Lifting the lid on bullying

By ANGELA McCARTHY

Are you picked on, intimidated or ignored at work?

Have you been teased or yelled at in public, not invited to meetings with peers, given impossible deadlines or denied information needed to complete tasks?

Do you ever feel isolated because of your manager's attitude?

Repetition of any of the above -whether it is boss to worker or between colleagues - is bullying, according to Workplace Bullying: What New Zealand Workplaces Should Know, a report by employment relations adviser Hadyn Olsen.

He is part of WAVE (Workplace Against Violence in Employment), set up this year by the Rotorua-based Challenge Violence Trust, which offers information and mediation.

Olsen says many people don't realise they're being bullied.

"They make comments such as 'I can't get on with that person, I have real problems with my manager' and leave jobs thinking they're too weak, and blaming themselves rather than the bully."

Bullies are driven by jealousy of their targets' good relationships and envy of their abilities, says English anti-bullying activist and author Tim Field on his excellent website www.bullyonline.org.

And "because you were good at your job, popular with people, unwittingly invited unfavourable comparison with the bully's inadequacy simply by being competent, were in the wrong place at the wrong time, blew the whistle on something (perhaps unwittingly), were vulnerable in some way. And because bullying is an obsessive, compulsive and addictive behaviour, the serial bully has to have someone to bully."

University of Auckland mediator Matthew Fitzsimons says bullying affects self-confidence, health and ability to work. For the employer, it brings lost productivity, poor morale, absenteeism, high staff turnover and compensation claims.

Teri - not her real name - knows about bullying. A department head for a New Zealand-based international company, she suffered bullying for five months.

She was not invited to meetings she needed to attend, was hassled about reasonable expenses and her boss never had time to see her - but welcomed everyone else.

Any decisions Teri made in her manager's absence were wrong. The final straw was a negative appraisal from him when others thought she was doing a good job.

"There was some truth in what he was saying about reaching goals because of the situation I'd ended up in," she says, "but he wouldn't give me any specifics even when pushed."

The stress affected Teri's health. "I felt awful and probably would have had a nervous breakdown if it hadn't been for a strong network of friends."

Eventually she brought in her lawyer and the result was a pay-out.

While there is little research on workplace bullying in New Zealand, research in comparable countries such as Ireland and Australia indicates a big problem, Fitzsimons says, and anecdotes suggest it is common here.

Start describing workplace bullying - as I did to anyone and everyone - and you'll find many people have observed or experienced it. To many, though, it is simply a fact of life.

Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) advisory services manager Peter Tritt accepts that some workplace bullying exists, but asks if the interest isn't more about advocates wanting to raise their profile.

He finds little evidence of bullying through the EMA advisory service centre which receives around 7000 calls a month from employers and managers.

But those who counsel and coach "targets" - the preferable label to "victim" - say the lack of complaints simply shows bullying isn't acknowledged or reported.

Olsen says Australian research shows 95 per cent of people suffering bullying are too scared to report it.

Debbie - she does not want to be identified - worked in an office with four men. One kept making derogatory remarks about her, teased her, talked over her and shut her out of conversations.

He would give her work without clear instructions, and, when asked for clarification, made her feel stupid.

When Debbie approached the general manager, she was told to stand up to the man and not be weak.

After six months, she was getting counselling, had stomach pains, sleep disturbances and panic attacks.

Then her tormentor left and Debbie was able to recover her confidence.

Leaders must set the tone about what is and isn't acceptable, says Jim Mole, an executive manager for a multi-national corporation, who has been forthright about taking steps to stamp out bullying.

"The bully is often a middle-aged, middle-class white male and the most powerful way to deal with him is make sure he knows you know what he is up to, that it will not be tolerated and you are watching him," he says.

"Bullies don't want that. They prefer to work away at the victims in the shadows."

Tritt says employers need to have clear policies in place. "Policies should spell out what is expected of people in the workplace and enforce fairness, equity and impartiality. That is the employer's responsibility."

Fitzsimons advises that organisations upgrade sexual harassment polices to include a general harassment policy that names bullying as a specific behaviour: "You have to show you do actually want to tackle the issue."

Overseas statistics show 70 per cent of bullying comes from management level, says Olsen: "It is tied into power or position, knowledge or personality."

Andrea Needham, a human resources consultant writing a book on leadership and workplace bullying, says some managers have overbearing tendencies because of an acceptance of an authoritarian management style in New Zealand.

"This style relies on force, power and control - not influence, co-operation and collaboration," she says.

"In New Zealand, it would seem if a manager is a bully, he or she is merely seen as a tough manager. Being afraid of your manager seems to be okay. This is changing but probably not as fast as it needs."

Mole agrees. "The problem with too many workplaces is the top individuals fought their way there, and see no problem in others doing the same.

"Unfortunately, those who don't survive the fight usually bring other much-needed skills to the table, such as creativity or lateral thinking."

Do not imagine that just because someone is a manager, they have decent people skills.

Marilyn Pinkney, a consultant and coach for the New Zealand Institute of Management (NZIM), says that many managers "need training in interpersonal skills such as assertiveness, effective leadership and anger management".

Olsen says bullies often explain their behaviour as a natural response to anger and frustration, or a need to control and show strength.

"When held up to examination, perpetrators begin to see how irrational, abusive and limiting they are."

Pinkney says curbing bullying is becoming more important because of changes being made in legislation regarding workplace stress.

"Now that stress is being looked at as a workplace injury, people are going to see that bullying is stressing them and they'll do something about it - and that will hit companies in their pockets."

Says Olsen: "Workplace bullying is where sexual harassment was 15 years ago. There is much more sense in New Zealand now of people acknowledging sexual harassment. We need the same for bullying."

Ways to stop the intimidation

How can you deal with bullying?

Individuals should:

* Avoid taking the bait, because bullies feed on responses. Look for allies. Bullies don't usually pick on just one person.

* Find someone in authority with the skills and willingness to manage the situation. Even squeamish bosses know once the matter has been documented formally, the buck stops with them if they don't act.

* Write down what occurs each time until you develop a broad picture, if you sense bullying is subtle. Then go to your HR head with a witness.

Management needs to:

* Create an effective internal procedure for complaints. This requires full buy-in by managers.

* Provide awareness training for staff, especially managers and supervisors.

* Link anti-bullying policies to induction, management training, performance appraisals and exit interviews to create a clear, consistent message that stand-over tactics aren't acceptable.

* Clarify management roles and acceptable behaviours. Managers need to know they can be effective without resorting to bullying tactics, by, for example, focusing on behaviours, not personalities.

* Clarify fair and equitable employee boundaries. Hazy boundaries offer potential for conflict.

* Monitor the workplace for signs of stress and conflict.

* Record the nature of complaints and levels of absenteeism.


* Hadyn Olsen of Wave can be contacted at hadyn@paradise.net.nz.

* Andrea Needham's site is Bulliesincorporated.co.nz and she seeks your stories of bullying on bulliesinc@paradise.net.nz.

* Tim Field founded the UK National Workplace Bullying Advice Line and runs the comprehensive site Bully Online