|
Bullying at Work
Wednesday, November 08,
2006
A research conducted by the Chartered Management Institute revealed
that bullying in the workplace is growing and dramatically affecting
the work environment.
Respondents identified numerous means of intimidation, including
misuse of power, overbearing supervision, and undermining by
criticism. Close to half of the respondents revealed knowing of
incidents where opportunities for promotion or training were
affected, while 43% suggested that threats to job security were
made.
In terms of how the respondents would respond to bullying, 4 out of
10 said they would confront the bully, although only 11% would
involve a senior manager and only 5% would seek help from HR.
Somehow, employees no longer trust the "HR" department...
Jerks at the Office
Friday,
May 12, 2006
Zena Olijnyk, in an article featured in the Canadian Business
magazine, discussed the negative impact that some employees, namely
"jerks", can bring to the office environment. Gloria Elliott, a
career coach in Roanoke, VA, defined jerk as "a short-hand phrase
for all those who would sabotage, backstab or otherwise make our
careers miserable."
Get the picture? Notwithstanding that we all dread dealing with
them, there seems to always be at least one everywhere...
Elliott made an interesting comment: "jerks are simply normal people
"carried to extremes," and all of us, to some degree, have the
potential to be difficult, whether it's by being a braggart, a
complainer or a bully. What's more, the very qualities that can make
some people jerks are the same ones that can make them highly
successful, productive people: they can be competitive,
goal-oriented, hard-charging overachievers. In jobs where they don't
have to interact much, they may not inflict a lot of damage. But
when they are part of a team, the results can be disastrous."
Indeed, some employees (or worse, managers) have the gift of being
able to alienate others. If you happen to deal with one jerk at the
office, take steps to resolve the issue; otherwise, it won't resolve
itself. Maybe if you twitch it a bit, the jerk will transform into
someone else... like butterflies do...
|
