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DEFENCE: Fair, Inclusive and Bully-free!
Advice to Supervisors on
Bullying in the Workplace
Bullies – another leadership or management challenge.
CONTENTS
1. Occupational Health and Safety Issue.
2. Financial cost.
3. Role of the supervisor.
4. Workplace bullying prevention measures.
5. Checklist for a bully-free workplace.
6. Warning signs of bullying in the workplace.
7. Difference between Workplace Bullying and Harassment
8. Examples of Bullying
9. What can the supervisor do when bullying is identified?
10. Workplace bullying checklist for the complainant.
11. More detailed information on serial bully types and techniques.
12. Conclusion
Occupational Health and Safety Issue
Workplace bullying can be a health and safety issue. The impact of bullying can
cause stress, anxiety and psychiatric injury that can last for many years. It can also
infect the workplace and affect production and the achievement of workplace goals.
Under the Occupation Health and Safety Act (Commonwealth Employment) 1991,
employers have a „duty of care‟ obligation to provide a safe working environment and
this means psychologically safe as well as physically safe.
Financial Costs
Bullying also incurs a financial cost. In Australia, this has been conservatively
calculated to be between 6 and 36 billion dollars per year to business, depending on
the prevalence estimate. Large corporations with, for example, a thousand employees,
could expect to incur costs up to 3.6 million dollars annually.1 Imagine the estimated
cost to Defence where there tens of thousands of employees.
Beyond these costs, there are further costs to government and the community as the
impact of workplace bullying can flow-on into the wider community.
Clearly, the cost of prevention is marginal in comparison.
1
Sheehan, Michael, McCarthy, Paul, Barker, Michelle and Henderson, Monika, School of
Management, Griffith University, Queensland. “Assessing the impact of workplace bullying”, paper
presented at Building for the Future Convention, 2002, Australian Human Resources Institute,
Brisbane, 20-21 May 2002.
ROLE OF THE SUPERVISOR
(Adapted from Department of Defence, Supervisors‟ Handbook DRB5, February 1995.)
The role of the supervisor is to:
Plan the work
Organise and control the available resources and personnel so
that work will be completed on time.
Communicate so that all involved know what is happening and
what is likely to happen.
Ensure that sound personnel management practices are
followed.
In the military, we talk about situational leadership
wherein different needs take priority, depending on the
situation. Sometimes task needs will be paramount,
sometimes team needs and sometimes the needs of an
individual. But, essentially the duties of a commander
are the same as those of a manager. We talk in terms
of lead by example and we keep our people in the loop
through our orders groups or divisional meetings.
WORKPLACE BULLYING PREVENTION MEASURES
For further information on creating a bully-free workplace: www.workdoctor.com
Complainants of bullying may not report their concerns for a
number of reasons. They may:
fear retribution from the bully
lack of confidence in management or leadership to act.
not want to be seen as a whinger or as weak.
believe that it may damage their careers.
accept bullying as a normal part of the work culture.
Bullying is less likely to occur in a workplace where there are
sound personnel management practices, particularly open
communication and worker involvement in decision-making.
Defence Equity Organisation has already
developed a policy and an online training package
and PowerPoint presentation to assist in creating
awareness about Workplace Bullying.
Now it‟s up to you to ensure that the training occurs,
to provide information, to look for the warning signs
and to encourage reporting.
You could start by making sure that your
workplace is not conducive to a bully being able
to operate. If the following checklist describes
your workplace, it‟s probably bully-free but you
still need to watch out for the warning signs.
CHECKLIST FOR A BULLY-FREE WORKPLACE.
In the workplace where the following things occur, bullying would stand out as
something abnormal because the bully traits would conflict with the operating values
of the workplace.
Are your relevant Service or APS values displayed? YES/NO
Is regular Equity and Diversity Awareness Training conducted? YES/NO
Does the hierarchy demonstrate support for the principles of Equity and Diversity? YES/NO
Are regular staff meetings conducted? YES/NO
Are contributions from all personnel encouraged and sought? YES/NO
Are staff involved in the decision-making process? YES/NO
Are flexible work practices employed? YES/NO
Have steps been taken to ensure that no one is excluded or disadvantaged by their YES/NO
flexible working arrangements?
Are personnel trusted to do their jobs and confident to seek support and advice YES/NO
when needed?
