The Bystander Effect

 

Managers and administrators need to lift their gaze above the bullying event to determine the damage or aftermath of the bully event. For example, are employee survey ratings poor or perhaps avoided altogether? An analysis of the social environments in the workplace and participation rates in team-building and collaborative projects in the workplace will be another factor that might indicate that the organization has more bystanders than initially thought. The bystander effect suggests that the more witnesses there are concerning an emergency or adverse event, the less likely individuals will step forward and help. When a bully is left unchecked, bystanders feel that their intervention would be too costly on a personal level or so insignificant to promote change that the stress of remaining an apathetic bystander is considered a necessary tradeoff. The longer the situation goes without healthy organizational culture change, the more toxic and unstable the work environment will become.

Are You an Unhappy Bully?

Everyone has bully tendencies when they feel threatened or have unmet needs that are difficult to resolve. The five-factor personality traits model contains five categories of personality traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The five-factor personality traits may give rise to great leaders and compassionate community helpers when balanced with other social checks and norms.

 However, the five-factor model's extremes in personality expression may give rise to anti-social personality disorders that often describe and explain bully-type behaviors. Some bullies remain in this personality phase across their lifespans. However, an unhappy bully is a person who does feel regret and remorse and is morally engaged. In contrast, a sociopath or psychopath shows a disregard for others and fails to feel remorse and guilt. The good news is that if you are a bully and feel remorse or guilt over your interactions with others or desire to change to a more balanced combination of the five-factor personality traits, you are probably a bully who can change. Sometimes change is easy with reflection and positive mentors, but bullies may also need to seek professionals in the mental health field to help manage their feelings and unmet needs.

Dr. Debra Stewart

 

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Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully

 

An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying

Diversity and Inclusion Mantra

  Dr. Stewart

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Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully

 

An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying

What Victims Do When There is a Bully in the House

 

Victims waste time at work and home building a defense against the bully's abuse, politicking for support, and just running scenarios in their minds to form a corrective plan of action. Behaviors such as these interfere with productivity and employee motivation and eventually leave the employee with a sense of diminished self-efficacy and self-worth. Also, creative energies suffer because victims are busy trying to fulfill unmet needs and protect other marginalized victims. Bully triads consisting of the bully, the bystander, and the victim are known to create silo mentalities where information and resources are restricted to reduce the chance of interference from the bully. Silo mentalities are behaviors that are great time wasters for other more productive teams because of the limited communication that it creates between departments, divisions, and partnerships. Start your bully prevention program today! 

 

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Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully

 

An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying

 

Gratitude Creates Reciprocity

 

An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying

 

Organizational administrators often stand ready to adapt to costly new management and leadership programs to offset the rising cost of doing business in a toxic environment. Often leaders enlist consultants to diagnose organizational culture and produce treatment plans filled with cognitive-behavioral approaches that are vague and short-lived. While some consulting expense is necessary, corporate leaders may miss the most accessible remedies for toxic work environments and the escalating cost of doing business within an industry, such as the methods found in An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying.

 

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Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully

 

An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying

 

Dominant and Shaming Communication in Toxic Workplace Cultures

Examining workplace culture for bullies and conducting needs assessment surveys will lessen blaming and finger-pointing because they identify problems objectively where managers can impartially analyze the data and reformulate the areas that seem to breed bully-like behaviors. However, it is essential to examine assessments and surveys individually to ensure that the data collection methods do not add further dominance issues regarding language, disability, or cultural challenges. Reducing negative communication and looking for framed practices to create dominance and shame will mitigate the triggers that stimulate a bully’s aggressive behavior. -Dr. Stewart

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  Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully

An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying

Industry Specific Aggressive Communication

Certain industries and positions seem to cultivate aggressive communication because of the job's sheer emotional and physical difficulty. Often leaders and employees have never been given the tools to manage adrenaline, fear, anxiety, and failure. As communication degrades in the workplace, the loudest and most fearful often rise to power. Communication training can help individuals understand their communication styles and those of their coworkers, and with skill development, employees and leaders can learn to state their needs respectfully.

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  Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully

An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying