Australasian Society of Career Medical Officers

Bullying in the Workplace

sociopath

Click here for Bullying Links

Watch out! There may be a silent epidemic of bullying going on in the workplace. It may even be an endemic part of some organisational cultures. Some observers suggest that this can happen within medical services where traditional hierarchical structures may support bullying type behaviours.

Bullying has been increasingly recognised as not only harmful to the physical and mental well-being of targeted victims, but is also very damaging to organisations failing to respond to, or even inadvertently supporting, such behaviours. Policies designed to limit and eradicate any coercive (bullying) behaviours in the workplace are common.

Yet some organisational structures may allow perceivably bullying type behaviours on the pretext of facilitating re-structuring or downsizing their organisations. In these types of circumstances, the deliberate use of coercive behaviours could go "unrecognised" or even appear "supported" by colleagues or administrators. The bully may be too valuable to the organisation, (after all it is they who get things done - by coercion).

CMOs frequently report that they work in positions with relatively little or no supports. Our apparent isolation may allow us to become targeted and subjected to "bullying" type behaviours. Bullying has various forms, but the most sinister appears to be a cumulative ("drip-drip") phenomenon where isolated incidents appear trivial. Yet, put them all together and a pattern emerges where bullying type behaviours are contributing to a steady decline in your physical and mental well-being, and your level of enjoyment at work.

Feeling stifled and threatened, work can become a confusing circumstance. Everyone is reluctant to recognise or admit to feeling bullied in their workplace. Colleagues and administrators may even be unaware of their complicity when they become unwittingly drawn into working with a bully who appears to be achieving the sorts of results they have all been seeking. So if you're starting to dread going to work, this could be happening to you. Its time to get educated.

You could go and attend a training seminar on "Understanding, tackling and eradicating bullying at work" ...(these do exist in the UK). You could learn all about "Coaching", a practice some consider to be the opposite of bullying, and the way forward for organisational cultures that allow or encourage negative behaviours, especially in hierachical systems.

Some argue that zero-tolerance for bullying maybe wrong. Better to recognise it as a potential sign of stress or limited coping skills in any alleged perpetrator, where the situation might be best approached by a system that quickly interviews any alleged "perpetrator" to see if they are under-resourced, under-supported or responding to unrealistic expectations from their supervisors or themselves. A process of re-education and ongoing support to all those surrounding any alleged "perpetrator" is probably more important than any threatened "repudiation" or "punishment". A systems approach could probably be arranged so that this issue could be comfortably directed to all levels within the organisation, including the very top.

So why not scan the following literature, readily available on the internet, before you end up leaving or dreading to go to work. The following links can even tell you how to take action (if you dare !! most observers report escalation of tensions when fighting back => you need to be properly prepared)

BULLYING LINKS:

The AMA's February 2011 edition of "NSW Doctor" includes an article by one doctor describing a novel approach to workplace bullying, using Occupational Health and Safety legisation. This doctor's approach appeared to address any organizational environments that might provide passive "comfort" to bullying individuals behaving inappropriately in their workplace. This approach calls upper management to account everytime they fail to ensure all work environments are safe and free from all forms of bullying and harassment. You can view this ("pdf") article by clicking here . This doctor also help develop a draft version of Bullying Survey that could be used to measure and raise awareness about inappropriate behaviours in a workplace.

One of the more balanced descriptions of the issues surrounding bullying would appear to be. "BULLIES NOT WANTED". This guidebook was issue by the Sth Australian Ombudsman. Although aimed at Sth Aust workplaces this comprehensive 48 page guidebook provides a balanced appraisal and considered suggestions. If you are a target of bullying you will probably feel a lot better after reading this. If you are having difficulty downloading this guidebook (Word document) click here

Informative and comprehensive sites on Bullying in the Workplace include:

1. English site "Bully OnLine", (Now renamed "family lives")
This is the world's largest Internet resource on bullying and related issues, although an excellent resource it appears somewhat reactive.

2. American site "BullyBusters", (Unfortunately no longer available.)
It includes the "Hostility Escalator".. which indicates the significant costs arising from Bullying, graphically represented with links detailing more information

3. Another English site " Workplacebullying"
Includes a special page detailing "Advice for Trade Unions re: Workplace Bullying"

Australian Sites are also extensive:

1. BulliesDownUnder. Includes a section on "How to initiate ACTION in your workplace"

2. "Bullies Not Wanted" (Sth Australian site).
Has specific guidelines for for Victims, Managers, etc

3A. www.sangrea.net/bully/ Excellent Bullying site relevant to NSW (with OH & S databases, etc, etc)

3B. NSW anti-discrimination Board (Lawlink)
(do a search for bullying)

4A. The Queensland Department of Training and Industrial Relations.
This Queensland Government site is the first in Australia to publish guidelines for employers and employees on workplace bullying. Just enter "bullying" in the site's search engine and you can download the guides as pdf files.

4B. QLD Workplace Bullying Taskforce Report (May 2002)

5. Search engine for searching all QLD Industrial Relations
(do a search on bullying)

6. Report of the Queensland Government Workplace Bullying Taskforce

7. "The Challenge of Bullying as an OHS Problem - The Australian experience"

8. "Respectful Solutions for Those who have Perpetrated Workplace Bullying"

9. AMA comments about "Workplace bullying in the medical workplace"

10. List of Australian Books on Bullying

11. "Putting people first". Qld policy

12. "Beyond Bullying Association" (includes QLD press clippings)

13. "SAEBOW (South Australian Employees Bullied Out of Work)"

14. "Perfect policies, putrid practices - workplace bullying in the public sector" Karen Grogan, Department of Human Services & Sandra Dann, SA Working Women's Centre Inc, South Australia

15. " Complex PTSD = Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder".
Formerly known as PDSD: "Prolonged Duress Stress Disorder" which can afflict many targets of chronic abuse such as bullying

Coaching:

Coaching is considered to be the opposite of bullying, and one way forward for any organisation or individuals afflicted by bullying, and other inappropriate behaviours.