Are personnel confident to speak out against social injustice and inequities? YES/NO
Is inappropriate behaviour addressed immediately it is witnessed? YES/NO
Are there few grievances but the few are dealt with quickly and fairly? YES/NO
Are personnel sometimes heard to laugh? YES/NO
Are you part of the workplace you supervise? YES/NO
Do you set a good example and maintain high standards of equity? YES/NO
Do you have and „open door‟ policy and do personnel come to you? YES/NO
Do you sometimes leave your office to talk to personnel? YES/NO
Do you listen? YES/NO
Do you know the names of your people and generally know their personal YES/NO
circumstances, their needs and their aspirations?
Do you inform, encourage and counsel staff about their work? YES/NO
Do you praise personnel when they do a good job? YES/NO
Do you help personnel to manage their careers and meet training and development YES/NO
requirements?
Are you aware of interactions occurring in the workplace and attend to problems YES/NO
in the first instance?
Do you sometimes laugh with staff? YES/NO
WARNING SIGNS OF WORKPLACE BULLYING
If there is a bully in your workplace, you may notice some changes such
as:
Production is down and task goals are not being achieved.
There is an increase in resignations or discharges and requests for
transfers.
Sick leave is up.
There is an increase in the number of grievances.
Charges and other disciplinary action have increased.
These are warning signs of bullying in the workplace.
These
You may have read this and wondered what all the fuss is
about because we‟ve had our values for some time now. You
may also be bemused because, to you, the above lists simply
reflect best business practice and good leadership principles.
You may be surprised to learn that not everyone has your
understanding and commitment.
For example, there are some areas in Defence where it is believed that the
quickest, most efficient way to get rid of an „unsuitable worker‟ is to drive him
or her out with techniques such as ostracising, humiliating and belittling.
This is bullying and it‟s not on.
It‟s also not effective. The figures indicate that, on average, it takes a
complainant 18 months to take action against bullying. If that action is
to leave the organisation, and that was the bullying objective, the
bullying may have worked – but it may have worked a lot faster if
counselling, training and appropriate supervision were used instead.
Assuming that all efforts have been made to guide the worker, if a leader or
manager makes a decision that a worker is not suitable for the job, it does
not follow that the worker is not suitable for any job. Einstein was dyslexic.
How would he have been rated if he had found himself in a policy writing
area rather than in an area more conducive to mathematical genius? And,
if he did find himself in the policy writing area, would the best thing have
been to get him out of Defence altogether?
The ineffectiveness of bullying is further highlighted
when those in the hierarchy find themselves held
responsible for neglecting their duty of care after the
complainant suffers psychological or psychiatric
injury.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WORKPLACE BULLYING AND
HARASSMENT
There is a good deal of overlap between Workplace bullying and
harassment. Harassment can even be part of a bullying scenario.
After all, not all incidents of harassment get reported. People
sometimes just brush it off if it‟s minor or they feel they can handle it.
But this becomes harder when it‟s repeated and other abuse is going
on as well.
Tim Field who has written books on bullying and is responsible for the
UK National Workplace Bullying Advice Line, has identified some
differences. Some of these are shown below but you can get more
information from www.successunlimited.co.uk.
Harassment Bullying
Tends to focus on the individual because of Anyone will do, especially if the bully feels
what they are eg. Gender, race etc. threatened in some way.
Harassment is usually linked to sex, race, These things play little part.
prejudice and discrimination etc.
The person being harassed can usually The person being bullied may not realise it for
identify it – particularly with the extent of weeks or months.
awareness training conducted in Defence.
Most people can recognise harassment. Few people recognise bullying.
Harassment will often reveal itself through Workplace bullying tends to fixate on trivial
the use of recognised offensive language. criticism and false allegations of under
performance. Swearing may be done in
private.
The harasser often perceives the complainant The complainant is seen as a threat that must
as vulnerable to harassment or a challenge. first be controlled and subjugated and, if that
doesn‟t work, eliminated.
Often harassment is for peer approval, Apart from initiations, tends to be secret,
bravado etc. behind closed doors and with no witnesses.
Harassment takes place both in and out of Bullying takes place largely at work.
work.
Harassment is often domination for Bullying is for control of threat (of exposure of
superiority. inadequacy.)
The harasser often lacks self discipline. The bully is driven by envy (of abilities) and
jealousy (of relationships).
EXAMPLES OF BULLYING
The following are actual examples of inappropriate behaviour. Some of these have
occurred in Defence. Not all the incidents are specifically bullying but they can be
part of a bullying scenario. Remember, bullying is a pattern of behaviour.
Giving a person an impossible task or a pointless task such as moving a
stack of boxes from point A to point B and then tasking that person to move
them back from point B to point A.
