The politics of workplace bullying

When a popular Facebook commentator recently posted that bullies aren’t only found on school grounds but also in workplaces, the thousands of comments in response from different people sharing their experiences, reflected that workplace bullying is quite prevalent. Go na le balotsana ba ba tshwenyang bana ba ba batho mo ditirong.

Workplace bullying is often swept under the carpet because most people don’t want to upset the apple cart or burn bridges.

But workplace bullying is serious, with an average 70 percent of people globally, from different researches, admitting to having been a victim of some form of bullying at some point in their career. Workplace bullying is defined as a pattern of mistreatment that can be non-verbal, verbal, psychological and humiliating or discriminatory. Acts of bullying in the workplace range from being belittled, demeaned, discredited, intimidated, overworked, spied on, threatened, under-valued or sabotaged. It can also be personal: from mocking and ridiculing, invasion of privacy, and or spreading malicious gossip.

Some of this behaviour is usually nonsensical because some people lack self-awareness and aren’t conscious of their behaviour. However, in other cases it is carried out intentionally to demoralise, frustrate, hurt, or upset the target. Bullying can lead to hostility and resentment; and negatively affects employees’ wellbeing and productivity, and in even the success of the organisation.

I usually sympathise with people who express workplace displeasures and stresses because I have experienced my fair share of workplace bullying, from dealing with ageism, sexism, malice and jealousy, to being made to feel insignificant for being less educated or experienced, to even being discredited, overworked or sabotaged. I have also had unsavoury experiences where boundaries were crossed and my emails and social media were intercepted or hacked and details of my private life were pried on and turned into gossip fodder, to being an outright victim of witch-hunts. But I always focus on the bigger picture because I won’t allow anyone to come between me and my dreams and pay cheque.

Look, in any organisation, there is bound to be competitiveness, envy, jealousy, rivalry, as well as disagreements and misunderstandings; the usual workplace politics, basically.

It happens everywhere. Some of these common issues are bland, boring and uninspiring; dikgangnyana tsa teng fa gongwe o tla fitlhela e ka re tsa tswana medium ya ko dikgaolong. But it comes with the territory.

It however becomes a different ball game when abuse and bullying is institutionalised to the extent that prepatators use psychological manipulation to defend or justify their toxic behaviour.

The systematic challenge is that some forms of workplace bullying are not necessarily illegal. One can lay a formal complaint if they are bullied on the grounds of age, gender, religion or sexual orientation. But one can’t necessarily lodge a complaint gore semang-mang ga go ema sentle, kana o go setse morago e ka re senyama. It would be categorised as trivial talk. However, any aggrieved worker is well within their rights to lodge a complaint or take legal action, if they can prove that the bullying has had a negative emotional, psychological or physical impact on them.

In most cases , bullies are often bored unaccomplished deadwoods, and as much as it can be tempting to give these irritating cowards hot slaps or a punch in the face, it’s better to ignore them because apart from the fact that ‘violence is best left in the mind,’ silence is also a form of communication. Besides, some people are just the way they are, and they will never change. Batho ba bangwe ba a seleka e ka re ditsitsiri, ba ka go diela go akanya.