Some distinctions to draw

Bullying

negative
destructive
disempowering
lowers self-esteem
'knocks' confidence

loves dependence:
"You're nothing without me"

Coaching

positive
constructive
empowering
builds self-esteem
encourages confidence

loves independence:
"You're great as you are"



1. How Coaching works for targets of Bullying

2. Top 12 ways for employers and managers to tackle workplace bullying

3. Top 10 things to do when you're told: "You're the Workplace Bully"

4. Top 17 things to do if you are being bullied at work

5. The Bullying Culture

6. Bringing Coaching to the World

Books on Coaching:

1. " Coaching for Performance"
by John Whitmore
Paperback: 180 pages Publisher: Nicholas Brealey Publishing;
ISBN: 1-85788-303-9; (3rd edition 2003)

2. " The Tao of Coaching"
by Max Lansberg
Paperback: 127 pages Publisher: Harper Collins, Business;
ISBN: 0006388116 ; (1997)

Books on Bullying

1. "Bullyproof Yourself at Work!: Personal Strategies to Recognize and Stop the Hurt from Harassment"
(The Work Doctor Bullying Series)
by Gary Namie, Ruth Namie, Mark Hughes
Paperback: 252 pages Publisher: Work Doctor;
ASIN: 0966862953; (May 1, 1999)

2. " The Bully At Work - What You Can Do to Stop the Hurt and Reclaim Your Dignity On the Job"
by Gary Namie, PhD and Ruth Namie, PhD
ISBN 1570715343
June, 2000
Published by Sourcebooks, Inc.
List price US $14.95
Australian purchasers
Order The Bully At Work from this company, or ask them for the booksellers who carry the title Peribo, 58 Bequmont Road, Mt. Kuring-Gai, New South Wales, Australia 2080
Ph: 61-29-4570-011
Fax: 61-29-4570-022

3. "Bully in Sight" Tim Field, 1996. Published by "Successunlimited"
Alternative way to order this book

Bully in Sight" has specific sections on:
Policy statements about "Minimising bullying in the workplace"
Extensive article on "Serial Bullying"

4. "The Bullying Culture"
by Ruth Hadikin, Muriel O'Drisco
ISBN: 0750652012
September, 2000

Published Articles:

1. "Psycho Bosses on the loose", Hilary Freeman, Guardian Guardian Unlimited March 10, 2001

2. "Bullying in medicine", a young resident's perspective
BMJ 2001;323:1314 ( 1 December )
includes numerous reponses to this article.

3. "Bullying in the Workplace - An acceptable cost?"
By Andy Ellis, Ruskin College, Oxford, UK.

4. "Workplace bullying in junior doctors"
British Medical Journal, Vol 324 pp 878-879, 13th April 2002.

5. "Workplace bullying in NHS community trust: staff questionnaire survey "
British Medical Journal, Vol 318 pp 228-232, 23rd January 1999

6. " The canary down the mine: what whistleblowers' health tells us about their environment"
by Jean Lennane, Sydney Psychiatrist and ex-president "Whistleblowers Australia"
[Paper given at Department of Criminology, Melbourne University, conference: "Whistleblowers: protecting the nation's conscience?" November 17, 1995]

7. " Employers Blamed for Workplace Stress"
by Jean Lennane, Sydney Psychiatrist and ex-president "Whistleblowers Australia"
[Lenanne K. J. [1994], "Employers blamed for workplace stress" pp 15,16, February 1994, NSW Doctor. Journal of the NSW Branch of the Australian Medical Association. ISSN 1031-6949.]

8. Workplace bullying - The silent epidemic"
by Brian R McAvoy and John Murtagh (Melbourne)
[Editorial: British Medical Journal BMJ VOLUME 326 12 APRIL 2003 pp 776, 777 ]

The way forward:

1. " The Partnership Organization - A Systems Approach"
By Riane Eisler and Alfonso Montuori
"Beginning to recognize and acknowledge Partnership in ourselves and in others, and finding creative alternatives for Dominator thinking and behaviors is a first step towards building a Partnership organization."

2. Links to "Coaching" - considered by some to be the opposite of bullying


3. " Women, Men and Management: Redesigning Our Future"
By Riane Eisler

Essay reflecting on the history of Dominator and Partnership Models for societies and organisations.

4. " When the Canary Stops Singing: Women's Perspectives on Transforming Business"
By Pat Barrentine (Editor), Carol Frenier, kathlee Keating, John Naisbitt, Patricia Aburdene
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Pub; ISBN: 1881052419; (January 1994)
Bullying may be more likely to occur in a "male dominator" vs "female nurturing" workplace.

Miscellaneous:

1. "Useful phrases for tackling bullying",
Source = www.ewjm.com/cgi/eletters/175/2/139#180

2. "Constructive Dismissals: Resign or you're fired "
Employees being forced to resign, can seek reinstatement/compensation if treatment has been harsh, unjust, unfair, or for an invalid reason.

3. "Factsheet on workplace Bullying "
The Andrea Adams Trust.

4. School Bus Bullying Prevention"
Includes suggestions to help targetted children, their parents, the bus driver, the school etc. As well as links to other resources to support children subjected to bullying behaviours.

DISCLAIMER:

This page is designed for the sole use of medical practitioners
The information contained within has been provided in good faith.
However, it may contain opinions and errors in fact. Therefore all information is not to be relied upon by any party.
It is presented to stimulate debate amongst the medical profession only