Giving a person a demeaning label to accompany a demeaning job. For
example insisting that a person will be referred to as „the blowfly‟ and will only
be used for cleaning jobs, in order to reinforce the notion that the person is
good for nothing else.
Giving a person a list of tasks to complete and, to emphasise that persons lack
of value, the last item on the list says “Buy a rope and hang yourself.”
“Performance counselling” in front of others, including subordinates of the
complainant. “Performance Counselling”, as well as being a legitimate
management tool, is a term used by bullies to describe the act of abusing a
person when that person make a mistake. This technique can be used to hide
the fact that the bully failed to give appropriate instructions in the first place.
Spreading rumours or gossip about someone in the workplace or breeching a
confidence about that person. Whether the information is true or false makes no
difference.
Taking credit for a subordinate‟s work. Sometimes this is not intentional
because credit is given because a wrong assumption was made but,
accepting the credit and not correcting the wrong assumption is still the
same deceit.
Making statements that are opposite to the real attitude and responsibilities of the
military and its leaders, and believing them. These include:
“If the military wanted you to have a family, they would have issued you with one!”
“Don’t think. You’re not paid to think!”
“Sounds like a personal problem, report to the chaplain.”
These statements give an impression of corporate bullying.
“See me at 8 o‟clock Monday morning!” says the supervisor on the way out the
door on Friday afternoon. With no further information, the timing of this can
effectively ruin a person‟s weekend.
Rostering a person onto a disproportionate number of duties or piquets and
preventing that person from taking meal and toilet breaks while
unreasonably citing operational factors as the reason.
Sending terse e-mails, particularly those that shout. Eg.,
‘GET INTO MY OFFICE NOW!!!!!!!!”
You might be amazed that people exist who practise such immature behaviour. They
do. Not everyone who has rank or position of power, has the knowledge, skill or
intelligence to exercise that power and bullying is used to hide their incompetence.
WHAT CAN THE SUPERVISOR DO WHEN BULLYING IS
IDENTIFIED?
If bullying behaviour is witnessed or reported, it should be addressed in the first
instance as any other form of inappropriate behaviour is managed. If it is a symptom
of learned bullying that has become an accepted leadership or management style in
the workplace, there is a training need beyond „Workplace Bullying Awareness‟
training.
If bullying is identified as an ongoing and insidious behaviour, other actions need to
be taken.
Ensure the complainant is supported. Even if the complaint is unfounded,
the fact that the complainant feels bullied suggest that a problem may still
exist for the complainant and support will be required.
Remember, a serial bully can be an expert at deception so, the fact that the
allegation is unsubstantiated by an investigation, does not mean that the
bullying did not occur. Nor indeed that it will stop. Not only the complainant,
but the respondent and the witness will need support, too and don‟t forget to
offer professional counselling support to all involved.
Carry out the investigation. Make sure that the person assigned to
investigate the allegation is not associated with the respondent or the
complainant and is not part of the immediate workplace. And make sure that
the investigator is informed about the nature of bullying.
You may need to reorganise the workplace to ensure that the respondent
and the complainant are not in the same chain-of-command while the
complaint is being investigated.
Ensure that neither the respondent nor the complainant are
disadvantaged or apparently punished by the reshuffle – innocent until found
guilty and all that.
Be alert to the fact that, after a short period of time of losing the complainant,
the bully will target another person, therefore, be vigilant.
WORKPLACE BULLYING CHECKLIST
FOR THE COMPLAINANT
The following checklist has been compiled by Helen O‟Connor with the assistance of
Catherine Habel, Director of SAEBOW (South Australian Employees Bullied Out of
Work), „Dealing with Workplace Bullying‟ by Helen O‟Connor,
www.Bulliesdownunder.com.
The checklist can be used by personnel who believe they might be being bullied and
should be made available to complainants to help them check what they intuitively
feel.
Would you describe yourself as outspoken on workplace issues? YES/NO
Are you being unfairly targeted for poor work performance? YES/NO
Would you agree that you are treated less favourably than others in your workplace? YES/NO
Are clients actively encouraged to lay complaints about your work? YES/NO
Has your work been undermined or criticised in front of others? YES/NO
Have you been provided with inadequate or inaccurate information about your work? YES/NO
Do you feel isolated from your colleagues in how you are treated at work? YES/NO
Have you been unfairly accused of doing or not doing something at work recently? YES/NO
Has someone deliberately lied to you about a matter relating to your work? YES/NO
Have you been humiliated in front of other staff? YES/NO
Have rumours about you been deliberately circulated in your workplace? YES/NO
Do you feel as if you are constantly in damage control mode at work? YES/NO
Do you feel fearful about what could happen to you at work? YES/NO
Have you used sick leave as one means of avoiding these problems at work? YES/NO
Is there a culture of harassment and bullying in your workplace? YES/NO
Are you aware of other staff members suffering from work related stress at your YES/NO
workplace?
