When does authority become harassment?
A pecking order exists in every organization because, from the CEO to the janitor, it is necessary to maintain productivity. But when does this hierarchy become abusive? Discipline gets learned early. Those who are familiar with the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes” by Bill Watterson may remember the 6-year-old boy asserting his intention to stay home from school – only to be forced to the bus stop by his mother. Call that authority, discipline, or even bullying, but it represents a child’s first encounter with obedience despite protest. When authority interferes rather than enhances effectiveness, question the methods used to attain order.
The vulnerable
If you do your job and you do it well, there should be no bullying. It is hard to know why a target gets chosen for harassment. However, some questions may need answering by the target. Does he or she avoid conflict even when there is bad behavior? Does past trauma immobilize him into passivity? Such issues necessitate self examination. Psychotherapy helps to uncover and clear up these issues.
Is bullying a fact of life?
In “Lord of the Flies,” William Golding portrays a fictional group of unsupervised boys abandoned on an island. An initial hierarchy descends into threats and eventual violence. Consider the animal world. In the wild, a wolf pack isolates a caribou from the herd to kill and devour. On a farm, llamas raised for yarn establish which llama is in charge. Those cases illustrate the hierarchy that exists because there is the need for food or reproductive prowess.
In the workplace, isolation of the target is common when authority extends to bullying. According to Robert Sapolsky, PhD, a neuroscientist and author, there are biological underpinnings for group conformity. This implies that colleagues who stand apart feel distress and get relief when they join the ganging up on a target. Those who watch harassment may hide from confronting it or even from pointing it out to protect themselves.
How do bullies think?
Challenge the bully at your own peril, because expecting a bully to change is futile. Recall Helen’s confrontation with Bill. It provoked him. His power to harass her came from his perceived position. Bullies regard the pleasant person as weak. Bullies can fall into two categories: Sadists who get pleasure from seeing others suffer, and opportunists. The latter focus only on their goals and disregard concerns expressed by others. Outside of the workplace, they may be reasonable. If workplace morale deteriorates along with productivity, the bully gets ousted. Otherwise, companies usually protect high performers at the expense of targets.
Dr. Ruth Cohen
Is bullying different in medicine?
It can happen in a training program. The ingredients for bullying exist, including imbalance of power. Often, there are no witnesses, and there can be lack of accountability because of changing authorities. Just as technology can help make harassment possible, it also enables the target to spot and document inappropriate communications by saving emails and texts. Whenever a need for advancement exists along with changing authority, bullying gets tolerated. Who wants to be derailed by reporting? Those in training have the goal of completing a program. If they report bullying, they fear antagonism and retribution, a personal expense that can deter advancement.
Remedies
Let truth and fairness be your guide. That is easy to say and hard to do, but there are helpful personal and legal resources.
Personal capability
Get busy; get better. That became Helen’s method of choice. She focused on her role and productivity, not on her hurt. Helen shunned victimhood. With the help of psychotherapy and by confiding in a mentor, she prevailed. What works is recalling challenges that were mastered and the qualities that made for success. Acquire skills, build a good reputation, be assertive, not defensive.
The group is powerful, and that means it is important to build alliances above and below in the organizational hierarchy; cultivate friendship with trustworthy people. Occasionally, there is unwarranted ganging up on a manager, bullying from below. It is more likely to happen to a newly appointed supervisor. A way to avert that is to communicate with staff throughout the institution and remain accessible.
Legal options
What are legal options to confront bullying? Of note, workplace bullying is not necessarily illegal. According to one employment attorney, “There is no law that prohibits uncivil behavior on the job.” However, under Title VII of the federal law enacted in 1964, there are protected characteristics such as race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces Title VII. In cases of assault or stalking, harassment is illegal and criminal.
Some employees report to Human Resources or seek out their company’s employee assistance program. As useful as those options may be, they are part of the company and potentially partial to the administration. There can be incentives to protect those with power against a complainant. For assistance, it is preferable to enlist an outside attorney and a therapist in the community.
Advocacy exists. The Workplace Bullying Institute maintains a website, holds workshops, promotes literature, and offers information. The National Employment Lawyers Association can provide referrals or recommendations that come from other legal sources. Cases rarely reach court because of the expense of a trial; rather, the parties reach a financial settlement. When there is cause, an employment attorney can best pursue justice for the worker.
Conclusion
Get busy; get better is the solution to bullying. Avoid victimhood. That means prepare: Update the resume, seek opportunities, and identify allies. Bullies get beaten; as Abraham Lincoln said, “You can fool some of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, 7 out of 10 bullied workers either resign or get fired. You should leave only when the leaving is better than the staying. Bullying brings out the worst in the workplace. Those who bully isolate the target. Coworkers often shun the target, fearing for their own position; they may even participate in the harassment. Psychiatrists need to remain sensitive to harassment in their own environment and for their patients. We have tools to address bullying in the workplace and a moral responsibility to combat it.
References
Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI)
National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA)
“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
BY BEN HINDELL, PSY.D.
Cyberbullying is willful, repeated harm inflicted with the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices. In some cases, a single message may be viewed by multiple people because the text and pictures are posted elsewhere.
Courtesy Dr. Hindell
Dr. Ben Hindell
Technology makes is possible to harass at any hour. The concept of willful harm is essential. Without interaction between sender and recipient, nuances are lost. Face to face might make a communication benign instead of malevolent or threatening. This has implications for the workplace, where colleagues increasingly communicate by email rather than discuss matters in person or by telephone.
Steps for survivors of cyberbullying
- Do not respond immediately to an inflammatory message, post, or email. Gather your thoughts and avoid responding in anger.
- Keep calm and rational, not emotional.
- Try to respond in person and work to avoid a conflict.
- Remember, your interpretation may differ from what was intended.
- Communicate openly and honestly and not defensively.
- Calmly indicate you were offended and you want the comments to stop.
- Move up the chain of command, if comments don’t cease.
- Save all messages and posts as evidence.
- Report the cyberbullying to your employer. Human resources may get involved.
- Detach from the cyberbully, if it continues. Block social media, cell phone messaging, and emails.
- Find support from friends, family, and a psychotherapist, if needed. As a last resort, it may become necessary to enlist an attorney.
- Take the high road; remain calm and professional at work. The bully may be seeking a reaction from the behavior. Prevent it.
All of the elements of workplace bullying apply to cyberbullying, but the latter can be more insidious. Psychiatrists and psychologists are able to support patients who deal with cyberbullying and help them cope successfully.
Dr. Cohen is in private practice and is a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical Center of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and psychiatric consultant at the Hospital for Special Surgery, also in New York. She made changes to the patient’s story to protect confidentiality.
Dr. Hindell is a psychologist with the Mental Health Service of Colorado College, Colorado Springs. He also practices psychotherapy in Denver. Dr. Hindell is the son of Dr. Cohen.