bully Behind You - Bullying, Mobbing, Harassment and How to Stop it now!

Bullying 2012 - The 8th International Conference on Workplace Bullying & Harassment, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

2011-09-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

The 8th International Conference on Workplace Bullying and Harassment: 'Workplace Bullying and Harassment: Towards future Challenges' in Copenhagen, Denmark. The conference will be held at the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Social Sciences, in Denmark on June 13 - 15, 2012.

KEY NOTE SPEAKERS:

Dr. Laura Crawshaw, PhD, from The Boss Whisperer
For further information on Dr. Crawshaw please visit the website
http://www.exec-insight.com/index.html
Professor, Dr. Dieter Zapf from Frankfurt University, Work and Organizational Psychology
For further information on Professor, Dr. Dieter Zapf please visit the website
http://web.uni-frankfurt.de/fb05/psychologie/Abteil/ABO/personal/zapf_e.htm
Professor emiritus Töres Theorell from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm
For further information on Professor emiritus Töres Theorell please visit the website
http://ki.se/ki/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1769&l=sv
Professor Suzy Fox, GPHR, MBA, PhD, from Loyola University Chicago
For further information on Professor Suzy Fox please visit the website
http://www.luc.edu/gsb/faculty_suzyfox.shtml

Conference information here

Health Impact and Side Effects of Bullying ... Blaming others can ruin your health

2011-08-30T23:28:00.000-07:00

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Authors calling for new diagnosis called PTED, or post-traumatic embitterment disorder
Expert suggests griping for a while to vent, get it out of your system
Then keep reminding yourself of the all the physical harm you're doing to yourself

Kevin Benton had every reason to feel bitter.

During his sophomore year in college, he says, white students harassed him and the only other African-American living on the floor in his dorm in order to get them to move out.

The white students spat on their doors, tore their posters off the wall, and banged on their door at four in the morning. When Benton brought up the problems at a dorm meeting, the other students snickered.

"I felt like I was being bullied, being targeted," he says now of his college experience 19 years ago. "I knew I couldn't retaliate in any way or I'd lose my basketball scholarship."

This was the first time in his life Benton had encountered racism and it hit him hard. He had trouble sleeping, and then over the next several months he suffered panic attacks. Admitted to the hospital, he was found to have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or thickening of the muscles in the heart. The disease is the leading cause of heart-related sudden death in people under 30.

So sick he couldn't walk, Benton lay in his hospital bed bitter and resentful. "I thought to myself, 'I've never hurt anybody. I serve in the community. I work with youth. I wrestled with God -- why did this happen to me?'" he remembers. Just then, a janitor walked by and grabbed Benton's hand, and prayed aloud to God to heal him. "As soon as she said, 'Amen,' I felt like someone had poured cold water on my head and made my heart shrink," he says.

The first time Kevin Benton encountered racism, he was in college and took it really hard.

Benton forgave the students who had tormented them, and three days later, he walked out of the hospital. "If I hadn't forgiven them, I'd be dead," says Benton, now healthy and a social worker for the Philadelphia Department of Human Services.

Feeling persistently resentful toward other people -- the boss who fired you, the spouse who cheated on you -- can indeed affect your physical health, according to a new book, "Embitterment: Societal, psychological, and clinical perspectives."

In fact, the negative power of feeling bitter is so strong that the authors call for the creation of a new diagnosis called PTED, or post-traumatic embitterment disorder, to describe people who can't forgive others' transgressions against them.

"Bitterness is a nasty solvent that erodes every good thing," says Dr. Charles Raison, associate professor of psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine and CNNHealth's Mental Health expert doctor.

What bitterness does to your body

Feeling bitter interferes with the body's hormonal and immune systems, according to Carsten Wrosch, an associate professor of psychology at Concordia University in Montreal and an author of a chapter in the new book. Studies have shown that bitter, angry people have higher blood pressure and heart rate and are more likely to die of heart disease and other illnesses.

The data that negative mental states cause heart problems is just stupendous. The data is just as established as smoking, and the size of the effect is the same." --Dr. Charles Raison

Physiologically, when we feel negatively towards someone, our bodies instinctively prepare to fight that person, which leads to changes such as an increase in blood pressure. "We run hot as our inflammatory system responds to dangers and threats," says Raison, clinical director of the Mind-Body Program at Emory.

Feeling this way in the short term might not be dangerous -- it might even be helpful to fight off an enemy -- but the problem with bitterness is that it goes on and on. When our bodies are constantly primed to fight someone, the increase in blood pressure and in chemicals such as C-reactive protein eventually take atoll on the heart and other parts of the body.

"The data that negative mental states cause heart problems is just stupendous," Raison says. "The data is just as established as smoking, and the size of the effect is the same."

How to get rid of bitterness

It's impossible to avoid all events that could turn you bitter. At some point, all of us will be the victim of a crazy boss, a cheating spouse, a spiteful co-worker, or someone else who does us wrong. Some will be even more unlucky, and suffer physical or sexual abuse.

"There are situations where you'd have to be the Dalai Lama not to feel bitterness," says Raison, who writes regularly for CNN.com on the mind-body connection for health.

The key is how we react to these situations in the long term. Here are five tips for how to let go of bitterness as quickly as possible for the sake of your own health;

1. Gripe for a while

"Give yourself time to vent and get it out of your system," suggests Dr. Maryann Troiani, co-author of the book Spontaneous Optimism.

2. Watch the news

Frederic Luskin, director of the Stanford Forgiveness Project, tells his embittered patients to think about how many others have had bad things happen to them.

"I ask people to watch the news for a day, or read the paper, or go to work and talk to people, and they'll see that others have suffered and this is just a part of life," says Luskin, author of the book "Forgive for Good."

3. Consider confronting the person who's hurt you

Troiani says some of her patients have found solace in doing this. Other times, however, it can backfire. "Some ex-spouses are real psychopaths, and hunting them down can be disastrous," she says. "They'll just connive and twist things around and blame you." If that's your situation, try writing a letter to the person and reading it to a trusted friend, she suggests.

4. Realize you're only harming yourself

Keep reminding yourself of the all the physical harm you're doing yourself by remaining bitter. "I tell my patients, take care of this bitterness now, or in five years it will haunt you in the form of chronic headaches, fatigue, arthritis, and backaches," Troiani says.

5. Consider the other person's mental state

Author Maya Angelou has every reason to feel bitter. Raped as a child, then overwhelmed with guilt when her rapist, an uncle, was murdered by another family member, she was mute for several years. Still, she says she never felt bitterness toward her attacker. "Although he was a child molester and abused me, I never hated him, and I'm glad of that," she says. "What I realized is that people do what they know to do -- not what you think they should know." As an adult, she's continued that mind-set. "If someone hurts my feelings or hurts me in any way, I think, 'This dummy, that's all he knew,' and I'm not going to carry this bitterness around with me. I will not give it a perch. I will not give it a place to live in me because I know that's dangerous."

Don't be a doormat

Taking these steps and losing your bitterness does not mean you should be a doormat, Raison says. For example, consider the classic case of the wife whose husband leaves her for a much younger woman. Instead of feeling angry, she can think about moving on with her life and finding someone new. "What happens is that the husband who's been doing the 20-year-old comes crawling back because now his wife looks really good, and the wife can say, 'You're a day late and a dollar short,'" he says.

A precursor to Bullying.... Rudeness At Work: On the Rise, And Coming With A Big Cost

2011-08-25T17:38:00.000-07:00

Just because you’ve developed a thick skin for rude, discourteous behavior, doesn’t mean workplace incivility is not hurting you–and your family.

A new Baylor University study published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior found that workplace rudeness can follow you home, causing you to unleash “incivil” behavior on your loved ones.

That’s disconcerting news for the 43% of Americans who have experienced incivility at work, according to the report, Civility in America, 2011. To be clear, incivility is different from aggressive bullying, which usually carries the intent to harm someone. With incivility, the intent is ambiguous, and it’s less intense and characterized by demeaning remarks, showing little interest in a worker’s opinion, acting rudely or with poor manners, among other uncivilized behaviors.

The Baylor study found that those who experienced workplace incivility had lower levels of marital satisfaction and greater family/work conflict, particularly for the partner. It also found that stress from incivility was contagious to family members.

Whose to blame?

When asked to name some of the top causes for the growing incivility problems, 65% of workers blame their company’s leaders and 59% also blame employees, while 46% list the lagging economy as a cause. Interestingly, 34% blame younger employees for incivility and only 6% blame older employees. But incivility at work, many agree, is an artifact of life in America. More than 70% of Americans consider political campaigns, pop culture, the media, government and the music industry hubs of incivility, according to the Civility in America Report.

How to tamp down rudeness

In the words of Aretha Franklin, R-E-S-P-E-C-T. The authors of the Civility in America report write:

Johns Hopkins Professor Pier M. Forni, co-founder of the Civility Project, defines the basics of civility as the Three R’s: Respect, Restraint and Responsibility. When Americans were asked to define “civility,” the words “respect” and “treating others as you would want to be treated” predominated.

And rather than shrug off rudeness, name it, because the more you become inured to it, the more normal it becomes.

source

Workplace becomes new schoolyard for bullies

2011-08-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

Many adults shake their heads in dismay over bullying that targets children and teenagers online and in school; they even push for lawmakers and schools to do more to stop the harassment.

But many are afraid to admit another dirty little secret: Bullying is just as big a problem for the adults in the workplace.

Up to 70 percent of working adults say they've been bullied at some point in their working lives, and 53 percent to 71 percent of the bullies are in management positions, Civility Partners LLC says.

The prevalence of bully bosses is why many don't report they've been bullied, says Bert Alicea, a licensed psychologist and vice president of employee-assistance programs and work/life services at Health Advocate Inc.

"A lot of people would rather leave than stir the pot and fear retaliation," he says. "But even if they want to leave, with the bad job market there's nowhere for them to go."

The problem of workplace bullying is not new, nor is it illegal.

If bullying leads to illegal workplace acts, such as discrimination or harassment, then the courts can act. Legislation called the Healthy Workplace Bill would make bullying illegal and has been introduced in more than 20 states since 2003.

Even without the bill, Alicea says many companies are beginning to take steps to reign in workplace bullying because of its bottom-line consequences: Bullying can cost a company $83,000 a year from absenteeism and stress-related issues.

Companies often ask Alicea to provide harassment awareness or sensitivity training as a way to make supervisors and employees more aware of bullying behavior and the steps needed to protect workers. But businesses may have another incentive to offer such training.

In some court cases, companies that have provided anti-bullying training are not always held solely responsible if an employee's lawsuit alleging harassment or discrimination is successful, Alicea says. Instead, individual supervisors may be held personally liable for some financial damages awarded to an employee if a company can show the supervisor received anti-bullying training.

Still, despite more interest from companies in anti-bullying measures, Alicea says he remains concerned.

"If the bully is in a power position or someone like a rainmaker in the organization who brings in $5 million a year, then no one really wants to rattle that cage," he says.

Another worry for Alicea — a growing use of online bullying. "Cyber-bullying is more prevalent in the workplace. People become friends with their supervisors on Facebook, for example, and they become more emotionally connected. It begins to blur the objectivity of those involved. I just think it opens up a whole can of worms," he says.

Workers also can feel bullied via other online communications, such as email, he says. "I think there's a real need for email etiquette to be taught in workplaces today," he says. "Sending an email, written in bold with 15 exclamation points sends a message in a degrading way."

If an employee feels bullied at work, Alicea says that person should:

• Contact the company's employee assistance program. While acknowledging that some employees may fear word getting back to the bully, "you have to be able to take that risk because you're tired of feeling the way you're feeling," he says. "You need to be able to talk to an objective third party who knows how to deal with these kinds of issues."

• Tell human resources. While you don't have to provide the name of the bully, it's important to have a record so if you experience retaliation, you have proof that it took place after your complaint.

• Ask for dignity and respect. You don't have to launch into a litany of complaints but simply state you want fair treatment. This often prompts companies to bring in outside help to educate and train supervisors and employees. source

CAREER : The Path Less Travelled

2011-08-10T23:09:00.000-07:00

Chaos and happenstance play as much of a part in careers as planning

  Things both good and bad happen in our careers that we do not expect and have not planned for.   The idea that we plan our careers by thinking carefully and logically about what best suits us and then simply implementing our strategy is probably the most commonly held view of how our careers work.

"Plastics" was the career advice given by a well-meaning family friend to Dustin Hoffman in the film The Graduate. The 1967 movie reflected the societal expectation that all graduates (and school leavers) should have a clear and firm plan for their lives.

This expectation is pretty much still in place today, but should it be?  

When we start looking closely at careers as real people genuinely experience them and not as some mythologised logical, linear and ever-upward trajectory, a different picture emerges. It turns out that careers are a lot less predictable than we imagine.

  Think about your own career - is what you are doing now, what you believed you'd be doing when you were 15 or 21? The career path of most of us better resembles a drunken man's stagger through the world of work than a neat, calculated and straight line.   Careers are riddled with chance events. They are also subject to a complex array of different influences. Career decisions are not the result of cold, rational and logical thought processes, rather they emerge from a melting pot of personal history, circumstance, interests, experiences and more.  

The rise of foreign economies has dispossessed many Australian workers. Whether it is using an iPad to order your meal in a restaurant, driving a Chinese car, or sending your dictation to India to be typed, the way we work, and hence our careers, are changing continually.