Have you been deliberately embarrassed or humiliated in front of clients? YES/NO
Do you feel that what you say at work is not believed? YES/NO
Do you feel that you are being over-supervised or as if you are not trusted to do your YES/NO
work?
Do you believe that you are being deliberately bullied at work? YES/NO
Has there been a high staff turnover at your workplace? YES/NO
Do you feel that you are constantly struggling to keep up with changes to your work or YES/NO
increasing workloads?
Are you being allocated inappropriate tasks or have resources you‟ve previously had YES/NO
access to in performing your duties, been removed?
Are your complaints being ignored at work? YES/NO
Do you feel that you are deliberately being left out of decision-making sometimes? YES/NO
Is there a high level of conflict at your workplace? YES/NO
Do you feel that your judgement is constantly being questions? YES/NO
Is your work beginning to suffer because of your anxiety about being seen to be YES/NO
incompetent?
Do you feel extremely anxious about going to work? YES/NO
Are you beginning to doubt your own competence because of what others are doing YES/NO
and saying to you or about you?
Has a client make unsubstantiated allegations or complaints against you? YES/NO
Are your opinions and suggestions often trivialised or marginalised? YES/NO
Are your personal messages sometimes not passed on? YES/NO
Are your sleeping patterns disturbed by what is happening to you at work? Ie. Unable YES/NO
to fall asleep and/or waking constantly through the night.
Are the „goal posts‟ at work constantly changing and often without notification? YES/NO
Are you being pressured to do more, often with fewer resources? YES/NO
Are you often being allocated clients with high needs compared to those of your YES/NO
colleagues?
Have you used long service leave or other leave options as a means of relieving YES/NO
workplace problems?
Are decisions which impact on your duties and responsibilities made without your YES/NO
consultation?
Have you been threatened and/or abused by a client and received no support from YES/NO
management?
Has important information eg. Your worker‟s compensation claim, gone missing or not YES/NO
got beyond „the front desk‟?
Do you believe you are gaining an unfair reputation amongst your colleagues as a YES/NO
stirrer or a trouble maker because of your efforts to defend yourself or others in your
workplace?
Has important information regarding job/career prospects been concealed from you? YES/NO
Do you feel that some of your colleagues might be worried about being seen to be too YES/NO
closely associated with you?
If you answer YES to ten or more of the questions above, the chances are high that
there is bullying at your workplace.
If you answer YES to twenty or more of these questions, then there is certainly some
serious bullying going on at your workplace and you are probably being targeted.
If you answer YES to thirty or more of these questions, then you are quite likely to be
the target of a serial bully. You need help.
MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON SERIAL BULLY TYPES AND
TECHNIQUES
The link below will take you to the web site of the UK National Workplace Bullying
Advice Line. Here you will find a detailed description of the serial bully and four
primary types of serial bullies that have been identified and described by Tim Field:
The Attention Seeker, the Wannabe, the Guru and the Socialised Psychopath.
This site will also explain further, the strategies such bullies use to aid the bullying
and avoid detection.
www.successlimited.co.uk/bully/serial
CONCLUSION
As supervisors, managers and commanders, it is important to be aware of bullying
and be prepared to take the initiative to „nip it in the bud‟ when you do become aware.
It can take a long time of suffering abuse before complainants will do something
about it and that something will often be to leave the workplace, taking with them the
training, the skills and the corporate knowledge that the organisation has spent on
them and needs.
Before taking action, a complainant spends the time putting up with the bullying and
trying to make sense of it. It doesn‟t make sense that a superior whose role, in part, is
to support, direct and manage the worker and who should uphold the basic principles
of a fair go, would be the very person to be doing the bullying in the workplace or
ignoring that being done by others.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that bullying is not something that is only done at the
lower supervisory levels. Nor is it something that is suffered only by those in the
lowest ranks or positions. Bullying occurs at every level of management and
command. In fact, the higher up the chain-of-command, the lonelier it is for the
complainant because there is less colleague support and the conduct is less likely to
make sense.
Good Managers manage.
Bad Managers bully.
