Bullies are a fact of life in the workplace, especially during
times of recession. Nearly one fourth of employees in the United States have suffered from bullying and abrasive management.
“The pain and degradation of workplace bullying shatters lives nationwide,” declare Drs. Ruth and Gary Namie in their book The Bully At Work…What You Can Do To Stop The Hurt and Reclaim Your Dignity On The Job.
They say, “The fear, shame and loss of dignity that originate at work can then creep into every other aspects of a bullying victim’s life, affecting friends and family members.”
Those who are on the receiving end of bullying can suffer a loss of selfesteem and self confidence. Bullying causes health problems and devastation of family life. Productivity suffers.
The Namies identify four classic types of bullies:
1. The Constant Critic–extremely negative, nitpicker, perfectionist, whiner, complainer.
2. Two-Headed Snake–passive aggressive, indirect, dishonest style of dealing with people and issues, pretends to be nice while sabotaging you.
3. Gatekeeper–needs to control all resources, deliberately cuts the victims out of the communication loop.
4. Screaming Mimi–controls through fear and intimidation, emotionally out of control, impulsive, explosive, threatens physical violence.
Haunted by their own inadequacies, bullies often target those who are bright, creative, self-assured; in other words, those people they see as threats. Sixty-three percent have some college or a college degree; 78 percent are between ages of 24 and 46.
The Namies do an excellent job in exploring the reasons behind bullies and how their malevolence is manifest. Most importantly they explain in real-world terms what victims can do to ward off and defeat bullies. I recommend this book.
I wish you career success!
Ramon Greenwood, The Career Coach
Workplace bullying is rampant and still widely ignored. Drs Ruth and Gary Namie have written various books on the subject, have a fabulous website and can be found widely on You Tube. On the other side of the globe, I have used some of their information to help deliver training on workplace bullying – trying to raise awareness, help people seek help, help employers gain skills and knowledge to respond effectively and essentially to create zero tolerance. I work with organisations to ’stop losing their marbles’ – with their marbles being their people. Marbles come in different colours and sizes, like people, and if you understand how each marble works, how it works best with others, then you can collectively win the game. We need to get rid of those dominant marbles – the workplace bullies and stop colluding. By colluding, we are part of the problem and not part of the solution.