Animals in the Cube Farm

“They say if you have nothing good to stay, keep your mouth shut.”

And recently I also learned that there are two kinds of criticism, one that is constructive; which help people to become a better person; and the other is one is destructive; which help people fall from place…My best friend even called it - - - character assassination.

Yes, this is more popularly known as bullying…clear enough?

Why am I writing this because I am sad of my naivety of its existence. Why? Recently, I realized that “bullying” isn’t confined to childhood—it also happens in the workplace, where it becomes alarming because it is succumb to violence and emotional trauma. And many of the behavioral patterns resemble to school-yard battles of old, but the stakes—health, well-being and employment status—are much higher.

Rats. Darn. There is no teacher to monitor and to intervene, or to rescue the victim.

They say bullying is synonymous to:

Incivility. Verbal abuse. Psychological aggression. Mobbing. They are all different names for a relatively wide range of behaviors.

The search for the roots of this workplace violence has included a closer look at interactions once thought innocent. For example, the seemingly playful teasing between colleagues may not be harmless give-and-take but may escalate into more serious aggression.

Bullying research in still a nascent field. Because the research is relatively new. They say it has to be “repeated, health-harming mistreatment of an employee by one or more persons, manifested in one or more ways: verbal abuse, threatening and intimidating conduct (verbal or nonverbal, nonphysical) that interferes with work and undermines legitimate business interests.”

A doctor on human behavior even adds that bullying is as much about what people don’t do; such as excluding people from meetings, withholding information or leaving them off an important e-mail. And what else do they do? It can be extremes; such as back-stabbing or story-blowing and the opposite is characterized by yelling, name-calling, making threatening statements, micromanaging or undermining somebody’s reputation. And what is worst is that bullies intent isn’t necessary. So bullies need no motivation or hidden agenda, they just want to “bully” or push people around. And the expert says too that sometimes bullies don’t realize they are bullies, but the behavior is already harmful.

A study in British showed that even if the victims don’t recognize that they are being bullied, their mental health is still affected which asserts to a negative behavior that people feel that they are unable to defend against to or to take control.

* from internet “In a 1998 study in the Journal of Emotional Abuse (Vol. 1, No. 1, pages 85–115), Loraleigh Keashly, PhD, a Canadian psychologist who now teaches at Wayne State University in Detroit, identified seven key components of bullying, or as she defined it, emotional abuse. They include behaviors that are:
• Verbal and nonverbal (excluding physical contact).
• Repetitive or patterned.
• Unwelcome and unsolicited by the target.
• Violations of a standard of appropriate conduct toward others.
• Harmful or cause psychological or physical injury to the target.
• Intended to harm or controllable by the actor.
• Exploiting of the actor’s position of power over the target. * from internet

“A real concern
Researchers do agree that because bullying is so common, many people don’t realize its harmful effects. Yelling and verbal abuse may be written off as tough—if unpleasant—management. Micromanaging may appear to others as an employee failing to meet expectations. And ostracism may seem like personality conflict.
Targets of bullying may even start to believe they are somehow at fault, says Dr. Namie. Bystanders often dismiss the behavior or don’t want—or dare—to get involved. In workplaces that allow bullying behavior to go on, management is unlikely to intervene. In many cases, employees are told to work it out for themselves, adds Namie.
Targets often may be encouraged to think that the bullying is all “in your head,” but the stakes are very real. University of Bergen psychologist Ståle Einarsen, PhD, is a leading bullying researcher who has intervened with severely bullied employees so disabled they are unable to work. While repairing these victims’ mental health is difficult, but possible, he says, it’s even more difficult getting them to go back to work—even at a different job. In his work as a victims’ advocate, Namie has even come across cases in which the victim commits suicide.
Even when the effects are not that extreme, researchers agree that bullying is harmful to the health and well-being of victims, organizations and society, likening it to sexual or racial harassment. Unlike these forms of harassment, however, general bullying is not prohibited by law in many places.” * from internet

And currently, the sad news is..we don’t just have legal loopholes in our country, there’s no awareness. So there’s no law that supports this matter. Actually, even the controversial and more popular workplace issue, “sexual harassment” is none the less not very well taken by our law-makers. So hear ye to the running senatorial-bles…here’s a law that’s one for the road!

So what can ‘we’ do?

The most effective intervention program requires focusing on the bully and the victim. The peer culture of these involved and their home environments (Garrity, et al, 1996). And successful anti-bullying program is built around a multi-system approach - one that sends a clear and consistent message to bullies and victims alike that bullies are not in charge and that everyone has a right to be emotionally safe and comfortable in one’s workplace.

And we, as an employee, should bring about this awareness; because this part of the culture of work needs to change. There are increasing evidence that it’s bad for the health, that certain factors breed it (like from envy or due to trauma); and that it can be deterred. So we need to be able to recognize this personality in order to focus resources to stop the behavior.

Here’s another tip. It’s out there happening, so be careful on which part of the employee-animal-like-system you are in…
predator or prey or in human language - - - bully or victim.