  Here are some facts about careers and their trajectories:

  ■ At least 70 per cent of us will experience a chance event that significantly alters our career.  

■ A US study found that over a period of 25 years about 60 per cent of us will change occupations and will report higher levels of well-being because of it.  

■ A 2005 report from Monash University showed that after one year 29.7 per cent of enrolling students had changed courses, universities or had dropped out.

  ■ Federal government figures suggest 26.2 per cent of apprentices dropped out in 2009-2010.  

We may think we make our own decisions about our careers but all of the following factors have been shown to be influential in our choices: where you live, your mother, your father, your siblings, politicians, the media, the web, your health and injuries.  What all this means is that shift happens in our careers continually.

Sometimes it is the result of planning but often it is not. It means that "planning a career" is a less viable and useful thing to do. The appropriate reaction to this is not to become fatalistic or despairing but to recognise that our careers are the result of a complex, dynamic system of influences, people and the environment.   

Emerging from the complex interaction of all these different things will be a career pattern that has periods of stability but is subject to unpredictable and sometimes radical change.   The appropriate reaction to the complexity of our lives and careers is to place more emphasis on learning the skills of planning - how to make a plan, how to change a plan, how to copy someone else's plan and how and when to abandon a plan. It means developing the skills and mindset to embrace uncertainty and realising that unplanned events - both good and bad - are inevitable.   This will help us to be resilient and persistent in the face of bad-chance events and ready to take advantage of any good-chance events that come our way.  

Those who react to uncertainty by trying to control and predict everything by risking nothing are likely to be either confounded in their efforts by the forces of change and complexity, or they will limit their careers to such an extent they risk never fulfilling their potential. Successful people live their careers on the edge of chaos, a place where they are sufficiently open to change to engage, learn and transform. 

 The Chaos Theory of Careers describes the realities of working in the 21st century in a complex, changing and unpredictable world. To be successful in our careers now, we must be more open than ever to new possibilities, continual learning and the need creatively to reinvent or recast ourselves as circumstances permit or demand.  It is no longer necessary or even desirable in a world defined by change to have too firmly decided what we are going to do with our lives, because shift happens.

Perhaps we should adopt the approach of Peter Ustinov who said, ironically, on his 75th birthday: "I really must decide what to do with my life."

source

Beware the 'alpha female', she's less likely to succeed if she's ballsy in the boardroom

2011-07-20T01:46:00.000-07:00

Having fought their way into the boardroom they are a match for any man.

But a study has shown that when women bosses try to 'act like a man' and copy aggressive management styles it actually has the opposite effect - with staff working under so-called 'alpha females' less likely to co-operate to get results.

Researchers at the University of London found that women in the boardroom who suppress their natural skills in dealing with people can become confrontational, and would fare better from drawing on typical feminine qualities of sensitivity and good communication.

Alpha female: A new study reveals that to get better results women, instead of striving to be like men in the workplace, should draw on their inherent qualities

The researchers studied the management styles of senior professionals within five NHS hospitals but say their findings could be applied to any profession.

Their results showed that some senior female managers had moved away from what was called 'healthy assertiveness' and were instead attempting to 'emulate aggressive male models'.

Findings: The study showed more aggressive women annoyed colleagues and achieved less

Professor Paula Nicolson, from the University of London, said: 'The best managers had more 'emotional intelligence'.

But women who were trying to behave like they thought men behaved were the ones who got it wrong.

'It’s almost like women feel they must 'act like a man' and overly develop traits often associated with power-hungry City traders.

'This is understandable, because previously leaders have been male.

'But women's leadership style ought to come into its own when dealing with people and displaying skills in communication, judgment, sensitivity and psychological insight – all traits needed to be a good leader.'

WHEN ARE YOU MOST STRESSED?

The most stressful time of the day for modern mothers is 5.55pm, say researchers

That is the point when they are usually rushing around trying to cook dinner in time to ferry the children to their after-school clubs.

Bathtime, at 7.15pm, was the second most stressful point in a mother’s day, with the children’s bedtime at 8.45pm coming third.

The school run, around 8.20am, was fourth.

The study of 2,000 mothers, commissioned by bathroom retailer Betterbathrooms.com, also found that more than half of mothers lose their temper at some point during the day.

A similar number confessed to serving up unhealthy food because they didn’t have the time to cook something from scratch.

source

INTERVIEW - Sharing experiences of workplace bullying

2011-07-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

Esperanza is kind enough to explain her experience with Bullying in the work place. Unfortunately this happens all over the world. We seem to always talk about the children and not often enough about the adults and especially women in the work place.

Managing pressure at work: Dealing with workplace bullies

2011-07-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

I have been working in the stress management field for over 20 years and it never ceases to amaze me that some of the issues I was dealing with then are still prevalent today.

In my role as an Expert Witness to the UK courts I am often required to give a professional opinion to the court as to whether an organisation had anti-bullying procedures in place, prior to an employee deciding to institute a compensation claim against them.

Too many times, employees would have made an official complaint to the HR department yet no action was ever taken. Was it that HR were just uncaring and unsupportive?

Not necessarily so. Too often it was because HR really didn't really know what action to take. A lack of agreed policies and procedures left them uncertain whether they should support the employee's claim about being bullied or just minimise the alleged behaviour by telling the complainant that there was little they could do.

A recent survey

I read last week that the UK January Employment Index based on a survey of 2,600 people showed that 25 per cent of the respondents have experienced workplace bullying with incidents ranging from colleagues taking credit for work that they didn't do to public humiliation at the hands of a colleague, and it made me wonder what more could be done to tackle this conduct that is so often responsible for employees taking extended periods of sick leave and, often ultimately deciding to leave the company.

It is easy for anyone to identify the most obvious cases of intimidation, the times when you see a manager screaming at an employee or humiliating them in front of their team. This is overt bullying behaviour but what about the bullying behaviour that goes on behind closed doors.

The psychological bullying that can now take place on social networking sites is a more dangerous style of bullying as it is a much more difficult phenomenon to detect.

Individuals can often be humiliated even by an anonymous posting on a website and social networking sites can facilitate remote intimidation that can cause serious psychological damage to the victim.

I have counselled many clients who would describe such intimidation as a ‘reign of terror'. They became reluctant to go to work but had little option unless they decided to leave or report sick.

Fighting the scourge

First and foremost, they need to check if the organisation has a formal anti-bullying policy and procedure code and if it does then they should use the procedures laid down to make a complaint. Where procedures are not laid down then they need to speak to someone in authority in the company.

Raising the issue with HR is the recommended way forward.

However, as we saw above, the HR department may not always know what action to take. But this is a risk that may have to be taken as there is strong evidence to show that bullying behaviour creates stress and ultimately health problems.

Company policies

Make sure that your organisation has robust policies and procedures in place to combat workplace bullying and that your HR professionals and line managers are fully trained to recognise and deal effectively with such issues.

An anti- bullying policy should state that the organisation will not tolerate unacceptable behaviour.

If people are in fear of going to work and watching the clock to get back to the safety of their home, then those people will be poor performers, poor sales people, poor producers and a bad advertisement for your firm.

That competitive disadvantage will be reflected in your company's image and your brand.

The author is a BBC guest-broadcaster and Motivational Speaker. She is CEO of an international stress management and employee wellbeing consultancy based in London. Contact them for proven stress strategies - www.carolespiersgroup.co.uk

Key points

Beware of bullying in the workplace and on social networks.
Intimidatory behaviour can cause psychological damage.
Unacceptable conduct results in competitive disadvantage.

Comments (1)

Added 10:43 February 15, 2011
Companies must have policies and procedures to deal with workplace bullying behaviour. It wont just go away. Our organisation is very clear about acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. We have a workplace bullying policy in place and management have been trained to diffuse the issue themselves, if the need arises. It was only a one day training programme but they had this training at the same time as the policy was implemented and so understood its implications. We can now hold our head high as a company and say that we will not tolerate workplace bullying behaviour and I am proud to work here.
Jacky Cullen, London, United Kingdom

source

CASTING CALL FOR NEW TV SHOW - 'No Leave No Life'

2011-06-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

A holiday is what the doctor prescribes, resulting in a new perspective and possible career change?

Link to TV Show information

CASTING CALL: NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN!

You don't need a specific talent to be part of the No Leave No Life television series. We're on the lookout for Australia's hardest workers to be part of the next series of No Leave No Life. You can nominate yourself or someone you know - it could be your mum, your husband, a friend or a colleague. They just need to be someone who works hard and deserves a break.

Registration is open now and closes at 5pm on 29th June, so make sure you apply today.

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Sex Discrimination in Law Firms - Life in the firm still no picnic for women

2011-06-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

Former Clayton Utz lawyer Bridgette Styles has filed a sexual harrasment claim against the top-flight firm.

It is depressing to read that more than 25 years since the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act, and when universities are pumping out more female graduates than ever before, allegations of sexual harassment are being made by a young lawyer, Bridgette Styles, against a large Sydney law firm.

Many of us who have worked in law firms would love to say we are surprised by the news but, sadly, actual and anecdotal evidence would suggest such behaviour remains a part of life in a firm for many women.

When I was working in a large law firm in the early 1990s, some partners would take all the male lawyers in their team to lunch, leaving the female solicitors (with the secretaries) sitting at their desks with a sandwich.

Pregnant with my first child, I didn't get an annual pay rise that was awarded to all my peers. When I whinged to a male colleague the same age, he said in all seriousness, ''Well, why would you? You're leaving to have a baby.''

In a deeply competitive, dog-eat-dog environment, where a colleague's desk could be cleared overnight, we were too scared to challenge demeaning and insulting inequities.

The mantra fed to all young lawyers, who in turn learnt to behave like victims of Stockholm syndrome, was that we should feel so very grateful for having earned a place in such a prestigious workplace. We knew intuitively that complaining about conditions could lead to sacking, and most women lawyers would no doubt agree they felt the more vulnerable gender.

For many practising in the 1990s, Marea Hickey's decision to prosecute her case against Hunt & Hunt, when her fellow partners denied her the right to return to work on a part-time basis after maternity leave, was a seminal moment, especially for female lawyers.

It would, however, be fair to say that many of us paused, took a breath, and hoped like hell that women lawyers would not then be marginalised and perceived as a litigious impediment in the workplace.

Thankfully, conditions have improved. While some of the change in attitude is attributable to legislative reforms that have forced law firms - like all businesses - to adjust their employment practices, many firms have taken the initiative to actively develop ''family-friendly'' policies. They appear to have had an epiphany, realising that training, and then losing, some of their brightest women is detrimental to the business model and ultimately to their reputation.

As recently as this year, however, I heard of a case where a young (recently engaged) woman making budget was being managed out of an underperforming practice group in a large firm. In terminating her employment, the male partner told her that losing her job would not be the end of the world because she would soon be married and at home having babies. No doubt her colleagues who survived the cut stayed silent, smugly congratulating themselves for being tougher, smarter and better employees, and thus perpetuating the means-of-survival myth.

It is not unusual for relationships to form in the workplace, especially when colleagues work long hours, side by side. Law firms have always been notorious hotbeds for brief - and long-term - partnerships of the biblical kind. Feisty Friday night drinks are commonplace and other firm social functions often end with more than a hint of debauchery.

In the wash-up from these events, the water cooler talk the next dusty morning still tends to focus on flirtatious, drunken behaviour by women lawyers, not the men, when we all know it takes two to tango. What seems to be a badge of honour for a man is still a woman lawyer scorned.

