Albuquerque Journal

Hard Times Mean More Job Bullying
By Martin Salazar, Journal Staff Writer

As if the tanking economy and uncertain job market weren't enough to worry about, workers may now find themselves with another problem.
    A University of New Mexico researcher who has been studying workplace bullying for eight years said stressful times lead to even more on-the-job bullying.
    "As organizations become leaner and meaner, there is a corollary increase in bullying," said Pam Lutgen-Sandvik, an assistant professor of organizational communication in UNM's Communication & Journalism Department.
    "As (working conditions in) organizations become more stressful, bosses more often take their frustrations out on people around them," she said. "Change, increased pressure and job insecurity can lead to bullying, even for persons who aren't typically aggressive. Bullying may include a pattern of ongoing criticism, social ostracism or verbal abuse."
    A survey of 403 people that Lutgen-Sandvik conducted with Arizona State University researchers found that one in 10 U.S. workers feels bullied in any six-month period.
    A separate Zogby poll of more than 6,000 people commissioned by the Workplace Bullying Institute in Bellingham, Wash., found that 12.6 percent of workers feel bullied in any 12-month period.
    The two studies found that between 30 percent and 37 percent experience it sometime during their work history, and that one in two workers has either experienced or witnessed it. The studies also found that between 60 percent and 72.5 percent of bullies are bosses.
    Lutgen-Sandvik said many of the people she interviewed have similar stories about the person bullying them. They often describe their bully as screaming and yelling, with saliva flying and veins bulging.
    "And then the person who is the target will be absolutely paralyzed for hours, if not for the rest of the whole day," she said.
    The advice Lutgen-Sandvik gives most often to those getting bullied is to get together with colleagues who are also being bullied and with those who have witnessed it, then approach management as a group. Lay out specifics of what has been taking place and for how long. And let management know how it's hurting the company, mentioning such things as people who have left and who are thinking about leaving and what is suffering.
    "Another thing I very often will suggest is leaving," she said. "Get out. The house is on fire; get out of the house."
    One thing she doesn't recommend: confronting the bully directly. Lutgen-Sandvik said that for every person she's ever talked with, confronting a bully made things worse.
    She said employees who are targeted by bullies should realize it's not them. She said they should take a few days off work to think through their situation and decide whether they want to fight, whether they're going to accept the situation and just try to shield themselves psychologically, or whether they want to leave.