How I survived workplace bullying by Sherry Benson-Podolchuk at TEDxWinnipeg

What happens when you’re on the bullying end or an organization meant to protect people? Who do you go to for help?



Sherry Benson-Podolchuk is a retired Canadian Police RCMP officer of 20 years. She has a degree in conflict resolution studies, which alongside of her personal experience with bullying in the workplace, has helped her to learn how to empower people to speak up and be educated on how to do so in the most effective way. She aims to find the link between leadership, self-esteem, bullying and the importance of attitude to instill hope.

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

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

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

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.’

source

The Daily WarZone - Strategies to Survive the Workplace Warfare of Toxic Cliques

The antagonism starts at high school. Which peer group were you in? Were you a stoner, a geek, a jock, a mean girl or one of the elite, the in-crowd cool set that suavely operated above the rules?

Whichever clique you joined, in the office you may still be haunted by past alliances.

"When reacting to toxic cliques," says executive coach Stefanie Smith, "old feelings from long-ago school days may creep back into our psyches. We're only human.

"But you're a professional now," Smith adds. "So be careful to judge your best response based on present circumstances not past unresolved memories."

Gang warfare
Take sides in a divided workplace and you will be pitted against a gang of colleagues, Smith notes. So, if you are toying with taking a stand, ensure the commitment will be worth it down the track or forget it.

"Respond analytically, not emotionally," Smith says, adding that you should nevertheless resist the urge to play the referee unless your job is curbing conflict.

Divide and confide
If you are already entangled in a corporate civil war, step back and hear both sides, Smith says. Sort through the options and issues. If you have a strong view on the dispute or can inject valuable insight, then go ahead, express yourself, she says.

Again, however, talk to combatants separately - avoid getting marooned in the middle. "The last thing you want is to be caught in the crossfire. Instead, talk to each side from behind the battle lines or stay away altogether," Smith says.

Align with Switzerland
Author and consultant Barry Maher champions a similarly dispassionate tack that he calls the modified Switzerland approach. According to Maher, you want to be seen as ultra-neutral - above getting sucked into the maelstrom.

"It's not that you think you're better than the combatants; it's just that you're focused on other things, like reaching your goals and getting the work done and seeing the good in people, instead of trying to tear them down because they're in the enemy camp," Maher says.

Spread the love
Be cordial with everyone, Maher suggests. Remember that anything you say about anyone may well get back to that person and draw you into the quagmire.

The Switzerland approach sets you up as a potential impartial arbitrator if down the line you decide that you can help resolve the feud, Maher says, echoing Smith. He adds that if the conflict turns so sour that it interferes with doing or enjoying your job, it might be time to move to a firm where the air is less toxic.

The art of war
Partisanship apparently brings only one benefit. "You'll have someone to eat lunch with every day," writes employment analyst Dave Saunders in an online post.

Despite the guaranteed social gain, Saunders says aligning with a tribe is "a very dangerous political move" that may well backfire. Subsequent gossip, name-calling and isolation can be devastating, Saunders writes.

Avoiding alliances is "the single best thing you can do to ensure your rise in your company", he adds before going on to warn of what happens when an enemy gets promoted above you. Imagine the awkwardness.

If, despite the consequences of involvement, dodging conflict strikes you as the easy way out - cowardly even - note that the darling of corporate strategists and military tacticians, Sun Tzu, endorses avoidance.

According to The Art of War author, "winning without fighting" is a key principle for managing every confrontation.

Pacifism carries the day.

source

THE BAGGAGE OF BULLYING

Workplace bullying can trigger post-traumatic stress disorder similar to that suffered by people who have been in combat situations, according to psychologist Dr Noreen Tehrani.

"Both groups suffer nightmares, are jumpy and seem fuelled by too much adrenalin."

Melbourne psychologist Christopher Shen says in extreme bullying cases victims experience trauma that requires professional support and advice.

If you are being bullied, phone WorkSafe Victoria on 1800 136 089 or WorkCover NSW on 136 089 or visit worksafe.vic.gov.au or workcover.nsw.gov.au.

