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The Workplace Bullying Institute's
Definition of the Phenomenon
Definition of the Phenomenon
Workplace Bullying
is repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators that takes one or more of the following forms:
Workplace Bullying: (a) is driven by perpetrators' need to control the targeted individual(s) , (b) is initiated by bullies who choose targets, timing, place and methods, (c) escalates to involve others who side with the bully, either voluntarily through coercion, and it (d) undermines legitimate business interests when bullies' personal agendas take precedence over work itself.
Bullying, general workplace harassment, is more prevalent than its more famous and illegal special varieties--sexual harassment and racial discrimination. The largest scientific study conducted in the U.S. found that 37% U.S. workers have directly experienced destructive bullying. That is approximately 54 million Americans! And additional 12% of the workforce witnessed it. Half of the workers are intimately familiar with bullying. The other half (45%) claim to not have either seen, heard or experienced it themselves. (See the complete results of the WBI-Zogby 2007 survey.)
Bullying transcends gender. Women comprise the majority of targets and women bullies especially target other women. The vast majority of bullies (73%) are bosses.
Bullies bully because they can; they do so with impunity. You can read why bullies bully here. Bullies are rarely psychopathic, but are always narcissistic and machiavellian. See the categories of adult bullies.
Bullying is mostly legal. Employers can ignore it with little risk. However, it is four times more prevalent than illegal status-based (or grounds-based) discrimination. In North America, only two Canadian provinces have addressed bullying -- Quebec and Saskatchewan. In the U.S., a movement is growing to introduce and pass state legislation.
Workplace Bullying is more similar to the Holocaust and Domestic Violence than to schoolyard, childhood bullying. Read about lessons from the Danes and the Holocaust and the similarities between Domestic Violence and Workplace Bullying
Peruse this entire website to get a complete picture of workplace bullying and its deleterious impact on people, organizations and society.