Speaking out against injustices in any workplace takes courage, and for a young woman such as Styles to take on the might of a law firm - which has an obligation to know better under the Law Society's rules for maintaining a valid practising certificate - is a gutsy call. Especially when she, and many others before her, must be profoundly aware that even a judicial win may amount to a pyrrhic victory.

source

COMMENTS

I hope this case will strike fear into the heart of every male in my industry - advertising. Like law, it's full of people who do know better, but still act as if their behaviour will never catch up with them. Go Bridgette.
Anonymous - June 09, 2011, 8:27AM

Congratulations to Ms Styles for fighting back and speaking up. It takes a lot of courage to stand up and even more courage to weather the storm of criticism and innuendo that will inevitably ensue.
What I can't understand is how ANYONE could be surprised about the ongoing mistreatment of females in large organisations. Male and female equality in most workplaces will continue to be a myth perpetrated by the powerful male establishment to placate those ambitious women who fail to understand their place in society - I mean, how dare we want the same treatment as our male counterparts? What are we thinking? I wish Ms Styles the very best for her future.
Keen observer | Qld - June 09, 2011, 8:23AM

This is all about a flawed culture, and a business model for legal firms that the rest of the business community considers arcane. The law firms have a culture of putting the ambitious (and often avaricious) together in a lump after recruitment and convincing them there is only one deeply competitive and low paid way - theirs. The Stockholm syndrome comment is a fascinating insight. But these are also bright young folk with unrivalled opportunity to make changes to their circumstances.
It is the business model that creates the pressure, and the culture that sustains it. Because of the prehistoric structures, the culture (including sexism) is changing at a slothful pace.But there's also a general issue of the entirely undeserved high regard the profession holds itself in, which is absurd.
SWRA - June 09, 2011, 8:16AM

Not originally being Australian is is rather entertaining to watch Australian males in postitions of power and as sporting 'role models' struggling to make it past the 19th century. Even when they have made good, they can't escape their origins. Australia - the last true bastion of male chauvinism!
StanGoodvibes | Sydney - June 09, 2011, 8:10AM

Well done Bridgette and Emma one bully at at time will change the culture. The only way to break the cycle of Stockholm syndrome is for some to challenge unethical behavior and that throws unhinges the bullies.
PeterCab | Canberra - June 09, 2011, 8:10AM

As an ordinary citizen of the world with the odd limb missing and other battle scars I somehow find the story about sharks attacking sharks enervating.
What better spectacle than to see exposed the legal profession for what it really is. May they all devour each other and leave the planet a better place.
justice-at-last | boondocks - June 09, 2011, 8:07AM

As a law student going through work experience training, I find articles (and situations!) like these incredibly disheartening.
I was told by my work place supervisor that in the legal world, I need to make a choice between being a "stay at home mother" or being a lawyer. Well, I already have three children, so I can't "unchose" motherhood.
However I have also worked incredibly hard over the last 15 years to obtain two degrees, whilst working part time and spending most of that time as a single mother. To be told I have to make a choice was shocking.
When I left recently, it was because I was told that they needed a full time employee and since I only wanted part time work, that would not be me.
What galled the most is that I do want full time work. I asked for part time work experience because I was combining study with family and work experience. Once I am done with the study (end of this month) it was always my intention to (return) to full time work.
When I said this to my supervisor, all I got was a dismissive "well, I can't see your family commitments changing anytime soon".
He doesn't really know me or my situation (other than that I took two days off when my youngest child had emergency surgery). He never asked what my intentions were. And this was not some big firm, rather, a small regional firm.
It hasn't put me off law, but has shone a spotlight on what kind of attitude awaits me in the workplace. Glad I'm warned!
Kelly | Home - June 09, 2011, 8:00AM

Don't poop in your own nest.
Cluey | Cloey - June 09, 2011, 7:59AM

I get what you're saying but I don't feel any sympathy for lawyers. So the male lawyers exploit the female lawyers and all lawyers exploit everyone else. I have a bit of trouble getting past that and onto the message about female discrimination in the workplace. If the story was about 'women in finance' or 'women in IT' then perhaps I'd give a damn.
jacorb effect | sydney - June 09, 2011, 7:44AM

This is indeed a sad state of affairs, but unfortunately it is demonstrative of the ever-present arrogance in the legal profession. As a lawyer, I have observed broadly arrogant behaviour (from both women and men) in the profession since my pre-admission days working in the industry and additionally, a healthy dose of misogyny and objectification thrown in the mix.
There are people who observe such behaviour in this profession and in the wider community who think "oh well, it will always be this way" and it is exactly this attitude which perpetuates the problem. I don't know about the veracity of Ms Styles claims and no doubt the full details will come out in the course of this hearing but there is no doubt that this is a serious problem for female lawyers, particularly in large firms.
Having said that, there are a lot of decent male lawyers out there who do not get caught up in this destructive and discriminatory culture and it is for these people to stand up for women (as well as women standing up for themselves) when they see that something wrong is happening. We've all heard the saying that "all it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing", but more people need to live by it. As you have rightly said, Emma, courage is key.
One final but minor observation from the photo caption - it says Ms Styles is suing the firm for sexual assault and defamation. I wasn't aware that one could bring a sexual assault action (whether civil or criminal) against a business. The only other observation is that Belinda Styles is a pretty awesome name.
Tiago | Sydney - June 09, 2011, 7:25AM

BOOK: CAREERS - The Path Less Travelled ..... embrace it!

2011-05-14T22:09:00.000-07:00

Chaos and happenstance play as much of a part in careers as planning

  Things both good and bad happen in our careers that we do not expect and have not planned for.  

The idea that we plan our careers by thinking carefully and logically about what best suits us and then simply implementing our strategy is probably the most commonly held view of how our careers work. "Plastics" was the career advice given by a well-meaning family friend to Dustin Hoffman in the film The Graduate. The 1967 movie reflected the societal expectation that all graduates (and school leavers) should have a clear and firm plan for their lives. This expectation is pretty much still in place today, but should it be?  

Think about your own career - is what you are doing now, what you believed you'd be doing when you were 15 or 21? The career path of most of us better resembles a drunken man's stagger through the world of work than a neat, calculated and straight line.

  Careers are riddled with chance events. They are also subject to a complex array of different influences. Career decisions are not the result of cold, rational and logical thought processes, rather they emerge from a melting pot of personal history, circumstance, interests, experiences and more.

  Here are some facts about careers and their trajectories:  

■ At least 70 per cent of us will experience a chance event that significantly alters our career.

  ■ A US study found that over a period of 25 years about 60 per cent of us will change occupations and will report higher levels of well-being because of it.

  ■ A 2005 report from Monash University showed that after one year 29.7 per cent of enrolling students had changed courses, universities or had dropped out.

  ■ Federal government figures suggest 26.2 per cent of apprentices dropped out in 2009-2010.  

What all this means is that shift happens in our careers continually. Sometimes it is the result of planning but often it is not. It means that "planning a career" is a less viable and useful thing to do. The appropriate reaction to this is not to become fatalistic or despairing but to recognise that our careers are the result of a complex, dynamic system of influences, people and the environment.   

Emerging from the complex interaction of all these different things will be a career pattern that has periods of stability but is subject to unpredictable and sometimes radical change.  

The appropriate reaction to the complexity of our lives and careers is to place more emphasis on learning the skills of planning - how to make a plan, how to change a plan, how to copy someone else's plan and how and when to abandon a plan. It means developing the skills and mindset to embrace uncertainty and realising that unplanned events - both good and bad - are inevitable.   

This will help us to be resilient and persistent in the face of bad-chance events and ready to take advantage of any good-chance events that come our way.  

Those who react to uncertainty by trying to control and predict everything by risking nothing are likely to be either confounded in their efforts by the forces of change and complexity, or they will limit their careers to such an extent they risk never fulfilling their potential. Successful people live their careers on the edge of chaos, a place where they are sufficiently open to change to engage, learn and transform.  

The Chaos Theory of Careers describes the realities of working in the 21st century in a complex, changing and unpredictable world. To be successful in our careers now, we must be more open than ever to new possibilities, continual learning and the need creatively to reinvent or recast ourselves as circumstances permit or demand.  

It is no longer necessary or even desirable in a world defined by change to have too firmly decided what we are going to do with our lives, because shift happens. Perhaps we should adopt the approach of Peter Ustinov who said, ironically, on his 75th birthday: "I really must decide what to do with my life."  

The Chaos Theory of Careers: A New Perspective on Working in the 21st Century by Robert Pryor and Jim Bright is published by Routledge and is available from Palgrave Macmillan and Amazon.com.

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Australia to criminalise Workplace Bullying: Workplace bullies may face jail time

2011-04-21T21:15:00.000-07:00

Workplace bullying. Picture: Nicki ConnollySource: Herald Sun

BULLIES in workplaces will face jail when the state introduces laws to criminalise bullying.

Commercial law firm Kelly & Co believes it is "only a matter of time" before legislation is introduced in South Australia to deem workplace bullying illegal.

Legislation introduced in the Victorian Parliament on April 5 means workers found guilty of bullying face up to 10 years in jail.

It followed the case of a 19-year-old Melbourne woman who committed suicide after being bullied by co-workers and her boss at a lunch bar.

The employer was fined $220,000 under occupational health and safety legislation, with four co-workers also each fined between $10,000 and $45,000.

Kelly & Co partner and workplace relations lawyer Clare Raimondo said that workplace bullies were on "borrowed time".

"There's a groundswell of support to stamp out workplace bullying in SA," Ms Raimondo said.

A spokesman for Industrial Relations minister Pat Conlon said the Government would follow the progress of the Victorian legislation "with interest".

He said it already had introduced a Bill to Parliament in which the maximum penalty for an offence such as proven recklessness included five years imprisonment.

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Beauty Discrimination?!! ....Attractive women who attach photo to CV 'less likely to be employed'

2011-04-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

Attractive men, however, more likely to get interview

It's long been suspected that some employers are swayed by a pretty face in a job interview.

But being good-looking might be an impediment to getting to that stage in the first place.

Attractive women who attach a photo to their CV are less likely to get an interview than their plainer rivals or those who do not send in a picture, research reveals today.

'Jealous' women in personnel departments who screen which jobseekers should be invited in are to blame for attractive women not getting interviews, says a new report.

It blames young, single and ‘jealous’ women in personnel departments who screen which jobseekers should be invited in.

But in an example of the ‘double standards’ that the researchers said these staff employed, attractive men who attach a photograph are more likely to get an interview than plain ones.

Staff in personnel departments are overwhelmingly female, typically single and aged 29 on average, the researchers found.

Their report concludes:

‘The evidence points to female jealousy of attractive women in the workplace as a primary reason for their penalisation in recruitment.’
In a warning to pretty job-seeking women, it adds: ‘Attractive females are singled out for punishment.’

A young man waits at a job interview. Attractive men who attach a photograph are more likely to get an interview than plain ones, says research

The research, published by The Royal Economic Society, involved sending more than 5,300 CVs for 2,650 job vacancies. For each job, two applications were sent. One contained a photograph of an attractive man or woman, or a plain-looking man or woman. The other CV was identical, but did not contain a photograph.

Nearly 20 per cent of attractive men got an interview.

But only 12.8 per cent of attractive women fared as well.

Of plain men, 9.2 per cent got an interview, compared with 13.6 per cent of plain women. Men who did not attach a picture were asked for interview 13.7 per cent of the time, compared with 16.6 per cent of women.

Bradley Ruffle, from the Department of Economics at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, which carried out the study along with the Ariel University Centre in the West Bank, said it was an example of ‘beauty discrimination’.

For the best chance of getting an interview, a woman should send in a CV without a picture, he said.

He blamed ‘the high number of women in human resources staffing positions’. It is their job to look through a mountain of CVs and job applications to decide who should be asked for an interview, and who should not.

When they see an application from a pretty woman, researchers said, many of these staff feel extremely ‘jealous’ of their potential colleague and often reject her instantly.

To check this stereotype, researchers telephoned the companies who were recruiting to find out about the people who screened the candidates. They found that 96 per cent were female, the majority were between the ages of 23 and 34 and nearly 70 per cent were single.

The research was conducted in Israel because it is normal to attach a photograph in the corner of a CV there, unlike in Britain. Professor Cary Cooper, from the Lancaster University Management School, said women in human resources may be trying to help the ‘underdog’.

He said: ‘It could be that they unconsciously think that the less attractive woman is the underdog, and want to give her a chance. ‘They may think to themselves: “These attractive women stand a better chance of getting a job elsewhere. I’ll give the less attractive one an interview.”’

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LEGAL - Australia's Victorian State Parliament to Criminalise Workplace Bullying

2011-04-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

Workplace bullies in Victoria will face up to 10 years in jail under changes to stalking laws to be introduced to the State Parliament.

Transcript from ABC TV segment - Victoria to criminalise workplace bullying

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 05/04/2011

Reporter: Hamish Fitzsimmons

ALI MOORE: Workplace bullies in Victoria will face up to 10 years in jail under changes to stalking laws.

The criminalisation of bullying was prompted by the death of 19-year-old Brodie Panlock in 2009. Brodie took her life after being relentlessly bullied at the cafe in which she worked.

Both employers and unions have welcomed the laws but say there needs to be education about what actually constitutes bullying.

From Melbourne, Hamish Fitzsimmons reports.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: It was a case which appalled the nation when it came to light.

In 2005 and 2006 Brodie Panlock was physically and verbally abused by three of her coworkers at this cafe.

They even offered her ratsack when they found out she'd attempted suicide, and in the end, she couldn't take the torment any longer.

RAE PANLOCK, MOTHER: What happened to Brodie that was really a very toxic environment that she worked in and it was assault and it was very serious and it can't be tolerated and it's not going to be anymore.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: As a result of the death of Brodie Panlock the Victorian State Government has now introduced some of the toughest anti-bullying laws in the country.

They'll apply to any online, or physical harassment, that harms an individual.

ROBERT CLARK, VICTORIA'S ATTORNEY GENERAL: This legislation is intended to send a very clear message that serious bullying is a serious crime that carries a serious jail term.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Those who bullied or aided bullying Brodie Panlock - Nicholas Smallwood, Rhys MacAlpine, Gabriel Toomey and cafe owner Marc da Cruz - were fined over $300,000 under occupational health and safety laws.

Her parents call it a slap on the wrist and say the new laws provide a better deterrent.

DAMIAN PANLOCK, FATHER: If you do it you'll go to jail, if you push it all the way and that's what they did to her, they pushed her.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: The former chief justice of the family court Alastair Nicholson has long campaigned against bullying. He says the laws are encouraging, but fraught with legal difficulties.

ALASTAIR NICHOLSON, NATIONAL CENTRE AGAINST BULLYING: It covers a very wide range of subjects, and the normally accepted version of bullying, is a repeated act of harass and cause harm. You then have to ask the question, is it deliberate? And what does deliberate mean?

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Justice Nicholson says preventing bullying it should start in schools.

ALASTAIR NICHOLSON: If you're going to affect this sort of behaviour, you've got to do it early. If you're going to eliminate bullying or make bullying unacceptable as a form of conduct in the schools, it's going to flow over into later life.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: And employer groups have cautiously welcomed the laws.

CHRIS JAMES, VICTORIAN EMPLOYER'S CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY: The Brodie Panlock case was a great tragedy, it was very much at the extreme end of the workplace bullying spectrum it certainly raised consciousness of this issue, it made a lot of employers and employees sit up and take notice of the issue.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Unions say bosses need to take a stand against bullying.

