From the course: Handling Workplace Bullying

Bullying behaviors (scenario)

From the course: Handling Workplace Bullying

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Bullying behaviors (scenario)

- Let's understand what bullying looks like. Any bullying behavior you can possibly think of will fit into one of three behavioral categories: aggressiveness, humiliation, or manipulation. Aggressive behavior is the easiest to spot. Examples include yelling, angry outbursts, sending ugly emails, getting into someone's personal space, or making offensive remarks. It's any communication we can all see and point to and say, that was aggressive. Let's take a look at the second category, humiliation. Spreading rumors or gossip, isolating someone, discussing mistakes in public, and cc'ing others on negative emails are all examples. This is a little harder to spot, so let's take a look at it in action. - Okay, so we've covered business development. I gave you updates on the CRM integration. You all have your quotas for the week. And speaking of quotas, Lucy, let's talk about yours. Lucy, you need to know that your performance is subpar. Over the last few weeks, your entire team has been carrying you. You're not liftin' your weight. So, what's the holdup? I mean, are you lazy, or are you just not smart enough to use a phone? Seriously, I thought we could get your help on this. - Not only does he point out her performance issues in front of others, but he's full of insults. And yes, that scenario is based on a true story. The last category is manipulation, and it's often focused on work tasks and workload. It includes giving someone so much work they couldn't possibly complete it by the deadline, changing their work schedule with no explanation, taking important tasks away, or punitive punishment. It's the most difficult to spot because it's passive-aggressive. Let's take a look. - So, everyone here seems to have a steady, 30 to 40 accounts at a time, and I'm up to 86. - You've been here longest. You're just going to have to deal with it. - Oh, well, could I work overtime? - (laughs) No way, you know we're on budget cuts (laughs). - This target tried to address her workload with her boss, and the boss refused to listen. Let's take a look at the rest of this story. - Your performance has gone downhill, and I want to talk about it. - I'm doing my best. I talked to you last week about having 86 accounts, and I needed support. - If you can't keep up with your workload, we're going to have to demote you from team lead. - Really? - Yeah. - I'll do my best. - Alright. - The boss manipulated the target's work by giving her double everyone else's and is now threatening consequences for poor performance. This situation might be hard to identify as bullying because, if called out, the boss could claim that she needed this employee to do the extra work. The reality is many businesses find bullying difficult to identify because of this last type of behavior. Check out the exercise files for more examples.

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