Office Bullying

Office space bullying is not something new it has existed in various forms since formal work structure came into existence. There are people in every office, in every industry who have such hubris, who look for self-aggrandizement and don’t wink an eyelid before trampling over the lives and morale of their colleagues with their antics. These people are egotistical and want others to be subservient to them. Many industries and organizations have lost precious people to bullying. Death of SSR also falls under this category.

Every cloud has a silver lining and the tragic death of Sushant Singh Rajput’s has opened up Pandora’s box. Here we are talking about a cabal, a cohort that exists in Bollywood Industry which bullied Sushant, who tried to ruin his career because he had a mind of his own, who believed in a certain way and did not toe the line of high and mighty. He wanted to follow his passion in the film industry along with his other passions as well but people who are in a position of power did not like this free-willed and spirited individual and put him under immense stress and our nation lost only a talented actor but also a good human being.  YRF films, Yah Raj Banner, Salaman Khan are all big bullies of the film industry who have decimated many emerging careers and drove SSR to the point of suicide.

Workplace bullying is any practice wherein people who are in positions of power or who are in position senior to you start behaving in a manner which not only affects the subordinate’s or the person concerned in his career but also takes away the confidence of the person.  People who are bullies tend to behave in a similar way with their colleagues and in some cases even their supervisors and customers.

Workspace bullying should be a cause for concern among all the employees and especially top management of the organization since it directly affects productivity and it can also be one of the prime reasons why good employees or high performing employees either leave the organization or do not reach their full potential.

There can be umpteen reasons for office space bullying but one of the prime reasons is the Politics of vendetta and not towing the dotted lines. It is found that many young people who join the organization challenge the status quo, challenge the old beliefs, and do not believe in following the age-old practices which are existing in the organization. This causes resentment among the senior employees who fear losing their authority.

It might be so that person is a renowned expert in some area and feels threatened by the entry of someone who is equally competitive so the bully feels his position is being threatened.

Also, people who are office bullies do not behave in the way they should primarily for they fear their authority is challenged by other people also they feel if they do not challenge the other person he might rise to the position an ultimately threaten their position in the organization. In the Indian context, there are other reasons as well as a person from certain caste or religion is targeted surreptitiously as organizations are very stern if someone follows religious or caste discrimination.

Some of the other characteristics of office bullies are:

1. They want others to tow their lines, if people have independent thinking they do not like those people.
2. They are ruthless and dominating and crush anybody who comes in their path.
3. They don’t care for feelings of others and have an agenda of their own, it can be treacherous, might be harmful to organization’s interest but still they pursue their own agenda.
4. They have their own acolytes who act as their thrusted lieutenants and encourage them in turn they also get some meager benefits.
5. They do not hesitate to take measures which can be detrimental to the larger perspective of the organization but still pursue the same.

In some organizations even customers and dealers also throw their weight around on employees and try to bulldoze them, this happens in some of the organizations that do not value their employees but it is mainly restricted to some organizations as bigger and better organizations do not permit this kind of bullying.

 Office bullying is real and costly. This is why it needs to be surfaced and corrected. There are three things organizations must do to deal with it head-on.

1. Know It, Measure It

There are several effective measures to track bullying in the workplace. For example, whether anyone is withholding information that is critical to the work of others, ignoring their opinion, ordering them to do work below their level of competence, assigning impossible deadlines, constantly criticizing them, etc. Measuring the occurrence of these behaviors on a regular basis would go a long way toward surfacing and sizing the problem — a critical first step to eradicate bullying at work. 

2. Create Safe Avenues for Speaking Up

It is difficult to report bullying behavior because one of the obvious risks is that the bully will retaliate against those who reported his/her conduct. This fear is often bolstered by the impression that employees have no real ally or support when the bullying is perpetrated by a manager. In such cases, a common belief is that both HR and management will act to cover things up and provide legal protection to the company, rather than address the issue and support the bullied targets. The problem with this type of response is that it will make the organization’s culture even more toxic and unethical — letting a bully go unaddressed means opening the door to more bullies.

This is why companies should manage the costs and risks of bullying directly. Instead of sweeping things under the carpet, they must create different channels employees can use to report any form of bullying they’ve directly experienced or witnessed. In particular, surveys, hotlines, and independent counselors are good approaches that organizations can start putting in practice to support the bullied targets and stop abetting the bullies. 

3. Raise Awareness

This is where training plays a critical role by generating the type of understanding and awareness that oftentimes is lacking in the workplace. The behaviors that define bullying can be subtle, and they may be mistakenly viewed as a legitimate exercise of the power that comes with being in a certain role. This is why bullying is often left unaddressed and the bully is able to build a defensive wall of a thousand accomplices.

When it comes to education, though, it’s critical to shed light not just on the behaviors, but also on the psychological mechanisms that lead bullies, victims, and bystanders to continue a vicious cycle of negative behavior.

You can choose your own strategy but whatever it is don’t take a bully lying down.

Image Credits : Google Images