GED KEARNEY, ACTU: We need to see very strong sanctions against employers as well for allowing bullying behaviour in the workplace. We want to see employers make the workplace safe for employees to blow the whistle on that behaviour.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: The Panlock family knows no laws can help their daughter but they do hope other families now won't have to share their grief.

RAE PANLOCK, MOTHER: Nothing's ever going to bring Brodie back but it is nice to know that something positive for people to remember Brodie for and hopefully she'll make it a lot easier for people who have those same problems.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Hamish Fitzsimmons, Lateline.

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MONSTER MANAGERS - Profiling Types of Monster Bosses

2011-03-05T10:59:00.000-08:00

Monsters are real — as anyone who has ever worked for a nightmare manager can attest. Here we look at the qualities that distinguish a good boss from a bad one, and ways to avoid becoming a monster in the workplace.

Most monsters are frightening but fictional. However, we sometimes encounter a person who seems to have been pulled directly from our nightmares, and this is especially frightening when that person turns out to be our boss. A broad range of traits can make a manager seem monstrous, but that doesn't mean they're unique in their awfulness. In fact, it can be comforting to note that plenty of employees have to deal with nightmare bosses every day.

"These days there are websites where you can post horror stories about your boss, commiserate with other long-suffering subordinates or even e-mail your boss an anonymous letter telling him or her just how ineffectual he or she is," CFO Daily News explains. "Seems there's an epidemic of bad bosses out there."

The workplace can be a surprisingly spooky place. According to a survey from CareerBuilder.com, 18 percent of workers described their workplace as frightening. Based on a poll of 4,000 employees, here are the most common types of monsters — not all of them bad — workers said their bosses resemble:

Glenda the Good Witch — Someone liked and respected by nearly everyone in the office (20 percent);
The Wolf Man — A boss who's fine one minute and then terrible the next (11 percent);
The Invisible Man — People notice that this boss is never around (10 percent);
Casper the Friendly Ghost — A boss who is eager to help others, but is often misunderstood (9 percent);
Dracula — This boss simply sucks the life out his employees (6 percent);
Wicked Witch of the West — Unlike Glenda, this boss is conniving and has an army of underlings performing dirty work (5 percent);
The Mummy — A slow-moving boss with an ancient management style (4 percent);
The Grim Reaper — One who is constantly delivering bad news and inspiring fear among the staff (3 percent); and
Frankenstein — A boss who's green with envy (1 percent).

Although many employees are dissatisfied with work conditions, problems with their bosses generally stem from a handful of specific problems that point to a fundamental disconnect between management and staff. An inability to listen is one of the key factors preventing a boss from engaging with employees.

"On one hand, there is the blabbermouth theory of leadership. In Western cultures, the person who talks the most is viewed as having the highest status. And interrupting people is a way to seize power," Robert Sutton, a professor in Stanford University's department of management science and engineering, told Inc.com. "Certainly talking is more pleasant than listening. But most bosses ought to shut up and listen more."

Listening is crucial not only because it improves relationships with employees, but also because it allows a manager to pick up on workplace details that he or she may not have noticed (or wanted to notice) before.

"One thing most bad managers have in common is they're not consciously aware that they're bad managers," BNET explains. "And if they are aware of it on some level, they're probably not willing to admit it to anyone, least of all themselves. That's because nobody wants to believe they're the problem."

So, as a manager, how can you tell if your employees view you as a bad boss? Sutton, writing at the AMEX OPEN Forum, offers the following signs that your reputation as a manager may be slipping:

You look out for yourself and everyone else is an afterthought;
You're hard on your workers because you think they'll screw up without your "guidance";
You transmit but don't receive, mostly just pretending to listen to others;
You never say "thanks" or "please" because it's a waste of time;
You're a stickler for punishment, so your workers know when they make a mistake they'll pay for it;
You never mess up, or in other words, never admit to messing up;
You take all the credit, regardless of how much you contributed to the work;
You don't tolerate dissent, making life hard for anyone who dares to disagree with you;
You focus on your top performers, making sure they get the best of everything while everyone else is ignored;
You only care about the big ideas, because the small stuff, like implementation or practical considerations, are beneath you; and
You don't care what it's like to work for you, and if employees are dissatisfied, too bad.

No one wants to be a bad boss, but these traits can be hard to recognize in oneself. When performance begins to lag, employees become disinterested in their work or the atmosphere in the workplace becomes noticeably uncomfortable, signs point to a problem that management needs to address.

"You can tell if you're making mistakes as a leader because things go wrong — not just one catastrophic computer snafu but repeated errors," CNN.com explains. "Bad bosses turn away from these realities. They don't discuss problems; they just hunker down and hope the issue will go away. It won't. Untreated, a minor concern becomes a major issue becomes a catastrophe."

So what qualities define a good boss? According a recent survey from staffing firm Adecco, the types of leadership employees most desired were "visionary" (23 percent) and "democratic," (23 percent) meaning that workers want managers who set out clear, achievable goals and accomplish them with close collaboration and feedback from their employees. Moreover, 88 percent of employees said a good boss jumps right in to important projects and helps the team get the job done.

"Ultimately, the secret to being a 'best boss' isn't all that mysterious — employees respect bosses who work as hard as they do," Adecco explains. "They value constructive criticism regarding their work and they appreciate having a friendly relationship with their boss, but they don't feel the need to be 'friends' outside of work (or even online) with them. Employees want a boss who encourages a healthy work-life balance, while also practicing what they preach in leading by example."

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Defining Workplace Violence ... what leads to Trauma and PTSD

2011-03-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

Work trauma is the adverse effects and impact on the employee's physical and/or emotional wellness, health and safety as a result of physical and/or emotional violence experienced in the workplace.

These symptoms typically include, but are not limited to, external wounds and injuries and/or symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), excessive stress and/or stress-related illnesses. (Steinman, 2003)

Corporate Aggression refers to all situations where the majority of employees or any minority group feel subjected to unilateral conscious, calculated or planned negative actions, attitudes, rules and/or policies imposed by the employer to serve the employer's interests, in a situation where these employees feel that they are collectively unable to defend themselves and/or approach and/or reason with the source of aggression and/or effect any changes. (Steinman, 2002)

1. Definition of the term “Workplace Violence”

Workplace violence is defined as single or cumulative incidents where employee(s) are physically assaulted or attacked, are emotionally abused, pressurised, harassed or threatened (overtly, covertly, directly, indirectly) in work-related circumstances with the likelihood of impacting on their right to dignity, physical or emotional safety, well-being, work performance and social development.[1]Includes: Any physical violence such as an assault or attack and psychological or emotional violence such as threats, abuse, bullying/mobbing, sexual harassment and racial harassment.

GLOSSARY: Violence appears as physical violence or as psychological violence or structural violence in different forms, which may often overlap. Terms related to violence are defined in the following GLOSSARY

1.1 Physical Violence: The use of physical force against another person or group that results in physical, sexual or psychological harm.
Includes beating, kicking, slapping, stabbing, shooting, pushing, biting, pinching, strangling, among others.[2]

1.1.1 Assault/Attack: Intentional behaviour that harms another person or group physically, including sexual assault (i.e. rape).

1.2 Psychological Violence: Intentional use of power, including threat of physical force, against another person or group, that can result in harm to family life, livelihood, physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. [3]Includes verbal abuse, bullying/mobbing, harassment, intimidation and threats.

1.2.1 Abuse: Behaviour that humiliates, degrades or otherwise indicates a lack of respect for the dignity and worth of an individual.[4]

1.2.2 Bullying/Mobbing: Repeated and overtime offensive behaviour through vindictive, cruel or malicious attempts to humiliate, disrespect or undermine an individual or groups of employees and includes, but is not limited to psychological pressure, harassment, intimidation, threats, conspiracies, manipulation, extortion, coercion and hostile behaviour which could impact on the worth, dignity and well-being of the individual or groups.[5].

1.2.3 Harassment: Any conduct based on age, disability, HIV status, domestic circumstances, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, race, colour, language, religion, political, trade union or other opinion or belief, national or social origin, association with a minority, property, birth or other status that is unreciprocated or unwanted and which affects the dignity of men and women at work.[6]

1.2.4 Sexual Harassment: Any unwanted, unreciprocated and unwelcome behaviour of a sexual nature that is offensive to the person involved, and causes that person to be threatened, humiliated, degraded or embarrassed.[7]

1.2.5 Racial harassment: Any implicit or explicit threatening conduct that is based on race, colour, language, national origin, religion, association with a minority, birth or other status that is unreciprocated or unwanted and which affects the dignity of women and men at work.[8]

1.2.6 Threat: Any implicit or explicit promised use of physical force or power (i.e. psychological force, blackmail or stalking), resulting in fear of physical, sexual, psychological harm or other negative consequences to the targeted individuals or groups.[9]

1.3 Structural Violence
The intentional use of power and/or organisational systems and structures or laws against an individual or entity (employer, management, shareholders, employee, group of employees, client, government, unions) to carry out a covert or unethical agenda, enforce change or indulge in unfair practices to the disadvantage of the affected individual or entity.
Includes but not limited to the disrespectful handling of changes in the organisation, unrealistic redistribution of workload, intimidation, policies, procedures, regulations, manipulation, coercion to act in a certain way and so on, exercised by an individual or entity. [10]

source

[1]Steinman, S: 2002-2007.
[2] Adapted from the World Health Organisation’s definition of violence.
[3] Adapted from the World Health Organisation’s definition of violence.
[4] Alberta Association of Registered Nurses
[5] Steinman, S: 2006
[6] Human Rights Act, UK
[7] ILO/ICN/WHO/PSI Joint Programme on Workplace Violence, 2001
[8]Adapted from Human Rights Act, UK
[9] ILO/ICN/WHO/PSI Joint Programme on Workplace Violence, 2001
[10] Susan Steinman, Workplace Dignity Institute, 2006

HOSPITAL WORKPLACE BULLYING- Dr Anne Sneddon Steps Down Over Bullying Where 9 Doctors resigned within 1 year

2011-02-20T20:07:00.000-08:00

Head of Canberra Hospital Obstetrics & Gynaecology leaves behind Workplace Bullying environment for new job interstate

The Canberra Times has a stub on the Canberra Hospital obstetrics and gynaecology clinical chief Anne Sneddon walking away.

Sneddons departure comes after a difficult two years for the obstetrics and gynaecology unit, including the resignations of several other staff and investigations into bullying and harassment allegations.

Katy Gallagher was on the beast this morning saying Dr Sneddon was just taking a long break and there’s no problem. But can we believe anything she says now?

The Canberra Times has been told that Dr Sneddon quit the hospital recently to take up a position interstate.

The unit has been the subject of two external reviews after allegations of workplace bullying and harassment were made and several staff resigned.

The first review examined maternity services across the ACT and found Canberra Hospital staff had unsustainable workloads and some were victims of inappropriate behaviour.

The second inquiry specifically focussed on the bullying and harassment allegations but the findings are being kept confidential.

Health Minister Katy Gallagher says Dr Anne Sneddon is taking 12 months leave to pursue other career options.

She says it has been a turbulent 12 months at the unit.

"I really can't answer why Dr Sneddon has chosen now other than to say I think for everyone who has worked in the unit it has been a difficult 12 months," she said.

"We are on the road to making some major improvements, but Dr Sneddon has chosen to pursue some other opportunities elsewhere for a period of time."

Ms Gallagher says she hopes Dr Sneddon eventually returns to ACT Health.

"She is a very significant obstetrician and gynaecologist, nationally renowned. She does a lot of work in the third world, training and teaching midwives how to deliver babies," she said.

"She is an amazing doctor and I hope she comes back."

The ACT Opposition has renewed calls for the findings of the confidential review to be released.

Health spokesman Jeremy Hanson says there needs to be an open inquiry into the how the unit operates.

"This is nothing to do with a particular resignation. What I'm concerned about is the systemic issues, what actually occurred, why the complaints that were made were ignored, and has this been dealt with satisfactorily," he said.

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THE BACKGROUND TO THE CANBERRA HOSPITAL WORKPLACE BULLYING

DOCTORS QUIT OVER 'HOSPITAL BULLYING'

The maternity unit at the Canberra Hospital could be on the verge of a staffing crisis, with nine doctors resigned in the past 12 months.

Six obstetricians have blamed a hostile working environment, with some complaining of bullying at management level, according to an industry representative.

Four junior doctors have also terminated their training at the hospital early over the past year, with more departures on the horizon.

The ACT representative for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Andrew Foote, said the doctors had approached him with concerns about the workplace culture and perceived bullying. He said some had complained of having difficulty getting days off work, while others had been humiliated by the way problems with patient management had been dealt with.

Dr Foote said at least one doctor had reported she had made a formal complaint to senior management and had been dissuaded from taking the matter further.

''The concern at a college level is that these are senior doctors at the highest level who have left the system,'' Dr Foote said.

''[One of the doctors] didn't leave town, which I think is particularly damning he just moved to the northside.''

Six doctors had also written to ACT Health Minister Katy Gallagher, offering to apply for two vacancies only if the workplace environment could be improved.

Dr Foote said there was now a shortage of obstetricians, with only half the number needed to properly treat the number of patients going through the system.

''I think they [the hospital] are adopting the approach of 'There's nothing wrong, mate'.''

