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Entry: The bully within
Workplace bullying, like all bullying, is a bad thing, but I'm not sure this questionnaire is a good instrument for detecting & analyzing it. For example:
"Been given unreasonable workloads or deadlines--more than others?"...it's not always that easy to compare workloads & deadlines. Two engineers might be assigned two very different projects. Two salespeople might be assigned very different customers/territories. These are very different environments from (say) a clerical operation where employee A can complain because he was given more folders to process than employee B.
"Had others refuse your requests for assistance?" and "Had others delay action on matters that were important to you?" and "Had others fail to give you information that you really needed?"...in a complex and dynamic organization, an individual may be dealing with dozens of requests for assistance, action, and information. Is Fred the engineer to be accused of *bullying* if he delays action on Samantha's request for a cost analysis and Jeff's request for a technology forecast, while working feverishly on Eileen's plea for a new customer feature? Isn't there a danger that a questionnaire like this wiill encourage Samantha and Jeff to react in a prickly and accusatory way?
"Had co-workers fail to defend your plans or ideas to others?"...huh? What if the co-workers in question don't agree with these plans/ideas? Why should they defend them?
"Not been given the praise for which you felt entitled?"...the fact that someone *feels* entitled to praise doesn't mean they deserve it. This is very close to the philosophy of "give all students As and Bs so we don't hurt their self-esteem."
Posted by david foster at April 14, 2008 7:40 PM
Good grief! There is bullying, and then there is this. Half of it is piffle. Is this survey some kind of joke? Or is the world becoming some kind of big weepie?
Posted by Mike at April 15, 2008 9:00 AM
I agree that the questionnaire is not a great diagnostic. It can't measure severity, and the point of bullying is that it marks a major intensification and concentration of behaviors that we all experience as part of the workplace norm. But the questionnaire is not the phenomenon, and the one should not be dismissed as insignificant because the other is imperfect. Do have a look at the linked CHE piece on Westhues and mobbing. It is very compelling.
Posted by Erin O'Connor at April 15, 2008 9:51 AM
I think I answered yes to every one of those questions. Between the judges and the defense attorneys, that's pretty much the bulk of life in the courtroom.
Posted by Dave J at April 15, 2008 5:28 PM