Workplace Bullying....Who will Bell the Cat?2

Workplace Bullying...Who will Bell the Cat?

Barbara:

It is Sunday afternoon. Barbara has just finished dinner and settled down to read the Sunday Gleaner when she hears the dreaded sound of a text coming in on her phone. She dares not ignore it because the last time she did, she was upbraided for not carrying out its instructions, notwithstanding it was sent at 10:35 p.m..

Sure enough, as has become the practice, it is her boss advising her of an emergency meeting that would be held at 7:00 a.m. the following morning and requiring her to bring a detailed report which she is expected to present on at the meeting.

Barbara begins to get palpitations. Her entire evening is ruined because she now has to spend it putting together a report and preparing for a presentation she had no idea of a moment before.

Stephanie:

Stephanie is hiring for her company. She schedules the interviews which involves coordination of the diaries of several panelists including her boss, and several candidates. She develops and sets up for practical assessments.

She arranges for refreshment for the panelists, and she prepares folders for each panelist including interview rating sheets and instructions for grading the assessment.Stephanie’s boss arrives 45 minutes late with no valid explanation, then spends another half hour making calls meanwhile the other panelists whom she has summoned upon her boss’s arrival, wait in the interview room; and the candidates who are sitting on top of each other, wait in the ‘holding area’.

The interviews are over and before the panelists (all internal to the company) submit their completed interview assessment forms, which means before the scores are compiled, Stephanie’s boss announces which of the candidates is to be employed. Stephanie’s objections and reasonings fall on deaf ears, and she is given a direct order.

Angela:

Angela’s office phone rings. It is her boss. Angela is the HR Manager for her company. She is told that tomorrow morning a new staff member would be starting at the company and she is to accommodate them. Her questions are greeted with expletives and she is given a direct order to see to it that this person is employed.

Bernice:

Bernice has been at her company for 3 years. She has had excellent 6-month and annual performance appraisal scores over those years. Her most recent 6-month appraisal was excellent as usual, but her recent annual appraisal at the end of her third year was rated as unsatisfactory and this meant she would not earn a bonus.

Two (2) months before Bernice had spoken to her boss about some unfair and unethical practices she had observed. Her boss was extremely angry that Bernice brought these practices to light.

Jennifer:

Jennifer held the letter in her hands and stared at it with disbelief. She had received a warning letter. She was being told that she was insubordinate, uncooperative and undermining her boss’s authority. Jennifer has been at the company for over 8 years and reported to 2 other bosses prior to her current boss. She had never had such a complaint brought against her. In fact she had been promoted to her current position, which was the next senior position below her boss’s - having demonstrated her competence and leadership capabilities over her time with the company.

A couple months before, her current boss had instructed Jennifer to demote a direct report unjustifiably, to which she protested, and resisted. Subsequently Jennifer was given unreasonable tasks to do within unrealistic deadlines, and undermined and sidestepped by her boss. This memo was the ultimate in a series of verbal accusations and confrontations since that time.

A bully:

A blustering, browbeating person especially one who is habitually cruel, insulting, or threatening to others who are weaker, smaller, or in some way vulnerable

Bullying:

Seek to harm, intimidate, or coerce someone perceived as vulnerable.

Barbara, Stephanie, Angela, Bernice, and Jennifer, are all victims of bullying in the scenarios above. Their bosses are all bullys. These are all actual happenings. The names are fictional to protect identity, but the situations are real.

Share in the comments if you are aware of any such situations personally or happening to a family member or friend.

Together, let us expose this scourge and do our part to address it.