Australian Workplace; Mobbing Facts - Mobbing syndrome, phases of Mobbing, Degrees of Mobbing

What is ‘mobbing’?

Initiated most often by a person in a position of power or influence, mobbing has been described as “a desperate urge to crush and eliminate the target…. As the campaign proceeds, a steadily larger range of hostile ploys and communications comes to be seen as legitimate.”

This behavior pattern has been recognized in Europe since the 1980s but is not well recognized
in the United States. Davenport et al brought the phenomenon and its consequences to the U.S. public’s attention in 1999 with the publication of Mobbing: emotional abuse in the American
workplace. Otherwise, little professional literature on workplace mobbing has been produced in the United States.

A PubMed search on the term “mobbing” limited to 1982 through October 2008 returned 95 listings, excluding those dealing purely with ethology, but only 1 report from the United States. Studies from outside the United States indicate that mobbing is relatively common (Box).

Mobbing, bullying, and harassment. The term “workplace mobbing” was coined by Leymann, an occupational psychologist who investigated the psychology of workers who had suffered severe trauma. He observed that some of the most severe reactions were among workers who had
been the target of “an impassioned collective campaign by coworkers to exclude, punish, or humiliate” them.

Many researchers use the term mobbing to describe a negative work environment created by several individuals working together. 1-3 However, some researchers such as Namie et al use the term workplace bullying to describe the creation of a hostile work environment by either a single
individual—usually a boss—or a number of individuals.

Mobbing syndrome: 10 factors

1. Assaults on dignity, integrity, credibility, and competence
2. Negative, humiliating, intimidating, abusive, malevolent, and controlling communication
3. Committed directly or indirectly in subtle or obvious ways
4. Perpetrated by ≥1 staff members*
5. Occurring in a continual, multiple, and systematic fashion over time
6. Portraying the victim as being at fault
7. Engineered to discredit, confuse, intimidate, isolate, and force the person into submission
8. Committed with the intent to force the person out
9. Representing the removal as the victim’s choice
10. Unrecognized, misinterpreted, ignored,tolerated, encouraged, or even instigated by management

*Some researchers limit their definition of mobbing to acts committed by >1 person

Phases of mobbing

• Conflict, often characterized by a ‘critical incident’
• Aggressive acts, such as those in Table 1, page 47
• Management involvement
• Branding as difficult or mentally ill
• Expulsion or resignation from the workplace

Degrees of mobbing

• First degree: Victim manages to resist, escapes at an early stage, or is fully rehabilitated in the original workplace or elsewhere
  
  
• Second degree: Victim cannot resist or escape immediately and suffers temporary or prolonged mental and/or physical disability and has difficulty reentering the workforce
  
  
• Third degree: Victim is unable to reenter the workforce and suffers serious, long-lasting mental or physical disability

Source: Davenport N, Schwartz RD, Elliott GP. Mobbing: emotional abuse in the American workplace. Ames, IA: Civil Society Publishing; 1999:39

Worplace Bullying Harassment and Mobbing - VIDEO: 5 Phases of the Mobbing Process

How does Mobbing happen? Gail Pursell Elliott, author, consultant and expert on this topic, explains the 5 phases of a mobbing process during a 2009 teleconference presentation. Share this information with human resources professionals, managers, and others in your organization. Contact Gail through her website, innovations-training.com

STUDY - Bullying & Organisational Politics in the workplace

Bullying and Organisational Politics in competitive and rapidly changing work environments

Denise Salin

Department of Management and Organisation,
Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration,
Helsinki, Finland

Published in International Journal of Management and Decision

Making, 4,1,35-46 2003

Abstract:

This paper argues that workplace bullying can in some cases be a form of organisational politics, that is, a deliberate, competitive strategy from the perspective of the individual perpetrator.

A cross-sectional study conducted among business professionals revealed that there was a correlation between a politicised and competitive climate and bullying.

This finding implies that globalisation, increased pressures for efficiency, and restructuring, which limits the number of management positions and thereby contributes to increased internal competition, may lead to more bullying.

The findings have important implications for management, since the possible political aspects of bullying must be taken into account in order to be able to undertake successful prevention and intervention measures.

Full Paper Published here