HOW TO KNOW A BULLYING BOSS




Bullying is a serious problem that does not only involve children, teens and young adults. Bullying in the workplace is similiar to the school playground in that people are being demeaned or exploited, says Lynn Tailor, a national workplace expert. In the office , bullying is far more subversive and challenging to overcome as these grown bullies are adept at finding non-assertive victims and stayin under the radar.

Bulling bosses are of different types. On the more extreme end of the spectrum are those who throw tirades and intimidate employees continuously, some are even guilty of sexual harassment. At the other end, you will find covert bully, the much more rampant, fear provoking boss who act episodicaly. On Monday, he is Mr.Nice guy and on Tuesday, he is Attila the Hun. 

Here are some of the common method adopted by bullies according to Gary Namie, PHD Director of workplace Bulli Institute:

  • Falsely accusing someone of "errors" not actually made.
  • Staring, glaring, being non-verbally intimidating and cearly showing hostility.
  • Discounting the person's thought or feeling ("Oh! that's silly") in meetings.
  • Using the "silent treatment" to "ice out" and separate from others.
  • Exhibiting presumably incontrollable mood swings in front of the group.
  • Making up own rules on the fly that he/she does not follow.
  • Disregarding satisfactory or exemplary quality of completed work despite evidence.
  • Harshly and constantly criticizing, having a different standard for the person.
  • Encouraging people to turn against the person being tormented.
  • Singling out and Isolating one person from co-workers either socially or physically.
  • Yelling, screaming and throwing tantrums in front of others to humiliate a person.
  • Stealing credit for work done by a others.
  • Abusing the evaluation process by lying about a person's performance.
  • Using confidential information about a person to humiliate privately or publicly.
  • Assigning undesirable work as punishment. 
  • Making verbal put-downs/insults based on race, gender, accent or language, disability.
  • Sabotaging the person's contribution to a team goal and reward.
Bullies make the work undesirable and reduces work satisfaction. They make coming to work fearful. Have you had anyexperience of bullying at your workplace. Share your experience by dropping a comment. 

Be sociable, share!!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE MUSING OF A PHARMACIST II

Image
I was in a sour mood as I walked into my office at the Pharmacy this morning. To be honest, I could not exactly pinpoint why I was not happy, maybe because I didn't get enough sleep the previous night or I missed my usual early morning bus. Well, some days are just like this. Immediately, I sat down in my office, Janet, the pharmacist technician walked in to announce that Mr.Kenneth wants to see me. Oh God! It seems today really will be a bad day. Mr. Kenneth is one of our patients who refills his anti-diabetic medicine with us. The last time,  we spoke,  it didn't end so well. That was three weeks ago when Mr. Kenneth vehemently refused to take his medications even with his FBS value at 12mmol/L and after series of counselling. He claimed he had gotten a herbal medicine from the village which will treat the diabetes and therefore do not need his refills. While pondering on the last encounter with Mr.Kenneth, he walked into my office.  Mr. Kenneth looked unhappy, pale
Read more

‘Are all these medicines necessary? A case for deprescribing in the elderly.

Image
One of the goals of clinical therapy is to improve patient quality of life, however in some cases more harm is done than good. This is often the case of overtreatment and "too much medicine". overtreatment and polypharmacy "too much medicine " in the elderly with multiple chronic diseases have been shown to contribute greatly to serious negative effects such as adverse drug effects, falls, increased cost, frequent emergency department visits, hospital admission and on very severe cases, death. Older patients with co-morbidities are often loaded with too much medicine which is driven by strict adherence and reliance on clinical therapy guidelines most times.  Most patients older than 70 years old with multiple chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes take upto six or more medicine where some of them are not relevant or are inappropriate. Take for instance,  a study conducted in a rural tertiary hospital in Nigeria by Dr.Fadare and colleagues shows
Read more

NOT A TYPICAL DAY AT THE PHARMACY

Image
Pharmacy school can be tasking as well as boring. While I was a pharmacy student, I lived a circular life ; hostel, class, library then back to hostel. I could almost predict my next day activity. Similarly,  as a Pharmacist,  my work can be monotonous at times except for some unexpected days. Well, don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, I love my profession as a Pharmacist and would chose Pharmacy over and over again. Just that some days can be unpredictable Last week Thursday was one of such 'untypical' days. As I alighted from the taxi just a few metres from the Pharmacy ( I always stop before The Pharmacy so I can walk some distance as form of light exercise),  I noticed a small crowd in front the pharmacy. My heart skipped a beat as I wondered what could have caused that. Many scenarios  flashed through my mind , could it be a fight , an accident or worse still a mob waiting for me to come . Well,  I increased my walking pace and I realised my hands were shaking . 
Read more