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What are the Different Types of Workplace Bullying?

Mary McMahon
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Updated: May 17, 2024
Views: 22,171
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Workplace bullying is a problem in many regions of the world which is difficult to address because it often becomes institutionalized, making it challenging to identify workplace bullying when it takes place, or to take action against it. Learning to recognize some of the types of workplace bullying can help people dealing with a bully problem by providing concrete examples of bullying behavior which can be brought to the attention of a supervisor or a workplace as a whole. No one should tolerate bullying in the workplace, as it creates a hostile work environment and it will only grow worse over time.

One very common form of workplace bullying is unwitting bullying, also known as pressure bullying. In this type of bullying behavior, an employee who does not handle stress well takes it out on others, snapping at people, issuing curt orders, being aggressive, and emotionally acting out. In the wake of such behavior, the bully does not acknowledge or apologize for it, instead acting as though the behavior as appropriate.

Some workplaces suffer from serial bullying, in which one member of the staff bullies everyone else, especially employees who are new. Serial bullies can be found in a variety of work settings, and they may have a number of motivations for their behavior ranging from taking pleasure in exercising power over others to being afraid of losing their jobs. Serial bullies can poison a workplace climate very insidiously, and are sometimes hard to identify. Pair and gang bullies are similar, but involve groups of employees, rather than just one.

In vicarious bullying, people in the workplace encourage other coworkers to fight. In this type of bullying, the fighting employees are victims of a third party who has created or promoted the argument. Corporate bullying involves the creation of a corporate culture which is abusive, such as that seen in companies which expect employees to work 60 hours or more a week and create a stressful work environment which devalues employees and creates fear in the workplace.

Both verbal and physical bullying can be seen in the workplace, and workplace bullying can also take the form of cyberbullying. The increasing use of computer systems in the workplace has created many avenues for cyberbullying, ranging from posting humiliating photographs on the Internet to sending out aggressive emails over the office network.

Workplaces dealing with a bully problem should stress to their employees that no one should feel uncomfortable in the workplace, and that the best way to deal with workplace bullying is to bring it out into the open and confront it. In cases where the employer is the abusive party, employees may want to consider meeting together and appointing a representative to bring up concerns about bullying with management.

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Mary McMahon
By Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a WiseGeek researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

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Discussion Comments
By Ana1234 — On Sep 05, 2014

@Iluviaporos - It depends on how bad the bullying is. I've heard stories of places where workplace bullying was bad enough to send people into the corridors crying multiple times per week. If you're in a workplace like that, you probably know it's a toxic atmosphere. Unfortunately, very few people can afford to just leave a job whenever they like and complaining about it isn't always going to make things better.

By lluviaporos — On Sep 04, 2014

@Fa5t3r - That's what makes it so difficult when your boss is the one who is the bully. In a bullying workplace, they can change the whole atmosphere so that it becomes the norm to treat people like that and no one realizes how bad it is.

I used to work in a place where everyone had to tread on eggshells because the boss was such a grump and I just got used to it. The difference when I went to work somewhere else was amazing.

By Fa5t3r — On Sep 03, 2014

I was volunteering for an animal shelter once when they assigned me to cleaning out the dog kennels for the first time, under the leadership of a long-time volunteer. She was pretty awful to me, and made me do a lot of tasks over again because she didn't think they'd been done properly the first time, while she took the nicer tasks like playing with the dogs.

I was really young so I just thought I wasn't very good at the job until one of the employees of the shelter happened to overhear what she was saying and she basically was dismissed on the spot.

That's not likely to happen in paid employment, of course, but it did drive home to me that you aren't always the best judge of your own situation. I would have blamed myself but to a third party it was pretty obvious that she was bullying me.

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a...

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