Work Place Violance

Sean Kling
SPK Training and Compliance
http://www.spktraining.com/
215-600-1774
620 West Chestnut Street Suite 201 Perkasie, Pa. 18944

Bullying is a hazard in the workplace -- but it's not just an occupational hazard, like getting a bad boss instead of a good one, or ending up in an office with co-workers you don't really like.




Katherine Williams, an Ottawa author who's just published a book on the subject, says she always thought the bullying she'd suffered over her 38 years in the workplace was just part of the cost of being employed.



It wasn't until she started doing research for a report on workplace harassment a few years ago that she realized it's not an occupational hazard -- it's violence, and it's more widespread than she knew.



"It has no place in the workplace," Williams says firmly. "It is psychological, emotional violence -- it can be physical violence if things get out of hand. (The research) was just a light shining on a dark corner of my mind, the part of my mind (that thought) I just had to put up with the pain and humiliation."



Williams says before she took early retirement last June to dedicate herself to raising awareness about bullying in the workplace, she'd been the target of at least four major bullying attacks, and several minor ones -- and she has no idea whether those numbers are high.



"There are certain people who are targeted more than others: Good-natured people, because bullies think that being strong is causing pain and hurting people, and people who are good-natured are seen as being weak."



Women over 40 are also singled out, she says. But since the goal of most bullies is to gain power, the competent are also frequent targets of bullies, says Williams, author of Workplace Bullying: A Survival Guide.



"Competent people are strong, they're capable, they're getting awards, they're getting notice, attention, everything bullies crave. So a bully will see this as a threat to be driven out of the workplace."



Quite often, the workplace bully will "co-opt" vulnerable co-workers to help them in their attacks -- a phenomenon that Swedish researcher Heinz Leymann calls "mobbing," a phenomenon that builds on the human instinct to band against a common foe.



Victims of a bully's attack need to realize there is no way to stop being a target if both remain in the workplace -- there will be no agreeing to disagree and getting on with it.



That leaves victims with two choices, Williams says. The first is to fight back, to protect your reputation.



"And also look for another job. Because once a bully gets into a workplace it's really hard to dislodge them unless management's very much aware of the psychology of bullying and realize they've been suckered into hiring a bully. Leave kicking and screaming . . . because bullies thrive when there's silence."







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