Men who are bullied often do the same: study

By Wallace Immen, Globe and Mail

Men who are victims of workplace bullying often resort to bullying others as a way of coping, a University of Windsor researcher concludes.

In a survey of 180 male workers in Saskatchewan who had been victims of bullying, 37 per cent indicated that they had bullied others with behaviours such as yelling, threatening or excluding co-workers from office activities, says Jacqueline Power, an assistant professor of management in the Odette School of Business.

“They’ve tried every coping mechanism you can think of and they’ve decided this is how to get along in their environment,” Prof. Power found.

Those who resort to bullying others are “suffering from self-doubt and exhaustion, while trying to survive in a hostile climate. They’re more stressed than anyone else,” she concluded.

The bullying men also reported high levels of cynicism, self-doubt, emotional exhaustion and recurring health issues, such as skin problems., Prof. Power reported at a recent conference on workplace bullying in Quebec City.