OPPOSITION CALLS FOR BULLYING REPORT RELEASE

The ACT Opposition says the government is acting cowardly by refusing to release a report into claims of bullying at Canberra Hospital.

Nine obstetricians have resigned from the hospital since the the start of last year, amid allegations of doctor shortages, harassment and bullying.

ACT Health says it has finished its inquiry, but is bound by the Public Interest Disclosure Act not to release the findings.

MALPRACTICE COVER UP? Problems at Canberra Hospital denied

The ACT government has defended an exodus of obstetricians from Canberra Hospital amid claims of a senior doctor shortage and workplace bullying.

The hospital has lost nine obstetricians over the past 13 months and has been rocked by allegations senior staff pushed for a late-term abortion for a baby later born healthy, the ABC reports.

The Royal College of Obstetricians says doctors have reported a culture of poor management and bullying as well as lack of senior medical staff at the hospital.

They'd since "voted with their feet", the college's Andrew Foote said.

The hospital and ACT Health have also been accused of trying to hide medical blunders. The most explosive claims centres around the case of an expecting mother in 2008. Just five weeks into her pregnancy, Fiona Vanderhook was told by a trainee doctor that she had lost her baby and should terminate using a drug called misoprostol.

Ms Vanderhook took misoprostol but it failed and later tests showed the baby was still alive, the ABC reported. Scans then revealed the foetus had developed fluid on the brain — most likely caused by Ms Vanderhook taking the termination drug.

Later six separate specialists told Ms Vanderhook her baby appeared to be developing normally and had every chance of being born healthy. But senior staff at Canberra Hospital continued to push for the baby to be terminated, even as late as 31 weeks into the pregnancy.

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7 Deadly Sins of BAD MANAGERS - What Managers & Supervisors Must Avoid in the Workplace

2011-02-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

Every supervisor has his or her flaws, some more egregious than others. Here we look at a few of the most pervasive mistakes that bosses make, plus how to avoid them.

No boss is perfect, but some are less perfect than others. While it is impossible to satisfy every employee's needs throughout their career, certain types of managerial behavior are almost guaranteed to rub workers the wrong way. Whether it's seizing undeserved credit, imposing unrealistic workloads or simply failing to listen to employees' concerns, a pattern of bad management can lead to significant declines in performance and may even cost a supervisor his or her career. This makes it vital to promptly correct such mistakes or, better yet, avoid them in the first place.

"Few things incite a frothing, wild-eyed rage like asking people to talk about bad bosses. People aren't just annoyed by poor leadership — they sputter and snarl as they describe their superiors, lusting for the chance to hit that bad boss with a perfect, withering insult," CNN.com explains. "It's a little scary, then, to realize that we're all likely to occupy a leadership role, from motherhood to mogulhood, at some point in our lives. When we blow it, our imperfections will be magnified by our authority."

A surprising number of managers display archetypal forms of bad behavior. According to a Florida State University survey last month, many employees believe their superiors embody one of the seven deadly sins:

Wrath — 26 percent said their boss has trouble managing anger;
Greed — 27 percent said their boss pursues undeserved rewards;
Sloth — 41 percent said their boss lazily pushes work onto others;
Pride — 31 percent said their boss craves undeserved admiration;
Lust — 33 percent said their boss needs to have his or her ego stroked every day;
Envy — 19 percent said their boss is jealous of others' successes; and
Gluttony — 23 percent said their boss hoards resources that could be useful to others at work.

"Employees with leaders who committed these 'sins' contributed less effort (40 percent less), felt overloaded as a result of forced responsibility for their supervisor's work (33 percent more), were less likely to make creative suggestions (66 percent less) and received fewer resources to effectively do their job (60 percent less) than those without this negative type of leadership," Christian Ponder, a research associate at Florida State's College of Business who worked on the survey, said.

While the most common faults seem to be obvious, it can be surprisingly difficult to recognize bad managerial qualities in oneself. Cultivating a sense of discernment to better spot negative employee reactions is an important skill that can distinguish a good boss from a mediocre one.

"The most crucial test of a boss is self-awareness. The best bosses are in tune with how the little things they say and do impact people, and they are adept at adjusting to bolster both performance and dignity," Bob Sutton, a professor in Stanford University's department of management science and engineering, notes at AMEX OPEN Forum. "Several studies, including one by the College Board, suggest that the more incompetent a boss is, the more out of touch he or she is likely to be."

There are several signals in the workplace that can point to bad tendencies in a manager. BNET lists some of the common signs of a managerial problem, including:

Your team is underperforming. Bad management trickles down and eventually affects the rest of the organization, causing your workers' performance to deteriorate.
Your own boss is putting on the pressure. When a senior manager notices a subordinate manager is having trouble, he or she might start paying a lot more attention to that person. If your supervisor turns on the heat, it may be a sign that something is wrong with your management style.
Your allies start to drift away. When your work friends or supporters start distancing themselves from you, it's a strong signal that things are not going well for you at the company and others know it.
Your employees are miserable. A group of consistently unhappy employees usually means a bad manager is in their lives. Pay attention to how your workers are doing to get a clear gauge of your own performance.

While there's no single measure that can turn someone into a good boss, recognizing negative behaviors and working to mend them can be a crucial step in rebuilding employees' confidence in your abilities and providing a better work environment for your colleagues.

"Who you are shows up most clearly in the relationships you form with others, especially those for whom you're responsible," Harvard Business Review explains. "It's easy to get those crucial relationships wrong. Effective managers possess the self-awareness and self-management required to get them right."

This means that spotting when you're engaged in one of the "deadly sins" of bad management and paying close attention to your workers' needs, your own boss's expectations and the way others treat you within the company are necessary stages in becoming a better manager.

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Sexual Harassment in the Workplace - A Canadian Perspective

2011-02-07T07:14:00.000-08:00

Sexual harassment: A thing of the past. No longer a problem. Why worry about it? Took the course, heard the message, bought the T-shirt. In the States, multi-million dollar sexual harassment lawsuits hardly get notice anymore. A couple years ago, in five short paragraphs, in the less-than-prominent "Careers" section of the Vancouver Sun, here was a headline: "Dial Corp. Settles Sex Harassment Suit."

The article was so obscure and tiny, you'd think the soap-making corporation had merely received a slap on the wrist. In fact, the article noted that Dial paid $10 million dollars over allegations of sexual harassment.

Here in Canada, as most of us know, huge sexual harassment payouts don't happen. But on a per capita basis, Canada must have as many sexual harassment issues as the States, which means the issue of sexual harassment harms employee morale and retention, and an organization's bottom line. In Canada, as in the United States, sexual harassment is bad for business.

Is it difficult to imagine sexual harassment cases still taking place in Canadian workplaces in 2009? I continue to marvel at the fact that all kinds of sexual harassment cases continue to roll out on a daily basis. And I’m forced to admit that, since most people don't report sexual and other forms of harassment, it's much more prevalent than we imagine.

But is sexual harassment just about sex? In 1989, then-Chief Justice Brian Dixon of the Supreme Court of Canada, in a unanimous decision, said “sexual harassment in the workplace may be broadly defined asunwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that detrimentally affects the work environment or leads to adverse job-related consequences for the victims of the harassment. It is…an abuse of power… [that] attacks the dignity and self-respect of the victim both as an employee and as a human being." (emphasis added)

(Here is a training video for managers and supervisors to use in the workplace called: How do you define harassment, bullying and other inappropriate types of behaviour.)

Today, the italicized part of that decision serves to define sexual harassment in Canada. To prove sexual harassment, a person needs to show he or she endured unwelcome sexual attention and that it had detrimental or negative consequences. While the consequences can be the classic, “You show me some sexual attention and I'll let you keep your job,” they don't have to go that far.

Managers and supervisors can learn more about sexual harassment, and how to prevent it in the workplace, by downloading:

.mp3 audio file “Chapter Three – Harassment Headaches” of Stephen Hammond’s book Managing Human Rights at work: 101 practical tips to prevent human rights disasters
Paperback of Managing Human Rights at work: 101 practical tips to prevent human rights disasters
.pdf of Managing Human Rights at work: 101 practical tips to prevent human rights disasters

A person who endures provocative pictures on the wall, or sexual jokes told in the lunchroom is often a person being subjected to sexual harassment. This is often referred to as a tainted, poisoned or hostile work environment. Hence, sexual harassment isn’t just about sex

Since the courts have ruled that sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination, treating women negatively while treating men positively can constitute sexual harassment. In other words, if snide or rude comments are made to women but not to men, and they negatively impact the women's workplace comfort level, this is sexual harassment. The reverse is also true if men are the predominant targets.

My advice is to think of sexual harassment as more than the textbook case of a lecherous male boss. Non-sexual negative comments towards one particular gender, or a man harassing a man, or a woman harassing a woman all qualify. That said, it should come as no surprise that most sexual harassment still involves a man sexually harassing a woman. And you’d be surprised where sexual harassment can occur….such as even outside of work.

If an employee does something outside of work that has a negative impact back in the workplace, the employer may well find himself or herself dealing with a sexual harassment problem. Otherwise, imagine the loopholes, especially given today’s technology. Ed would just have to wait until after work to send lewd e-mails, faxes, and voice mail messages to his co-worker Tricia’s home. Or leave sexually explicit messages under her car’s windshield wipers.

Back at work, of course, Ed acts like a perfect gentleman. But if Tricia is disturbed by his actions, and we apply the definition of sexual harassment, what have we got? An employee receiving sexual attention she doesn't want, with negative consequences: a tainted work environment. Tricia is on edge all the workday wondering what Ed will pull next.

(Here is a link to a training video you can purchase and download called: Reducing discrimination of women at work.)

I investigated just such a case for a client. One night after their shift in the company parking lot, an employee asked a female colleague if she'd like a ride home. Having no reason to suspect anything except courtesy from a fellow worker, she accepted the ride. As soon as she noticed he was going in the wrong direction, she asked to be taken home or at least dropped off. He told her he just needed to pick up something from his apartment, then he'd take her home. As soon as he parked the car in his underground garage, she leapt out and escaped. She made her way back to the workplace, completely distraught.

Since she never made it to his apartment, we'll never know what his final motives were. The company hired me to investigate; in the meantime, the male employee was placed on an unpaid leave of absence. His union, protecting his interests, argued that since all of this had happened outside the workplace, it wasn’t a workplace harassment case.

The union stressed that the woman should have referred it to the police. But I knew the law said otherwise. I suggested termination of employment for the young man, because even if he’d been placed on a different shift from the woman who filed the complaint, I knew she’d never feel comfortable with the notion that she might cross paths with him again on work premises.

The company severed his employment, but stipulated that if he underwent counseling and was able to show he was no longer a threat to women in the firm, he could have his job back. He declined to pursue this option, his union's grievance was dropped, and his termination of employment was upheld.

Most sexual harassment cases off workplace property are not as severe, and do not end up with a person being fired. In my experience, most involve booze, parties or an infatuation. As comedian Phyllis Diller has said, "What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day." Perhaps we should encourage employees to take that to heart. When companies hire me to train employees about sexual harassment issues, they often ask me to dwell a little on booze and company outings, thanks to unfortunate incidents in their past.

Not that employees shouldn’t socialize after hours. When problems do occur, most off-premises conflicts do not involve sexual harassment. Personality conflicts or other problems that don't fit the definition of sexual harassment do not have to be settled with a harassment policy or procedure. You might have a problem on your hands, but it won't be sexual harassment

Infatuations are particularly tricky to identify and deal with. As often as not, the person needs counseling of some kind. The role of a supervisor is simply to let the spurned employee know he needs to keep his feelings in check, while ensuring that the object of his desires feels completely comfortable bringing any problem to your attention. You can minimize the chances of off-premises issues becoming a bigger problem by letting employees know even their actions off the worksite can become a workplace concern.

Here are some training resources that Managers and Supervisors can use in the workplace relating to Sexual harassment:

Video: Dealing effectively with sexual harassment in an industrial or male-dominated environment
Video: Sexual harassment and the court’s ever-expanding interpretations
Video: Reducing discrimination of women at work
.mp3 audio file “Chapter Three – Harassment Headaches” of Stephen Hammond’s book Managing Human Rights at work: 101 practical tips to prevent human rights disasters
Paperback of Managing Human Rights at work: 101 practical tips to prevent human rights disasters
.pdf of Managing Human Rights at work: 101 practical tips to prevent human rights disasters

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TURKEY - Workplace Bullying Lawsuits Expected To Skyrocket

2011-02-01T11:21:00.000-08:00

The passing of a law offering expanded protection against workplace harassment is expected to create an increase in the already growing number of bullying-related lawsuits in Turkey.

For the first time, employers are obligated to protect all workers from psychological abuse under the revised Article 417 of the Debts Law that Parliament passed last week.

Previously, the law focused specifically on protecting both female and male workers from sexual abuse in the workplace.

Lawsuits related to workplace bullying, also known as “mobbing,” have already increased in Turkey due to the growing level of societal awareness on the topic. With the new law, however, the number of legal cases is expected to skyrocket.

Workplace bullying is most frequently seen in the finance, education, health and communications sectors, as well as in the military, according to Çağlar Çabuk, the founder of the Workplace Bullying Training and Support Center. She said the entire private sector has been waiting for such a law to be instituted, though further measures are still necessary.

The biggest problem in bullying-related lawsuits is proving that systematic harassment took place, Çabuk said. “There are witnesses, but nobody wants to take the stand.”

