Bullying Begins with Toxic Internal and External Environments

 

Bullies in K-12 are typical, and bullies may include students, administrators, counselors, teachers, bus drivers, employees, coaches, parents, news media, community leaders, neighbors, and volunteers. An organization or community comprising many independently managed and freelance groups can be challenging to analyze concerning the culture and environment and the diagnosis of system problems perpetuating the cycle of bully-like abusive behaviors. Often, embedded bully retention mechanisms and incomplete organizational policies and procedures allow bullies to remain and claim even higher positions of power. Bully retention mechanisms for supportive and informal groups such as community leaders, neighbors, volunteers, and public media have norms, values, and beliefs that may also skew the rightness of bully-type behaviors. In general, creating bullies begins with toxic internal and external environments and reward systems that make managing the damage a bully can do to themselves and others challenging. - Dr. Stewart 

 An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying