Deal with office bullies, foster a positive work environment
Workplace bullying is not child's play.
Experts on the issue agree that bullying saps morale, reduces productivity, and negatively affects worker concentration, and suggest that supervisors sanction bullying behavior to set the tone for more positive work environments.
"Bullying includes behaviors like being verbally abused, screamed or shouted at, and being threatened by some sort of violence on a frequent basis," says Aaron Schat, assistant professor of organizational behavior at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
Schat is co-author of a study that found that 40 percent of employees in the U.S. workplace surveyed had experienced psychological aggression in a given year.
"At times, bullies may direct those behaviors down to subordinates, and not up," Schat says. "The question becomes, do people just let it go, or do they do something about it?"
For example, he says, if one person has an outburst in a meeting, or makes a snide comment, it could be dismissed as a minor occurrence. But over time, if not addressed, management implicitly sends the message that it's OK to behave that way in the office.
Other common examples of workplace bullying include:
- Withholding information from people that could affect their performance;
- Ignoring a person's opinions;
- Spreading negative gossip about people, and
- Ridiculing others in connection with their work.
Schat advises supervisors to address each instance of bullying behavior, and tell the perpetrator that such behavior is not acceptable.
"Communicate clearly with sanctions against such behavior," Schat says. "Teach people how to argue and disagree in a constructive way, and not in mean, destructive ways. Victims need to find pockets of safety and support in the organization, and consider whether they should transfer or quit.
"Sometimes a direct, clear confrontation to a bully is enough to get the behavior to stop, but there are also instances where confrontation exacerbates the behavior."
Sandy Hershcovis, assistant professor of business at the University of Manitoba, specializes in research on workplace aggression, and says one difficulty with bullying is that it's virtually impossible to prove.
"It's up to management to create a civil, positive work environment, and to take a strong stance against bullying," Hershcovis says. "Managers should investigate complaints, ask people in indirect ways what's going on, observe, and confront the bully about the behavior.
"Bullies need to be trained that they'll get more positive results from people with positive behavior. If they can't learn that, document the behavior, and fire them."