“Bullying in the workplace can cause irreparable harm to individuals and pose significant financial burdens for health care facilities and institutions.” (www.bullyinginstitute.org)

Bullying is a persistent unwelcome behavior. The office bully is the sort of person who thrives on rising unwarranted or invalid criticism with a malicious mix of humiliation, intimidation, verbal abuse, nit picking, fault finding, shouting at and/or berating the target as if he or she is a child, excessive monitoring, being singled out and treated differently.

In the last 20 years or more, bullying has become common in our societies, in school, in relationships, in uniform, in crime, with neighbors, but more devastating, the abuse of the elderly at nursing homes.

Now, this silent epidemic is spreading throughout the workplace.

Despite the façade that such bullies put up publicly, a bully has low self-confidence and low self-esteem, therefore feels insecure. Low self-esteem is a factor that all studies of bullies have highlighted (References attached) As well; people who are psychologically violent tend to have low self-esteem, high self-discipline and intelligence. Until recently, psychologically violent people in the workplace were regarded as tough managers, difficult characters, or at worst, a pain in the rear. (While bullying is often thought of as the bad behavior of employers, a phenomenon known as “horizontal violence” is a form of bullying that occurs among workers (supervisors, managers) on the same level.

Unlike illegal forms of harassment and discrimination, bullying is not directed at a person because of his or her religion, gender, age, race or other demographic variable. Bullying is not a simple conflict, a mere difference in personalities, something done by playful, unknowing jerks. It is the bullying system that grows and sustains them. The bully is not interested in obtaining sexual favors or dominating a vulnerable group. The bully targets an employee because of his or her popularity and competence, which is perceived as a direct threat to the bully.

The office bully, often an employer, focuses on distorted or fabricated allegations of under performance and often go to great lengths to keep their targets quiet by threatening disciplinary action, dismissal and gagging causes. Because the purpose for anyone to bully another is to conceal their inadequacy, lack of performance as a leader and incompetence, the bully uses this method of abuse because he or she is more in fear of their inadequacies from being exposed and then be forced to be made accountable for their behavior and its consequences.

As kids, one of our parents’ responsibilities is to teach us the difference between bad and good behavior. If we behave well there are rewards. If we behave badly there are consequences/punishment. Because an adult bully was never taught how to accept responsibility for their behavior, the bully is, of course, reluctant to accept responsibilities necessary to live in an adult world. However, in the same breath, they desire to enjoy the rewards and benefits of living in an adult world. And unless they desire to recognize their bad behavior and know that there are really better ways of behaving, the office bully may never recognize the effect of his or her behavior on others. Thus, the bullying person could never become a responsible adult and will only exist as an undisciplined little tyrant in the body of an adult.

Unfortunately, bullies have learned how not to be accountable for their actions by using their habitual response of denial, blaming others and pretending that he or she is the victim.

Regrettably, human nature moves co-workers to avoid the target who is being bullied by their superior, remain on guard and even if they witness a boss bullying another team worker they will often side with the bully (employer, who knowingly abuses his or her role and deliberately crosses the line from boss to bully) out of fear of becoming the next victim.

The silent epidemic spreads in the hush while the symptoms of those victims bullied by their bosses rises – a decline in work performance, a rise in absenteeism, rapid turnover, and the departure of the best and brightest, a prevailing aura of distrust, resentment and hostility in an already toxic environment. It would be nice if people could treat others with common decency. But it seems that most people put capitalism before humanity.

Workplace bullying is illegal in most industrialized countries. Yet, awareness of bullying and its seriousness is still low through the world.

Four common bullying conduct patterns are -

1- The screaming, fist-pounding employer who enjoys cultivating fear in others.

2- The friend-to-your-face boss who ends up stabbing you in the back.

3- The constant critic who never ceases to take a break from badgering another person.

4- The gatekeeper . . . Well, he or she is the one who has access to materials and information.

Although their styles may differ, "what all bullies share is that they are Machiavellian (scheming, conniving frauds.) They are willing to manipulate other people to accomplish their own goals. Everything is driven by their personal agenda." (www.uoworks.com - Unique Opportunities Magazine)

Closing
Some people dispute that people need to stand up for and educate themselves. A job is just like any aspect of life. If you stand up for yourself from day one, you will be okay. If you allow someone to walk all over you, the situation will only worsen as times goes by. But there are employees who cannot/will not stand up and defend themselves. It's just not in their psychological make-up and bullies are very skilled at recognizing and exploiting the weak. (www.bullybusters.org)

Others feel that there is no recourse but to leave the job. In the end, the employee always holds the trump card. If the boss is a jerk, the employee can look for another job. If he or she is an excellent worker then the company loses.

Unfortunately, there are many more people who feel that they have to put up with demeaning situations because they need the money and/or benefits. While the last quarter feel that if you are pregnant, sick with cancer, in terrible debt, trying to raise a family, or when you have a pension and medical payments, finding another job, especially in this economy is not easy. Letting bullies run the workplace is bad for business, and it hurts the workplace. Once the bullied target leaves, who's next?

References
www.workplacebullying.co.uk - Uniting employers and employees against workplace bullying
www.minkhollow.ca/bullying.html - As many as 10% of suicides may be related to workplace trauma
www.workrelationships.com, www.bmjjournals.com, www.bullyinginstitute.org