Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER November 16, 2015 6 NEWS Catharines, Ont. It's a great concern because stu- dents need to be made aware of what bullying behaviours are and the impact they may have on a targeted person, said study author Lisa Barrow, assistant professor at the Goodman School of Business at Brock University. "If this awareness is not raised, then bullying will continue to oc- cur in the workplace. And work- place bullying has a negative impact not only on the targeted person but also the organization and its ability to achieve its goals." e study ree hundred Brock undergrad- uate business school students completed an online survey that listed 14 statements of behav- iours commonly associated with workplace bullying, including: sabotaging someone's work; pub- lic humiliation; spreading gossip and rumours; failing to give credit where it is due; removing respon- sibility; and setting someone up for failure. Participants were asked to rate how acceptable these behaviours are on a five-point scale ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." Certain behaviours were con- sidered "morally acceptable" by females: teasing; isolation; denial of opportunities; setting unrea- sonable deadlines; and assigning meaningless tasks. "ere are five behaviours that women, female students in par- ticular, thought that it would be OK to embrace and display in the workplace," said Barrow. "Many of them, the behav- iours, seem pretty innocuous and that's a concern... especially as it pertains to female bullies since we have a high number of inci- dences of women bullying other women, and women tend to rely on relational aggression. And so one characteristic of workplace bullying that fits in with relational aggression is isolation — whether it's social isolation or physical isolation." Gender differences For the most part, women are more relationship-oriented while men tend to be more task-orient- ed, she said. "Women need to connect with each other and so that need to re- late to others provides an oppor- tunity for someone to abuse those relationships and to manipulate those relationships." Manipulation and aggression come in when a woman feels threatened by a targeted person who may be smarter, prettier or better-liked, so a female bully would rely on social isolation, said Barrow, "encouraging others not to speak to the targeted per- son, excluding this person from activities, either within the orga- nization or after-work activities." While men tend to act out more, be more physical, "with women, it's a little more subtle and the goal is to wreak havoc in the relationship," she said. Women will destroy the social fabric of a work team, said Gary Namie, director of the Workplace Bullying Institute in Bellingham, Wash. "They will play divide-and- conquer games, they will isolate, ostracize and humiliate by dis- tancing, socially excluding their targeted person, and so they do much more of a social game whereas men are more blatantly power-driven and autocratic and they will use the power of their network," he said. "Women really know how to hurt when they bully because they go right at the soul of the person they target, versus 'I'm going to destroy your career, I'm going to make it tough for you to transfer, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that' — that's men. at's how men perceive it, it's regulating their status and their career and future; whereas women perceive bullying as a direct, frontal, emo- tional abuse assault." Women are passive aggressive in a way, said Namie. "Men are proud — they're stu- pidly proud about it. Women un- derstand the social undesirability of what they're doing so they do attempt to hide it." But the Brock University's study results are surprising and perplex- ing as women, on average, tend to be more sensitive, according to Jennifer Berdahl, a professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. "These kinds of behaviours, they're more aware of their likely impact on victims and therefore are more likely to find them unac- ceptable," she said. "Women at least are dispro- portionately targeted for a lot of these behaviours in the workplace and elsewhere as a lower status group, on average, so people who are in those kinds of one-down positions tend to recognize these kinds of behaviours for the poten- tial threat they might pose." But then people who tend to engage in certain behaviours are less likely to find them unaccept- able, said Berdahl. "It's possible that some of the (Brock) students identify with these means of resolving social conflicts as things that they've themselves done, if there's gender differences there." Isolation has been attributed as a more passive way of bullying — it's social rejection, she said, and re- search on school bullying suggests that kind of ostracism might be a more common method for girls and more acceptable for them. "It's not acceptable for girls to go pummel each other or pound their chests so if they're going to punish someone socially, that might be the route they take." As for teasing, there's been work on gender suggesting social ridicule and teasing is one of men's worst fears, based on the idea of precarious masculinity — that boys and men constantly have to prove themselves in society and that manhood and male identity are very much based on respect and power, said Berdahl. "Ridicule or teasing is a way of tearing someone's power down, of diminishing them in the light of others," she said. "is is one way in which wom- en can harass or put down men or each other that men might be par- ticularly sensitive to." There's also been research suggesting teasing can be a com- bination of affection and aggres- sion, so women might think of it more as affectionate, and men think of it as aggressive, when they respond to the study questions, said Berdahl. Leadership behaviours As for female students finding meaningless tasks, unfair dead- lines and denial of opportunities more acceptable behaviours than men, it's possible that's because women see these as normal parts of leadership. "ey may not even know or re- alize that these behaviours can be construed as bullying behaviours because they may see their col- leagues treating others the same way," said Barrow. "And what happens is when a manager is called on this behav- iour, they may say, 'I'm just trying to make sure productivity is in- creased' or 'I want to make sure our deadlines are met and our re- sponsibilities and objectives and goals for the department are met.' So they can hide behind the orga- nizational expectations to justify their behaviour regarding undue pressure to perform, or unrealistic deadlines." Women may feel less entitled to leadership positions, said Berdahl. "(It's about) looking at it through a chronic status or pow- er lens and thinking that women have been socialized to be in more subordinate or subsistent posi- tions. Today, women college stu- dents are not like they were in the 50s but there are still all kinds of gender socializations and expec- tations set up for what your roles are going to be in society and in organizations." Women may respond to work- place cues the same way men do — in other words, they may think they have to act like a man to be a manager because aggression is heavily rewarded, said Namie. "at's what success would be — they're using it as the definition of success, as would a man." But a lot of these students are in the midst of learning how to become effective leaders so it's important to discuss the im- pact of bullying behaviours, said Barrow. "What the study reveals is that students see some bullying behaviours as acceptable, and I believe it's because either they don't have a clear understanding of the impact of bullying or they assume that bullying ends once high school ends, and once they become adults. "And so they really haven't had a chance to consider their behav- iour and the impact it may have on others." e study's results suggest a failure in schooling, said Namie. "Somehow, the message is missed… the message in the school-age anti-bullying pro- grams are somehow diluted or forgotten," he said. "What enables bullying is either a laissez-faire leader at the very top who's so disengaged and disconnected… so hands-off, they're blind, they don't give a damn, and that's how bullies will thrive... or they are in the mold, they are bullies themselves, and all these young people that said, 'Well, I found that ethically OK' are crazy. "To rate unethical conduct, im- moral conduct as ethical shows a huge gap in our education, that's for darn sure." Women tend to rely on relational aggression BULLYING < pg. 1 Research on school bullying suggests that kind of ostracism might be a more common method for girls and more acceptable for them. No one ever expects to have cancer. When it strikes, having CAREpath as part of your benefit package shows your employees and their families how much you really care. Employees diagnosed with cancer are assigned a personal oncology nurse providing guidance and support throughout every stage of their cancer journey. CAREpath is the only complete cancer navigation provider in Canada. No one ever expects to have cancer. cancer? Does one of your employees have We'll be there. 1-866-599-2720 www.carepath.ca THE CANCER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM Anita McGowan, RN, CON(C), OCN Head Oncology Nurse Manager

• Cover