Office Bully Part 2

“… you have until end of this month to deliver your commitment. You are to put in extra effort failing which we have to put on record that you have no commitment and competence to deliver”

I think this is the strongest ever worded email we received in our lifetime as it involves ‘putting on records’, thus making the receiver felt threatened and unsecured. This is terribly tearing into the heart of the staff receiving it.

It does not sound as though the sender can actually manage the staff. It sounds the sender engage in juvenile behaviour, displaying immaturity; lack of self-control and probably a mere self-doubt. He may claim that he wasn’t mean harm, but that was irrelevant. The impact on the staff is already hurtful and that is all that matter most.

Remember: Bullying does not necessarily physical in nature. It involves abusive, abrasive, threatening and self-serving individuals who continuously pound their employees, subordinates or mates into submission.

Because many bullies act as thought they are 2-year-old, it is interesting to note that the latest research that provides the strategy to deal with bullies came from studies in pediatrics and not from management researchers.