The Perpetrator

Regardless of their styles or methods, perpetrators of workplace bullying have specific goals. They are to paralyze the target, to control the emotional climate and to effectively destroy the self worth and perception of worth of the target. In short, they wage open psychological warfare on another person, designed to destroy them emotionally and professionally.

Who are the perpetrators? Typically they are people who have risen to some level of supervisory or other level of power within an organization and have the ability to exert some level of control over others. They may be seen by their bosses as task oriented, a go-getter, a results driven individual, often seemingly in line with the organization's goals and objectives. Perpetrators often "cozy up" to their own supervisors and appear to be good guys in the eyes of unaware management or administration. In reality they are most often the opposite, under motivated, insecure, less competent, who are threatened by the competence and effort displayed by their targets. As previously stated, bullying is a learned behavior that has been proven to meet the interests of the bully. In workplace settings this often includes recognition from superiors for their "performance", the stifling of potential rivals, personal gratification from the feeling of power they are able to assert and in some cases economic gain by subverting the targets accomplishments and claiming them as their own. In rare cases the perpetrator's actions can be attributed to psychological and personality disorders such as antisocial personality disorder (as defined in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM-IV)). Four main conduct types have been identified *1. While each of these bully types may differ in their methods of demeaning their targets, yet the net effect remains the same.

What is true is that most perpetrators are bosses. In the same 2007 WBI Zogby study mentioned previously, 72% of bullying incidents were attributed to bosses, 18% to co-workers and only 10% of the cases were classified as "bottom up". Perpetrators have a "support system", either overt or tacit, including executives and senior managers, peers, the organization's human resource department (HR) and even the target's peers.

How can perpetrators continue with impunity? The WBI Labour Day poll of 2009 indicated the following statistics. In a sample of 422 targets of workplace bullying, the following results were noted. When targets reported incidents of being bullied at work, 54% of the reports resulted in no consequences to the bully. Incredibly, 28% of the bullies were actually rewarded, 14% were investigated, and a grand total 4% of bullies were punished and /or terminated (2% and 2% respectively), evidence supporting the re-traumatisation of targets and thus the ‘silent’ epidemic.

Why do bullies bully? Most simply put, because they can. Without effective leadership modelling, policy and effective legislation, perpetrators continue their behavior and continue to reap the rewards from their actions. To date only four provinces have anti-bullying legislation, and recent education legislation includes anti-bullying programs.

The Target

The true central figure to this phenomenon and the person most worthy of our attention is the target. Please note that for the purposes of recovery and dignity the word ‘victim’ is not used. The word ‘victim’ often places unnecessary focus on the person being violated and can suggest a certain responsibility and helplessness on their part. Victims become a persona. In the workplace targets float in and out of the crosshairs of the perpetrator and are never sure when they will strike. It is an alarming circumstance over which they have no control.

Targets of workplace bullying are often competent, well liked, independent, ethical, honest and not politically motivated. In short, they are frequently the ideal employee. There are certain biases that pervade workplaces in relation to targets. They include not being believed, being blamed for "provoking" the bully and branded as troublemakers in the organization. This further traumatizes them.

For those in the ADR field, understanding conflict styles helps better understand the mindset of targets. Most targets would fall into the accommodator/avoider roles. Therefore when confronted with behaviors that fall outside of their comfort zones they usually withdraw. This reaction will often trigger a stress response, further damaging the targets.

Not all targets of bullying in the workplace are the simple "worker bees", but a full 55% are. Supervisory and senior managers themselves are targeted 35% of the time *2, while this number is often considered to be under reported due to the fact that if they identify as targets, they subject themselves to professional peril by being identified as "weak" in a workplace culture that fosters a "zero sum gain" philosophy (the win-lose culture of business).

The Bystander/Co-worker

While not a lot of time will be given to this group in this article, it is important to note the importance this group has in further isolating the target and/or giving tacit approval to the perpetrator through their non-action. One can easily imagine others in the workplace feeling the respite from the perpetrator's wrath because of the target's arrival and subsequent targeting (leaving them out of the crosshairs). Whether it is out of fear of retaliation, ignorance of what they can do or simply a desire to not get involved, they further contribute to the feelings of powerlessness and victimization the target experiences. This group, however, is key to the target’s continued health and well-being.

*1 Namie, Drs. Gary and Ruth "The Bully at Work"