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Root causes of bullying behaviour

Submitted by Rebecca Kearley on Thu, 25/02/2010 - 16:15

The Government’s own estimates put the cost of bullying to the UK economy in the billions so recent accusations about bullying at No 10 must have hit a raw nerve. Research by CMI published at the end of 2008 put bullying behaviour in the workplace down to poor management.

 

It found that incidents of bullying were not just ‘top down’, with 63 per cent of respondents observing bullying between peers and 30 per cent witnessing subordinates bullying their manager.

The root causes of bullying were identified as:

Lack of management skills    70%
Personality clashes    57%
Authoritarian management styles   48%
Failure to address previous bullying   38%
Personal prejudice/discrimination   30%
Unrealistic targets and deadlines   23%
Inappropriate performance management systems 19%
Organisational change    10%
Demanding customers/clients     9%

The research report, Bullying at work: the experience of managers, is free to download from www.managers.org.uk/bullying2008

CMI’s professional practice guidance for managers on dealing with bullying in the workplace is free to download from www.managers.org.uk/bullyingguide

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Comments

Submitted by Nicola Worsley on Fri, 26/02/2010 - 09:26

It's a difficult one isn't it.  Whilst I agree that most bullying in the traditional sense is no doubt down to insecurity in some way I do feel that there is a difference between being demanding and being a bully.  There's nothing wrong with having high standards for yourself and others.

Submitted by John Cummings FCMI on Thu, 11/03/2010 - 22:28

I agree with the essential point that Nicola is making here. Managers have a duty to encourage, inspire and verify high standards and performance. However, for me, one of the distinctions between being demanding and bullying is whether the behaviours are inclusive or exclusive. Inclusive and transparent   behaviours aimed at improving and challenging performance can be distinguished from the sorts of behaviours that set people apart and have a hidden agenda. Of course one of the further challenges here is whether managers have suffcient self awareness to recognise the effects that certain behaviours are having on others. How much of the negative behaviours respondents witness are deliberate and calculated and how much rests upon a critical lack of self awareness ?