Is Your Organization a Great Place for Bullies to Work?

Sidle, S. (2009). Is Your Organization a great place for bullies to work? Academy of Management Perspectives; Nov2009, Vol. 23 Issue 4, p89-91, 3p. Retrieved March 31, 2010 from: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.waterfield.murraystate.edu/ehost/pdf?vid=1&hid=9&sid=3487d776-00ec-43e0-954d-7e1820133c96%40sessionmgr10

This research brief was written by University of New Haven Psychology Professor Stuart Sidle, and discusses research done on the subject of supervisorial bullying in the workplace. In it, he states that little has been done to eradicate bullying because firms take a Band-Aid approach by reacting to specific problems instead of addressing the organizational factors that contribute to the problem. Studies show that the most likely targets for workplace bullying are those with less power, which can be affected by both social and positional status differences; therefore, women and minorities that are in personal services roles are targeted more often than others. Another finding is that organizations that operate under chaotic or disorganized circumstances, which reflect poor management practices, are more likely to have supervisorial bullying going on as well. Managers that use bullying practices generally are either trying to get better performance from their employees, or in some cases, they feel the employee is somehow a threat to them, or for some, they actually enjoy being a bully. To avoid bullying from happening in the first place, companies should take proactive steps that can help avert such practices in their firm. They should have a clearly written policy against such practices and they should have a means that employees can report situations and have actions taken when such occurrences do happen. This article is brief in detail but addresses a subject that manager should be familiar with and should take measures to prevent.