She suggested the system implemented in Germany as a solution to this issue. “In Germany, a witness [to workplace harassment] cannot be fired from work for a year,” she said. “Don’t you have the urge to help someone who is being beaten up in the street? It is the same thing. Someone is suffering before you, but you do nothing.”

If companies want to fight against workplace bullying, they should set up ethics boards, Çabuk said.

“Even small- and medium-size enterprises, which have less than 250 workers, should set up ethics boards,” she said. “In a company, we can defend our rights by sticking to an ethics law. That will be our guide. We should include mobbing in ethics, too.”

Çabuk additionally called for the disciplines of law, psychology, psychiatry, criminology, human-resources management and business science to be applied to solving the problem of workplace bullying.

Women affected more

Sixty percent of the 135 people who have sought the support of Çabuk’s Workplace Bullying Training and Support Center over the past year are women. According to psychiatrist Derya Deniz, women are more open to support and have an easier time expressing their feelings. “Men hide it; they don’t want others to say, ‘He couldn’t cope,’” she said.

The most frequent problems involved in mobbing cases examined by the center were lambasting, belittling and gossiping about the victim, as well as a general disapproval of the individual’s work. Some victims receiving support from the center decided to take their cases to court, while others were satisfied with receiving psychological support or having their stories listened to. In addition, some cases that initially seemed to be incidents of workplace bullying were ultimately determined not to be so, while some people who explained how they had been treated eventually even turned out to be the bullies themselves.

The aim of filing lawsuits is to discourage perpetrators, according to lawyer Metin İriz, who has given legal support in bullying cases to some 20 people. Before workplace bullying was defined under the law, such cases were generally filed as lawsuits for damage, libel suits and harassment cases.

One of his İriz’s clients is a vocational high school teacher in Istanbul identified only as F.İ. who has filed a lawsuit alleging cruelty by the headmaster and deputy headmasters of the school. The Bakırköy High Criminal Court accepted the indictment two weeks ago, something that could set an example for future cases. The first trial is scheduled for March.

F.İ. claims that because she is a widow, neither the headmaster nor the deputies wanted her at the school. She said they spread gossip about her with the help of other teachers and did everything they could to keep her away from the school. During the process, F.İ. had two heart attacks. When she came to İriz for legal help, the center immediately obtained a report from the psychiatry department at Istanbul University’s School of Medicine indicating that she was suffering from “major depression” and “post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Following this, İriz consulted with a criminal jurist. If F.İ. wins her case, he said, the accused could be punished with eight to 15 years in prison on charges of cruelty toward a member of the public.

More protection to come

Under the new law passed by Parliament, psychological abuse in the workplace is described as including verbal insults, belittling, leaving a person alone on purpose, excluding an employee from company activities and assigning a worker either too little or too much work. The real purpose of any of these systematic acts of bullying and intimidation is to wear a worker down until he or she quits the job. Such behavior, however, is different than job-related tension, stress or momentary outbursts.

In addition, a draft law on “The Board for Equality and Fighting against Discrimination” that gives a detailed description of harassment is pending at the Prime Ministry. If passed, it is expected to serve as a good reference to support jurists in bullying cases.

Workplace bullying is also currently being discussed in a sub-commission of the Parliamentary Commission on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. The commission, which has consulted expert views, is expected to release a report in late February.

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SURVEY - Bullying Rampant in the US, 35 per cent of Americans are bullied at work

2011-01-31T10:27:00.000-08:00

The majority of bullying is same-gender harassment

Thirty-five per cent of Americans report experiencing workplace bullying firsthand, according to a 2010 survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) in Bellingham, Wash. An additional 15 per cent of survey respondents report witnessing it.

The survey defined bullying as "repeated, health harming abusive conduct committed by bosses and co-workers." The institute also issued another single-question survey in order to make the direct comparison to the 2007 survey of this nature. In this second survey, workplace bullying was defined as "repeated mistreatment: sabotage by others that prevented work from getting done, verbal abuse, threatening conduct, intimidation and humiliation." Thirty-seven per cent of Americans reported experiencing workplace bullying in the 2007 survey.

Of the two 2010 surveys, the first survey had 4,210 respondents across America and the one single-item survey had 2,092 respondents.

The majority of bullying (68 per cent) is same-gender harassment. The survey found women bullies target women in 80 per cent of cases. This harassment is mostly legal according to anti-discrimination laws and workplace policies in the United States, said the WBI. Bullying is four times more prevalent than illegal harassment, the institute found in its first workplace bullying survey in 2007.

The survey also found that 62 per cent of bullies are men and 58 per cent of targets are women.

The Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) wrote the survey and commissioned Zogby International to collect data for this representative study of all adult Americans on the topic of workplace bullying.

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Workplace Bullying Runs Rampant

UPDATE - IS THIS THE WORLDS MOST EXTREME SEXUAL HARASSMENT WORKPLACE? NAVY SEX RING RULED UNACCEPTABLE

2011-01-27T07:24:00.000-08:00

"The (defence) command structure down has zero tolerance for such unacceptable behaviour."

Sex shame of HMAS Success sinks navy reputation

Ship of shame ... HMAS Success

A JUDICIAL inquiry into the navy's ship of sex shame HMAS Success uncovered a "tribal" culture of bullying, sex, drug and alcohol abuse and high-level incompetence.

The Gillard Government has refused to release the damning report by retired judge Roger Gyles QC that has so far cost taxpayers more than $4 million.

The 400-page HMAS Success Commission of Inquiry report was delivered to defence boss Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston earlier this month and passed to Defence Minister Stephen Smith on Sunday.

Mr Gyles, who is being paid $7700 a day to conduct the inquiry, was given an extra six months to produce part two of his report dealing with wider issues and recommendations.

It is understood the first part is highly critical of the navy's high command and how the allegations of sexual ledgers, bullying, drunkenness and sexual misconduct on the navy's largest ship were dealt with by senior officers.

Those allegations included public sex acts in Asian bars, intimidation, drunken attacks on private property and sexual misconduct between senior male officers and junior female officers. Both Mr Smith and ACM Houston yesterday expressed grave concerns about the contents of the report.

Mr Smith said it raised "very concerning" matters of discipline and "so-called tribal culture".

"[The report] doesn't make good reading, either about the suggestions of individual conduct or the suggestions of discipline," Mr Smith said.

"The report goes to not just individual conduct, on and off the ships, but also goes to matters of discipline, goes to matters of authority."

Mr Smith said humans weren't perfect but that bad behaviour should not become institutional.

He refused to release the Gyles Report on the grounds of due process.

Hinting at the seriousness of the findings, ACM Houston said it would take "some time" to analyse the report and to decide what to do about it.

ACM Houston will brief a Senate Committee into the HMAS Success matter when Parliament resumes.

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UK - Health Worker Bullied by NHS for asking colleagues to consider abortion's impact gets her job back

2011-01-26T22:43:00.000-08:00

A health worker who faced the sack after giving an NHS colleague a booklet about the potential dangers of abortion has been allowed to return to work.

Margaret Forrester, 39, claimed to have been ‘bullied’ and ‘treated like a criminal’ for expressing her religious views, but said yesterday that she has now been offered a better job at the same NHS trust.

Miss Forrester, claims she was suspended in November last year after she handed the £4 pro-life booklet called Forsaken – published by a charity – to her colleague. It detailed the physical and psychological trauma experienced by five women from Taunton, Somerset, who terminated their pregnancies.

She said she offered it to a family planning worker during a private conversation because she felt the NHS did not give enough information about the potential risks of abortion.

The mental health worker, who has been employed by the NHS for six years, said there was no sign her colleague, with whom she had discussed abortion, was offended by the booklet or by their conversation.

'Treated like a criminal': Margaret Forrester says she has now been offered a better job by the NHS

But a few days later her manager told her she was being sent home on ‘special leave with full pay’. She was ordered not to see any patients and to stay away from all NHS sites while the trust investigated.

Later, she was told she had not been suspended and could return to work, but claimed she was not allowed to do her normal job. Instead she was put on other duties, which she found ‘bullying and offensive’, adding: ‘I felt physically sickened by their bullying.’

She was eventually signed off on sick leave and has not been back to the health centre since.

Miss Forrester, who worked at the Central and North West London Mental Health Trust, in Camden, attended an internal disciplinary hearing last month where she was accused of ‘distributing materials some people may find offensive’.

Last night a spokesman for the trust said Miss Forrester had been warned not to distribute the ‘offensive’ material or anything similar again, but confirmed she had been offered a new role within the trust.

Offensive? Margaret Forrester said she offered the booklet - Forsaken - to a family planning worker during a private conversation because she felt the NHS did not give enough information about the potential risks of abortion

Miss Forrester said: ‘My employers have not given me any warnings of any kind. They have offered me a new, better role with a wider scope. If at any point they do send me a warning, I will challenge it in court.

‘It was incredible that I was suspended in the first place, just because I expressed a personal opinion. I should be able to express my opinion privately without fear and act freely in good conscience. Today is a victory for freedom of speech. I want to thank all of those who have prayed for me and supported me.’

Andrea Minichiello Williams, a barrister who runs the Christian Legal Centre which supported Miss Forrester, said: ‘The level of intolerance in the public sphere, demonstrated increasingly in public sector employment, is deeply worrying. ‘We hope that today’s decision by the NHS will help to reverse the tide of intolerance. This is a victory for freedom of conscience and freedom of speech.’

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ADVICE FOR 2011 - Don’t Take Shit From Hyenas in the Workplace

2011-01-19T23:12:00.000-08:00

How to become wise to office bullying

Watch your back or you may be the victim of a Workplace Hyena looking for a kill! This is the warning given by Dr Susan Steinman in her book, Don’t take shit from hyenas in the workplace. Steinman should know: she has spent 16 years studying Workplace Hyenas – bullies who use underhand and malevolent tactics to destroy rivals to gain money and power.

In the famous The Lion King film, various animals are archetypes for certain human characteristics.

The hyena is depicted as treacherous, cunning and two-faced. Similarly, Steinman uses the hyena as an archetype for the bully.

When one meets Steinman in person, she is cheerful, optimistic and down to earth, and one wonders why she involves herself in the murky world of dirty office politics.

“At first, it was a process of discovery through my research, but when I saw the dreadful impact of bullying, I had to become involved,” she explains.

Steinman has two doctorates, is founder of the Workplace Dignity Institute, and is currently director of the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Johannesburg.

She is considered a leading expert on the subject of violence and bullying in the workplace, and assists victims all over the world. She was awarded an Ashoka fellowship in 2002 for her pioneering work in research, raising awareness and the development of programmes to tackle these issues.

We caught up with Steinman shortly before she jetted off to Cape Town, Amsterdam and then Saudi Arabia to address audiences about how to become Hyena-wise.

Her clever use of the hyena metaphor, which she finds is universally recognised, is her way of injecting lightness into a rather dark subject.

Humour, she believes, can be therapeutic and diminishes the power of the bully in the eyes of the victim.

So how does one identify a Workplace Hyena?

“They operate in overt and covert ways,” says Steinman. “Some scream, shout, throw tantrums and deliberately humiliate employees. Sometimes they resort to passive aggression, ignoring and isolating a victim, or use sarcasm and innuendo at the victim’s expense.”

Steinman describes e-mail as a terrible tool in the hands of a Workplace Hyena, who will copy an entire audience to belittle an employee. Other more covert methods are labelling, gossiping, half truths and conspiracies.

She says bullying must not be confused with normal conflict or strict discipline. Bullying is about 80% top down, is persistent and prolonged over a period of time. There is an imbalance in power. Its intention is to harm and degrade an individual.

Sometimes a subordinate will work to undermine a superior. “An example is of a personal assistant who knew exactly what her manager’s movements were, but would say that she had no idea where he was – implying he was incompetent. But Hyenas always operate in a clan, and she was under its protection,” says Steinman.

At the top of the clan are the Royal Hyenas – the Makhula Hyena and the Squeeza. They are supported by Power Hyenas (the Laughing, Quiet, Halo and Mampara Hyenas). Also in the clan are Competitive and Impimpi Hyenas (Den Creeper and Shit-Stirrer Hyenas).

Many organisations encourage a “kill or be killed” mentality. “These are Hyena Positive Enterprises, and a prime example of this was Enron where the Hyenas became untouchable,” says Steinman.

The Clan is headed by the Makula Hyena (Zulu for “great one”), usually employed in a key position. Steinman says former British prime minister Gordon Brown has allegedly been identified by his own staff as a bully; as well as Henry Kissinger.

Driven by power, the Makhula Hyena prefers to manipulate people. Being a clever strategist, the Makhula will use other Hyenas to ‘finish off’ a victim.

Every Workplace Hyena tries to get closer to the Squeeza, the protégé of the Makula. “It is almost pathetic to see a person squirm at the feet of the favourite, who may be of a lower rank than those trying to get into its good books.

“They often resemble the Makhula in many ways and keep ‘the boss’ informed at all times.

“The Squeeza can destroy careers because of its alliance with the Makula,” says Steinman.

Next in rank are Power Hyenas, who can be extrovert, dynamic and expressive. They can appear charming, intelligent and sometimes sympathetic. These traits can be very appealing to an uninformed non-Hyena. But Power Hyenas only support clan members. They are two-faced and do not like competent, dynamic non-Hyenas, and they never share their limelight.

