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New
to Bullying?
Definitions
This
is one of several pages in this section that will give
you the immediate information to answer your first questions
and to help you lay the groundwork for protecting you and
your interests. These pages are from
a variety
of sources but all tried and tested by many targets.
You may feel that some things are not necessary or the advice
takes a particularly pessimistic view of people and employers
-
sadly, it's the reality in an extremely high majority
of cases. Most cases of bullying follow exactly the same
format. Protect
yourself by knowing all you can and by taking
the advice on the following pages.
What Words Should We Use?
There
are many different words to describe what people go through
at work - bullying, harassment, mobbing, discrimination,
psychological or emotional abuse, rankism...so what's best?
There are several issues with each of those words, such
as:
What
is bullying? There are many different views
of what constitutes bullying and a page will be devoted
to some
of these. A further issue is:
What
does 'bullying' mean to an individual? One problem
with the word bullying is that it may mean different
things
to different people, especially when the word 'bullying'
is used instead of describing
inappropriate behaviour. Take one person who has experienced
it and
knows the
full
impact
compared
to
another
who has
not experienced it nor come into contact
with
anyone
who
has either. For the latter, associations
with playground bullying and a view that someone is
weak is a real possibility. This is not the case BUT
the use of the word bullying may actually damage the
credibility
of
someones
complaint,
depending on who they complaint to and their view
of it.
Harassment to
many means stalking. Certainly in the UK, the Protection
from Harassment Act 1997 was introduced originally to
deal with that issue. It has been used in civil courts
in an attempt to give those not covered by discrimination
laws
some
protection from this kind of behaviour in the workplace.
Harassment is often used in conjunction with the term
bullying.
Mobbing is
a word more widely used in the USA to mean bullying.
Others use it to describe being bullied by a group of
people i.e. to be mobbed. Again, the word does not adequately
describe or imply what happens to those who have lesser
understanding. Even people who are mobbed, may say they
have never heard the word before when their experience
is identified by someone else as mobbing.
Discrimination can be on many grounds. Some people do not like what
is different or they may have prejudices against
one section of society or anything they deem 'not normal'.
The effect
of discrimination may mean someone is bullied or harassed
but it is easier [certainly legally] if this can be deemed
to be a discriminatory act. Does bullying, harassing
or mobbing someone because of discrimination make it
any less serious? Does a change in the word to discrimination
mean the suffering is any more or less? Any more morally
wrong, if not judicially wrong?
Rankism is
a relatively unknown term for the bullying behaviour
of people who think they are superior. While this may
accurately
describe the reason for some to bully others, it
does not cover all who bully, nor does it adequately
describe the objectionable behaviour that targets are
subjected to.
As
you can see, there are many different words that may confuse
matters and in some cases hinder a complaint - but words
are not the only problem. The behaviour someone
is subjected to by a bully is by no means the only part
of what is experienced. To explain, here is what someone
could experience in the workplace due to someone else's
behaviour:
The
behaviour of bullying, harassment or mobbing etc; or
Any
type of discrimination, such as on
the grounds of sex, race, disability, sexuality,
age - or
even just 'cos [e.g. just 'cos I didn't like you; just
'cos I felt threatened by you....not that this would
be admitted ;D]
The
complaint/internal grievance process
An
appeal process
A
failure or abuse of power by HR and/or management
to deal with the complaint/appeal appropriately
Any
detriment suffered as a consequence of making
a complaint/escalating it to appeal such as victimisation,
suppression of pay etc
Termination
of employment issues
And
even after the experience within the workplace, the following
can
happen [be assured this is all in the worst case scenario]:
Legal
action for the bullying and any personal injury losses
Intimidation/underhand
tactics by the company and their lawyers
to get you to give up or settle
for a pittance and/or to keep
you quiet via a gagging clause
The
hurtful and frustrating process of the court
system which is not perfect and may not get you justice
[sadly we can only take action for points of law
and not points of hurt emotions]
Incompetence/negligence
by your own lawyers
Professional
negligence claims against your lawyers
As
you can see, the whole experience is far from 'just'
the bullying [or whatever] behaviour. What is initially
caused a bully/ies, may spread to cover other managers
they influence or lie to, HR plus maybe others. A term
needs to be used to adequately describe to any reasonable
person
just
what
someone goes
through
in the workplace - in totality. After speaking
to many people on this issue, jfo has decided to
encapsulate the experience
in the
term:
Workplace
Abuse
The
benefits to using the term workplace abuse are:
no
reasonable person would consider denigrating domestic
abuse, so it is hoped that workplace abuse is taken
as seriously. It is hoped that those who consider bullying
to be childish and only in playgrounds will reconsider
their position when faced with a word that more accurate
describes the act
one
does not have to search to identify whether it is bullying,
harassment, mobbing, a certain type of discrimination
- whatever the experience is and for whatever reason,
it is abusive to the individual.
this
encompasses the later possible experiences of flawed
internal grievances, underhand tactics, victimisation
etc
by
removing the word bullying, we allow the experience to
be recognised as not just at the hands of the bully/ies
and
by calling it workplace abuse, we hold the employer
accountable for the behaviours of all within
it
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