Workplace bullies are costly

By John Stancavage, psycport.com

Dr. Gary Namie wants to get one thing straight: People who verbally abuse and otherwise intimidate others at work are not doing it for the good of the company.

“A workplace bully will say he or she needs to use fear to motivate people,” Namie said. “But bullying has nothing to do with work issues. It’s about self-aggrandizement. It’s about the abuser’s insecurities. It’s about control and power.”

Namie is director of the Bellingham, Wash.-based Workplace Bullying Institute. A social psychologist, Namie has taught college courses on workplace bullying, written several books on the subject and is frequently interviewed in the national media.

His topic must have hit a nerve in Tulsa, as his appearance Thursday at an Oklahoma Business Ethics Consortium luncheon drew 140 people — about twice the group’s typical attendance.

“I’m trying to raise awareness about workplace bullying,” Namie said. “The U.S. is the last industrial nation to address it. Most companies are in denial.”

Successful managers can be tough, he said, but still treat employees with dignity and respect.

The bully, on the other hand, actually hurts the bottom line. Constant intimidation causes costly health issues

for the targets, lowers morale and productivity, and causes high turnover.

“A bully focuses on your best people because they are a threat,” he said. “So, they leave and go do great work for someone else.”

According to Namie, there are four types of bullies:

Screaming Mimis: These are yellers in the Bobby Knight mold. They not only abuse individuals, they deter others from trying to intercede because of the fear of getting an earful of their own.

Constant critic: The technique here is frequent dressing-downs behind closed doors. Pretty soon, Namie said, the target begins to believe he or she really is incompetent.

Two-headed snake: This boss may be your lunch or golf buddy, but is doing everything possible behind your back to ruin you.

Gatekeeper: This insecure leader withholds funding and resources so that the otherwise talented target is guaranteed to fail.

Along with a host of illnesses, bullying victims can develop post-traumatic stress disorder, which usually is thought of as a battle wound, Namie said. “The office can be a war zone.”

The solution to bullying is for companies to write specific policies against it, he said, in the same way that they have created documents addressing sexual and racial harassment. Then they need to enforce them.

“A lot of times, the reasons companies keep bullies are irrational,” Namie explained. “The bully will spend a lot of time sucking up to top managers. The owners will say, ‘We like Bob.’

“But, bullies are too expensive to keep. And, it’s the right thing to do.”