The Quiet Hyenas are very dangerous, says Steinman. “They enjoy gaining power by intimidation and gathering intelligence for the Clan. This hyena is normally introverted, but an air of danger lurks around them.”

Even more treacherous, although lower ranking, are the Competitive Hyenas. They are ambitious, unethical and have a relentless drive to win at all costs, with an eye on displacing their superiors – even within the Clan.

When a Hyena decides to hunt, it does a risk assessment. It will only hunt someone who is vulnerable at work or in their personal life.

Steinman describes this tactic in the following case (names have been changed):

Rita, a bright and competent employee, was on her way up the corporate ladder. She worked for James, who realised her potential and was developing her into a managerial position.

Anna, another staff member, became extremely jealous of this relationship, as it threatened her career aspirations.

Rita’s general popularity was another thorn in Anna’s side. She started spreading rumours that James and Rita were having an affair, despite Rita being completely devoted to her fiancé. When Rita fell pregnant, Anna exploited the situation by insinuating that James was the father.

Rita was vulnerable, unwed and pregnant – easy prey for Anna, who used Rita’s circumstances to launch a “Hyena Attack”.

Rita went through one of the worst periods in her life. Though she survived, she has never forgotten the trauma of being attacked by a Workplace Hyena.

And then there is the Mampara Hyena. The African word mampara, meaning an “incompetent or foolish person”, ideally describes these Hyenas who resort to excessive bullying tactics and blatant lies to assert their dominance. More often than not, they get away with incompetence because the Clan protects them.

One of the more bizarre tactics Steinman has witnessed was the threat of witchcraft by a Workplace Hyena in the public sector, which resulted in high levels of absenteeism.

Impimpi is an African word for an “informer”.

The Impimpi Hyenas are exactly that – the low-ranking informers and intelligence gatherers such as the Shit-Stirrer Hyena. They thrive on gossip. These deceitful hyenas appear to side with everyone and anyone. But they feel safe in the Hyena Clan, and that is exactly where their loyalties lie.

Steinman does, however, warn against stigmatising the bully, as she believes everyone has the potential to bully. “Power and money are great tests of character. Look at some of our politicians who were once humble and idealistic, but became swollen headed and self-serving when elevated by politics. Anyone can fall under the spell of money and power and become Hyenas.”

She says certain events trigger increased Hyena behaviour. She calls them “work quakes”, for example retrenchments, mergers, changes in management and restructuring.

“Some organisations engage in serial restructuring or, to coin a word, ‘destructuring’.

“We even use violent words like ‘can’, ‘kill’ and ‘purge’. But it is an illusion that this is an effective solution.

“There seems to be a loss of creative thinking about how to improve business. Constant restructuring creates insecurity and can kill the soul of the business and its employees,” says Steinman.

“The recession has definitely triggered an upsurge in workplace bullying in both the public and private sectors.”

But surely, Hyena tactics are merely part and parcel of normal corporate politics?

Steinman does not accept this. “The trail of angst left by Workplace Hyenas has a detrimental effect on organisations. It makes employees unproductive, increases absenteeism and chases away real talent.

“It has been estimated that people who are being bullied lose 4.5 hours of productivity per week over a year (this includes the witnesses) in surveys done in the US and UK.

“It is highly counterproductive and can do reputational damage,” she adds.

Bullying is likely to seriously impact on the emotional and physical well-being of employees. Steinman says people who consult her compare being bullied to rape and physical abuse.

“There is a deep sense of hurt and betrayal. There is also a sense of shame at being bullied, that they are somehow to blame. This is exactly what the bully wants the victim to feel, so abuse continues to thrive.”

The impact can be so severe on victims that many suffer depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, migraines, ulcers, exhaustion, panic attacks
and illness. Some even have suicidal thoughts.

Research conducted by the European Union in 2000 found that many people still had symptoms of post-traumatic stress five years after being bullied.

People often label the victim a loser or deserving of their fate. But anyone can be a victim, even the most successful, popular and highly competent, if one is seen as a threat to a Hyena.

“No one deserves this, even if the person is perhaps irritating, neurotic or seen as a nerd,” says Steinman. “This is a human rights issue.

“Everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect in the workplace.”

She believes that bullying has to be confronted openly and transparently. “One needs to hold up a mirror to the bully. Sometimes that person may listen because no one likes being labelled a bully. There is a name for a bully – a Hyena. It is shameful. That is why awareness programmes can successfully reduce the frequency of bullying.”

Steinman believes policies are effective deterrents for Workplace Hyenas. But a policy is only as good as the paper it is written on.

Top management must commit to and support these policies and implement them vigorously to sustain a Hyena-free corporate culture.

“A golden rule is that the ego of the most senior employee is not worth the dignity of the person lowest in the hierarchy,” she says. “Management must keep relationships in an organisation healthy in order to encourage productivity and success. We need to create a more people-centred economy, where it is the norm to treat people with dignity and respect.”

Don’t take shit from hyenas in the workplace is available online from www.thepeoplebottomline.com.

WORKPLACE SURVEY - 28% Quit their job over bad management, bad bosses

2010-12-21T06:35:00.007-08:00

Getting away: One in ten workers have taken up a new career to get away from bad management

Fed-up with your boss? You're not alone as 28% quit their job over bad management

Workers are quitting their jobs and even switching chosen careers because they’re fed-up with their boss.

A survey found 28 per cent of workers have moved work in an attempt to find someone who can motivate them more.

More than one in ten have taken up a completely new career in their search, while one in 20 has decided to set up their own business to get away from bad management.

Asked what they thought were the qualities of a good manager, the top credentials were:

Approachability (83 per cent),
Good communicator (82 per cent),
Supportive (81 per cent),
Good leader (80 per cent),
Someone who respects their staff as individuals (76 per cent)

The report, compiled for bank First Direct also showed bad behaviour in the workplace is putting a strain on British business.

When working under a bad boss, employees report a loss of motivation (47 per cent) and productivity (28 per cent), with one in five (18 per cent) taking 'sickies' as an avoidance tactic.

Paul Say, First Direct's Head of Marketing, said: 'When it comes to fostering British creativity at work, it seems many managers are holding back the true potential of their staff.

'More than three quarters of workers (77 per cent) think their boss does not encourage new ideas or allow self-expression.

'The results make for bleak reading and given the current economic climate, so much untapped potential is a serious issue.

'But valuing workers as individuals and embracing their creativity can make all the difference - which is why we have launched a new search to find and reward the best bosses in Britain.'

The findings are featured in the Colourful Lives Report by the Future Foundation, commissioned by first direct to mark its 21st birthday.

source

COURSE - Sydney University - Psychopaths in the Workplace - 2011

2010-12-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

PSYCHOPATHS IN THE WORKPLACE

The majority of psychopaths are not serial killers or rapists; they’re colleagues, bosses and employees found in workplaces throughout Australia. We’ll examine what a psychopath is, their personality style, behaviours, interpersonal approach and thought processes. You’ll learn how they infiltrate companies undetected and the strategies they use to manipulate those around them to achieve power and promotion. The four different types of workplace psychopath will be explored, and we’ll also look at what companies and individuals can do to minimise damage caused by the psychopath. (Warning: this course will include material that may confront some students.)

Course Content

Psychopath Characteristics
The four types of workplace psychopath – organisational psychopath; corporate criminal psychopath; violent criminal psychopath; and occupational psychopath
Tactics and Strategies used by each workplace psychopath sub-type
Workplace Psychopath – Good For Business?
Victims of the Workplace Psychopath – Protecting yourself and your employees
Profiling the Workplace Psychopath
A Case of Mistaken Identity

IF INTERESTED, ADD YOURSELF TO THE WAITING LIST

Link to Sydney University's Centre for Continuing Education

Australian Workplace - Canberra Hospital's Maternity Unit Bullying Cover Up?

2010-12-08T15:16:00.000-08:00

Gallagher 'covering-up' maternity unit report

Pressure is mounting on the ACT Government to release the findings of an inquiry into bullying allegations at Canberra Hospital's maternity unit.

Earlier this year the ACT Government ordered two external reviews into the hospital's obstetrics and gynaecology units after allegations of workplace bullying were made.

The Government appointed a workplace relations expert to investigate the bullying claims.

The investigation was conducted under the Public Interest Disclosure Act - a law designed to protect whistleblowers by keeping information confidential.

Health Minister Katy Gallagher says confidentiality clauses in the legislation prevent her from reading the report or it being publicly released.

But the Opposition is pushing for the report's recommendations to be released in the Legislative Assembly.

Opposition health spokesman Jeremy Hanson says the information could be released without personal details being made public.

"I want to see the recommendations, I want to see the findings and unless we see that then we're going to have to consider further action," he said.

Mr Hanson says the Government is deliberately trying to cover-up the report.

"The minister has set this process up under the Public Interest Disclosure Act to avoid scrutiny," he said.

"We were very concerned about this when it occurred in February. We said then that what we needed was an open inquiry because in the end of the day the minister's going to make sure that this never sees the light of day, and it has come to fruition."

The ACT Greens says releasing details of the inquiry could jeopardise investigations in the future.

"What Mr Hanson is suggesting could potentially expose people, could threaten their confidentiality - either he doesn't understand the process or he's using it for his own political ends," said Greens MLA Amanda Bresnan.

Ms Bresnan says releasing any detail could lead to a loss of faith in the public interest disclosure process.

"With public interest disclosure, people have come forward on the understanding everything would be protected and while we might say, 'it's only a few details', Canberra's a small place, this is a small unit, and any information could actually potentially identify the people involved," she said.

"It would really seriously undermine the whole public interest disclosure process."

Chief Minister Jon Stanhope says the inquiry will be followed up.

"I can give an absolute assurance that any of the findings will be taken absolutely seriously and if there were recommendations or implications they will be taken seriously and there's no reason for people not to believe that," he said.

The Health Services Union says there is a broader problem with the way bullying claims are handled.

"It just seems to be endemic and also the process is so lacking in transparency and information," said union spokeswoman Bev Turello.

ACT Health says it has written to the people involved in the inquiry.

But the Ms Turello says in the union's experience, staff are often kept in the dark.

"They need to know if action has been taken, if appropriate action has been taken, if they're going to be safe in their workplaces."

Royal College of Obstetricians ACT chair Dr Andrew Foote says it has been nearly 12 months since the bullying allegations were made public and nothing has changed.

"I've spoken to a number of people at the hospital and there is a real dread, and fear and sense of helplessness," he said.

"It sends the message, what's the point in complaining about bullying because nothing will get done."

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JETSTAR WHISTLEBLOWER SACKED - Pilots union issue threat after Jetstar whistleblower Joe Eakins sacked

2010-11-27T08:06:00.000-08:00

Jetstar pilot Joe Eakins has been fired by the airline

UPDATE 4:17pm: JETSTAR will be challeged over claims its fired a whistleblower who criticised the budget airline for "diminishing safety standards", the pilot's union says.

First Officer Joe Eakins, 31, criticised cost-cutting at Jetstar and the plan to hire air crews based in Singapore "on wages well below their Australian-based colleagues" and what effect this would have on passenger safety.

Eakins has been sacked for breaching company policy of speaking publicly about the airline in an article published last month.

"I am shocked and saddened they have chosen to react this way," he told the Herald Sun.

"I've been a good employee and I'm shocked any company would sack an employee for raising their concerns about safety and industrial issues, especially in the airline industry."

His said his treatment by the company did not "bode well for any other pilot with safety concerns".

"I believe the concerns I voiced were reasonable and legitimate," Mr Eakins said on Friday.

"I was acting within my rights as a union representative who advanced views of the association.

"I think Jetstar's actions were unwarranted and unjustified."

The airline disagrees, saying his claims are are “untrue”.

"The employee chose to publicly make incorrect accusations on multiple and separate occasions against Jetstar with the effect of misleading the travelling public," the airline said in a statement.

The Australian and International Pilots Association had said earlier this week it was prepared to take the case to the High Court and did not ruled out pursuing industrial action.

Association president Barry Jackson described Eakins as a whistleblower and hero to the Australian aviation community.

"Joe's bravery in blowing the whistle on some of these practices has been rewarded by an unfair dismissal," Captain Jackson said.

"The association will be taking Joe's case to Fair Work Australia, claiming unfair dismissal and making an adverse-action claim under untested Fair Work laws.

"The association is calling on all federal parliamentarians to carefully consider the implications of this shocking case."

Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway confirmed the first officer had been sacked "after a standard and lengthy process" for bringing the company into disrepute and said there were many "internal measures" for raising safety concerns.

"The Australian aviation sector is at a crossroads. Not only are the dreams of the youngsters who look skyward at risk, but the institutions that created our reputation for safety through well trained experienced pilots is under threat, which is bad news for all Australians."

source

NEWS - Will Sexual Harrassment Ever End? UK Sales manager 'put female colleague over his knee and spanked her'

2010-11-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

A sales manager chased a female colleague around the office, put her across his knee and spanked her as well as encouraging other women to grab his genitals.

Peter Smith also sat female staff on his knee and looked at sex toys and blow up dolls on the internet, an employment tribunal was told.

Mr Smith and some of his colleagues are accused of bullying and and harassing former sales executive Angelina Ashby who worked for a marine supplies firm.

Sexual harassment: Angelina Ashby says she suffered at the hands of boss Pete Smith from marine supplies firm Cathelco

Miss Ashby, 40, told the Sheffield tribunal she was ostracised by staff for two years who teased her, talked about her in derogatory way, sent emails about and excluded her from office banter.

