fear of going to the office? What percentage of employee turnover is due to people simply not liking their place of work and
then seeking out a safer work environment? How many people don’t apply to your posted positions because they’ve “heard stories”?
If neither the existence of bullies, nor the above examples of hidden costs, are convincing enough to force us to impose, and strictly enforce, an anti-bullying policy in our organizations then perhaps some hard cold figures will do the trick.
An employee, Kavanagh, of the Government of Newfoundland was harassed, bullied, and subjected to emotional and physical violence by fellow employees with the full knowledge of management. The case went to court Kavanagh was awarded damages of almost $875,000 (More details
here)
The arbitrator pointed to several failings of the employer, two of which should suffice to make the case that employers have responsibility for bullying in the workplace;
- The employer allowed and did nothing to stop the campaign of harassment.
- The employer ignored several complaints regarding the harassment, and when it did respond, its actions were insufficient.
We expect to find bullies in the schoolyard, that’s one of the places children learn “Right” from “Wrong”, but predatory behaviours have no place in the work environment. Left unchecked, the consequences range from the invisible to tragic headlines on the evening news.
The solution is to create policies which define the un-acceptable forms of behaviour and the will to investigate, and take action if necessary, all complaints of harassment and bullying.
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© 2005, Peter de Jager – Guess what? Peter has a passionate, almost
obsessive, fascination with this thing called Change. If you’d like to inject some of his passion
and focus to your organization’s change management process… then contact him at
Pdejager@technobility.com
Here’s what a recent client had to say about his work;
"Peter de Jager's lunchtime keynote presentation at our Professional
Development Day was the highlight of the event. Peter's delightful sense
of humor and approach to change management had the audience captivated
for a full hour as he related every day personal experiences we all have to the
management of change in the workplace. His common sense approach and
ability to make it simple provided the audience with actionable knowledge in
a brief, but very effective presentation. I look forward to having Peter back
to present to the Southwest Ohio PMI Chapter."
Pam Nintrup, PMP, President, Southwest Ohio Chapter, PMI.
May 2005
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