Bullies’ days are numbered
FOR many New Zealanders who have spent more than a decade in employment, it will come as no surprise that bullying has been a major blight in our workplaces.
It would be wrong to assume the bullies are always the employers. Instead they can be managers or supervisors, or even colleagues at the same level.
What can safely be surmised, though, is that bullying and other forms of harassment are the outward expression, and the consequence, of real or perceived imbalances of power. Most bullies engage in these destructive practices because it makes them feel better by putting others down.
Fortunately, the likely targets of bullying everywhere — whether they be employees, students, school pupils or those who are vulnerable in some way, such as patients or beneficiaries — are becoming wise to the bullies. People are starting to stand up to them, confident they have the backing of bosses, workmates and unions.
Bullying behaviours are not always overt or marked by physical or verbal aggression. Bullying can often be mental — a slow undermining of a colleague or employee, say, over many months. It can also be by exclusion, particularly in a workplace where a boss has allowed ‘‘A’’ and ‘‘B’’ teams to develop, in which the latter are often left out of discussions or invitations to meetings or social gatherings.
And it would be wrong to think bullying is mostly a matter of male against female or another male. The harassment can just as likely be female against another female or male.
It is also true that longstanding businesses may be slower to adapt to the ‘‘new ways’’ of doing things, particularly those workplaces where there may have been cultures which encouraged, or turned a blind eye, to ongoing teasing of employees and where such bad conduct was seen almost as a rite of passage.
Anecdotal evidence also suggests those organisations which promote from within rather than bringing in outsiders may well have more difficulty eradicating bullying.
Recent research revealing how endemic bullying of doctors is in New Zealand’s health sector is especially disquieting. That is because, on the face of it, one might expect those who choose a career of caring for others and alleviating their suffering to be above such spitefulness.
The British Medical Journal study reports that 38% of those who took part said they experienced at least one act of bullying weekly or daily, and 67.5% witnessed others being bullied.
Most of the victims — 69.9% — said they had not complained. The authors found bullying was more likely in the fields of emergency medicine, general practice and radiology.
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists’ executive director, Ian Powell, said the findings were greatly concerning. They were being discussed with senior health board managers, but while some hospitals were addressing the issue, ‘‘significant, systemic improvements in hospital and workforce resourcing are needed to bring about longterm change’’.
Bullying in the health sector has been recognised as an issue around the world. Doctors who were involved in the study said it was ‘‘like being trapped in an abusive relationship’’ and they had accepted bullying as part of their organisation’s culture.
This is the nub of the problem — the normalising of bad behaviour, and the acceptance it is ‘‘just the way it is’’ and cannot be changed.
It can be changed. It need not be ‘‘just the way it is’’. It is not normal.
Everyone in a workplace deserves to be treated professionally and with respect, and have their differences accepted. Anyone who teases or abuses or plays mental games must be called out for their antisocial and bad behaviour.
The change has to start at the top of an organisation, but also at the bottom. The payoff is in having a happy and loyal workforce, one in which people treat others as they wish to be treated themselves.