She also claimed they drew insulting cartoons about her weight which drove her to taking anti-depressants.

Miss Ashby, from Chesterfield, started working for the firm in June 2003 as a sales executive for Cathelco.

She said problems began in September 2006 when Mr Smith became her sales manager.

She said: 'I was subjected to a continuous course of mistreatment.

'A few days after my formal grievance was submitted Laura Holland, a sales administrator was chased round the office by Pete Smith, who then proceeded to put her over his knee and spank her.'

Her complaint was investigated by bosses but she resigned in October 2008. Miss Ashby said: 'Peter Smith would often make me feel uncomfortable.

'On one occasion he took his time to view sex toys, such as blow up dolls on the internet.

'He was more than aware I could see his screen as I sat directly behind and seemed to take his time viewing the website.'

Miss Ashby added: 'Pete Smith also used to sit female staff on his knee and stroke their hair and he would stand behind their chairs to do the same. I found it disconcerting and uncomfortable.'

She claimed Mr Smith also 'successfully encouraged' female staff to feel his genitals.

She is claiming constructive dismissal, sexual discrimination and pay discrimination against the firm, which supplies products to the marine industry to prevent metal corrosion and algae sticking to vessels.

The firm denies the allegations.

The tribunal was halted because one of the tribunal panel knew a witness. It will start again before a new panel next year.

source

HR PRACTICE - A good risk management culture – an antidote for bullies

2010-10-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

Bullying is considered to be any type of offensive or intimidating behaviour. It is an abuse of power with the intention to humiliate, undermine, injure or denigrate the other person. Whether it occurs in the playground or at the workplace, bullying can have a huge impact on the individuals concerned. While it can have tragic consequences on individuals, bullying can permanently damage businesses.

For an employee that has been exposed to bullying the impact can be devastating as the employee can suffer both social and mental health problems. Organisations also suffer hugely from bullying. Most will suffer from an increase in staff absenteeism, a decline in employees’ morale, a drop in productivity and an increase in staff turnover. Businesses might also incur additional costs associated with legal and workers’ compensation as well as management time addressing cases of workplace bullying. In addition, businesses will also suffer from having to incur further costs of retraining and it will eventually become harder for them to attract talent. Finally, organisations can incur fines under breaches of occupational health and safety laws.

Stephen Bonnici, HR Manager for Mizzi Organization stated: “Bullying can be costly to businesses. Some of the risks for organisations are losing talented and skilful employees, a reduction in productivity as well as incurring risks and costs associated with legal proceedings which might also affect the company’s reputation.”

Joe Gerada, CEO of FHRD said that he was called in by companies on a number of occasions to deal with such issues as managers would often either not have the training or the time to mediate in the situation. Such mediation is part and parcel of a risk management culture and in most situations the respective companies avoided some very embarrassing situations.

Hence, bullying is a huge financial risk to businesses. It can be considered to be part of a poor risk culture. Former Insurance Australia Group (IAG) chief risk officer Tony Coleman states: “It’s a culture where bosses tend not to want the hear bad news or the culture is to cover bad news up or a shoot-the-messenger type of culture.”

Hence, a poor risk culture dominates in organisations where bullying is ignored. If ignored long enough, the entire organisation is placed at risk, as it faces preventable trauma or litigation. According to a 2007 survey carried out by Utica, New York based market research firm Zogby International, 62 per cent of employers ignore the problem of bullying. Unfortunately, it is very much the case that when organisations ignore bullying they can also ignore other danger signals such as high turnover. Stephen M. Paskoff, a workplace consultant to global companies such as Coca-Cola and Nike, said: “Employers tend to ignore bullying particularly if it is someone who is a great performer.”

Furthermore, Paskoff argues that “even if the bully is a strong performer, the problem is that the behaviour loses clients and costs the company business. Or, in a health care setting, it can cost a life.”

Paskoff also commented on how organisations ignore behaviours such as bullying that are not clearly illegal.

Unfortunately, bullying in the workplace is very often subtle or hidden. Either way it does not mean that bullying does not exist. It is up to the employer to take the initiative and be proactive by developing the right culture and systems whereby it is able to identify whether bullying exists or whether it has the potential to exist within the organisation. Bonnici mentioned the systems that Mizzi Organisation has put in place to prevent and stop bullying from occurring within the business:

“We carry out performance appraisals, one-to-one meetings with employees, open discussions; we have appointed employee representatives to act as a medium to report on acts of bullying on behalf of the employees. We also have policies and procedures in place that clearly state that such behaviour is not tolerated. “

Joe Gerada CEO of FHRD said organisations need to ensure that they develop a good risk management culture that helps to identify and spot cases of bullying in the workplace. This includes creating an environment where intimidation is not tolerated. This needs to be formalized through the core values and employment guidelines, which help to minimize, if not eradicate bullying. Businesses need to have systems and structures in place that allow them to spot bullying happening and do something about it and make the management staff aware that it is being monitored. Employers need to make sure that they watch out for certain danger signals which can suggest that bullying is taking place such as complaints about stress and depression, high turnover, lots of sick leave, and absenteeism. It is also crucially important that a culture of trust and respect dominate within the organisation.

Businesses today cannot afford to turn a blind eye to bullying in the workplace. This is because demoralised workers will vote with their feet and bullying will probably cost thousands of euros in increased absenteeism, staff turnover as well as decreased productivity. Hence, bullying needs to be managed by identifying and solving the problem rather than by denying and ignoring it. Managing bullying hence becomes part of developing a good risk culture within the organisation.

source

Sacked oboist was 'bullied' by conductor, tribunal hears‎

2010-10-13T22:51:00.005-07:00

World-famous conductor 'bullied oboe player who asked him to stop singing in 16-year victimisation campaign'

In the artistic world of music, harmony between conductor and orchestra is paramount.

But in one loud clash, two musicians have apparently been engaged in a feud which has lasted 16 years. Yesterday, details emerged of the discord between Carlo Rizzi, the world-renowned Italian conductor of the Welsh National Opera, and principal oboe player Murray Johnston.

Claims: Murray Johnston leaving the employment tribunal in Cardiff, left, and in action as principal oboist with the Wales National Orchestra

The 61-year-old claimed he was ‘victimised, bullied, harassed and intimidated’ by Mr Rizzi after once ordering him to ‘stop singing’. The veteran oboist has been sacked after playing with the WNO for 34 years, performing in more than 50 recordings.

He is claiming wrongful dismissal, saying he was ‘persistently abused’ by Mr Rizzi, 50, who became musical director of the Cardiff-based company in 1992.

Their relationship ‘never recovered’ after a rehearsal two years later when Mr Johnston told Mr Rizzi to ‘stop singing’, an employment tribunal heard. The context of the order to the conductor, who had previously been at the Royal Opera Company, Covent Garden, was not explained.

But Nick Smith, for the oboist, said: ‘Rizzi’s behaviour was extreme on that day. He stormed off, locked himself in a room and kicked furniture about.’

Mr Johnston told the hearing he suffered bullying and intimidation by Mr Rizzi during his work with the 55-strong orchestra over the following years. The principal oboist had to re-audition for his job even though he had been doing it for decades.

Tribunal: Italian conductor Carlo Rizzi, who is accused of bullying Mr Jonston

Mr Johnston, of Radyr, Cardiff, told the hearing he passed his audition, but alleges he was subjected to an ‘attack’ by Mr Rizzi in front of the orchestra during a rehearsal.

‘He stopped the rehearsal probably 20 or 30 times to criticise my playing. I felt victimised and bullied,’ said the musician.

Mr Smith added that many orchestra members wrote letters to complain about Mr Rizzi’s behaviour.

‘The language of these letters was very, very strong,’ he said.

‘They are from numerous members of the union, some anonymous, some not.

‘They accuse Mr Rizzi of intimidation and harassment, of even making one woman ill.’

The tribunal was told that Musicians’ Union members wrote letters to opera managers ‘expressing anger at the treatment of Mr Johnston’. A motion was also passed accusing Mr Rizzi of bullying.

WNO managing director Peter Bellingham denied Mr Johnston was unfairly dismissed.

He told the hearing that Mr Rizzi felt the oboist’s standards had dropped to such a level, he was ‘holding the entire orchestra back’.

Mr Rizzi, who has since left the WNO, will not be giving evidence. The hearing in Cardiff continues.

source

Sacked oboist was 'bullied' by conductor, tribunal hears

Welsh National Opera musician claims unfair dismissal after 1994 incident triggered years of 'persistent abuse'

EXCLUSIVE: The Irony, Australian WorkCover Authority That Helps Investigate Bullying & Harassment in the Workplace, has been covering up its own bully

2010-09-22T01:08:00.000-07:00

Intimidation and fear: welcome to agency charged with stamping out bullying

THE state government agency responsible for investigating workplace bullying is harbouring a serious bullying problem in its own ranks which it has been attempting to keep quiet.

There was a ''pattern'' of bullying within WorkCover's Licensing Solutions Unit, the agency's money-spinning department that approves workers to drive forklifts, operate cranes and work on construction sites, an investigation last year found. But the report has been buried and the agency has attempted to cover up the problem, telling its minister it revealed no bullying.

The inquiry, conducted by one of WorkCover's own safety inspectors, Petar Ankucic, found bullying had been ''occurring for a prolonged period of time and that various factors, including selective supervision, multiple chains of command, workload equity, continuous negative feedback and a somewhat autocratic management style … have contributed to unintended bullying''.

But when the Finance Minister, Michael Daley, was asked about the bullying, he twice denied it existed. In May he told Parliament: ''The investigation revealed no evidence of bullying as defined in the WorkCover publication, Preventing and Dealing with Workplace Bullying.''

A senior manager told workers in April there was no bullying in the department. But the report noted staff cried when interviewed. They also showed a ''mixture of intense dislike, fear and almost hatred'' towards two of their bosses.

In a follow-up review, the atmosphere improved, but Mr Ankucic said the ''seemingly calm work environment … is still very fragile and … is best described as a good work in progress".

A Herald investigation has discovered the agency is still plagued by mistrust and fear. A number of current and former employees claimed bullying was rife within the Gosford-based organisation.

Licensing officer Paul Newton, fed up with the ''spying'' and ''controlling'', resigned last week. He said colleagues had been reduced to tears and likened the workplace culture to East Germany. ''It's like the Stasi,'' he said.

''I just think it's terrible that an organisation that exists to protect the emotional and physical well-being of people in the workplace fails to protect the emotional well-being of its staff.''

An online survey of 816 WorkCover staff in April, seen by theHerald, showed problems extended beyond the licensing unit.

Almost 60 per cent were not convinced people avoided politics and back-stabbing and only one-third believed management was almost always ''honest and ethical''. Just 20 per cent thought it was nearly always an emotionally and psychologically healthy place to work.

''Licensing is the bullying hot spot, but not the only place that has problems,'' a worker said.

"WorkCover's just so demoralised.''

A spokeswoman for WorkCover said it had firm internal policies to prevent and address bullying. ''All reports of bullying are taken seriously and investigated on the evidence,'' she said.

''A culture survey conducted in 2010 … found that 66 per cent of staff found WorkCover 'a great place to work'.''

In the five years to mid-2007 there were more than 4000 workers compensation claims for harassment or bullying in NSW, costing $80 million.

Queries about dealing with workplace bullying are now among the top five reasons people contact WorkCover's information centre.

'I hate working at WorkCover.'

Paul Newton, who resigned from the agency this month, said managers used bullying and favouritism, sometimes subtly, as a means of ''controlling staff''. Colleagues were encouraged to spy on each other and collect information to be used against workmates. "It's like orchestrated management bullying," he said.

'My hair started falling out.'

A former long-term staff member, granted workers compensation for work-related depression arising from bullying, said she was so stressed her hair fell out in clumps. One manager turned an allegation of bullying against an individual into a ''bitch fest''. The woman said she was accused of bullying without explanation. "During this time I was a mess.''

source

Probe ordered into WorkCover bullying claim

The NSW government has ordered an independent inquiry into allegations of widespread bullying in a division of WorkCover.

Finance Minister Michael Daley announced the inquiry - to be conducted by someone outside the government - following revelations in today's Herald that a "pattern" of bullying existed within WorkCover's Licensing Solutions Unit.

WorkCover is the state government agency responsible for providing "safe, secure and productive workplaces", which includes "preventing and dealing with workplace bullying", its website says.

The Licensing Solutions Unit approves workers to drive forklifts, operate cranes and work on construction sites.

Mr Daley said he had been previously told by WorkCover that the agency was addressing the problem but wanted to be sure the alleged harassment was stopped.

He has asked the director general of the Department of Premier and Cabinet to commission an independent review of the allegations.

"Due to WorkCover's role as the regulator of workplace safety, including bullying matters, I have requested that this review be conducted by somebody independent from WorkCover and the government," Mr Daley said in a statement.

"Bullying and intimidation in any workplace is unacceptable."

The Greens said a premier's department probe does not go far enough and a parliamentary inquiry should be held.

"If WorkCover can't stop bullying in its own ranks, how can it be up to doing its job in other workplaces in NSW?" Greens MP and the party's industrial relations spokesman, David Shoebridge, said.

"Neither WorkCover, nor this government, can be trusted with getting to the bottom of this.

"We must have an open and accountable parliamentary enquiry into WorkCover's palpable failure to deal with bullying.

"It is not good enough to fob it off with another behind closed doors report on a report." source