Bullying in the Workplace
I was browsing the web and came across a website dedicated to bullying in the workplace. It was fascinating to learn from this site that
‘half the population are bullied’ most people only realise it when they read this page."
Now this seems strange to me - if they don’t know they are being bullied then one might assume it is not causing them a problem - that is, until they read ‘this page’.
I am certainly not one to condone bullying in any shape or form but I do believe that it is often a matter of perception or even misunderstanding. People who would otherwise be comfortable in a particular situation should not be encouraged to imagine that they are displaying weakness and are putting up with something unacceptable.
‘What is bullying?’ now that is a very interesting question. We all have different personalities both in what we give out and how we react to other people. What, for example, do you make of Sir Alan Sugar’s relationship with his ‘Apprentices’ in the TV programme? To some Sir Alan’s attitude might certainly appear to be bullying.
I personally think that everyone has to learn from people who have more experience than themselves and this can sometimes be mistaken for bullying. If a particular employer or senior manager has an unfortunate way of delivering feedback then that is not necessarily bullying. Surely it all comes down to the question - what is the intention of the ‘bully’. Do they even realise that what they consider to be positive feedback is being misunderstood?
I do recognise that bullying exists and that everything possible should be done to eliminate it. I believe that many people do need help and moral support in standing up for themselves in the workplace and learning to avoid harassment. However, the particular website I was looking at doesn’t appear to have much advice about how to tackle bullying and what action to take. I looked around this site for a long time trying to find such advice but unfortunately without success.
Now a site which gave helpful advice on how to tell the difference between management styles, how to understand whether you are really the victim of bullying and how you should react and what support is available to you. That would be very helpful.
But surely a site dedicated to persuading people that they are being bullied when they themselves were blissfully unaware of it - that has got to be counter-productive at every level.
Peter