Peter Honey recalls a client with a bullying problem
By Peter Honey (November 2005 Issue)
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I have been reading the report published by the Chartered Institute of Management on bullying in the workplace.1Its survey questioned 512 executives in public and private sector organisations and confirmed that bullying behaviour is prevalent and continuing to grow.
Not surprisingly, over the years I have encountered many managers who were bullies. One, I’ll call him Bob, had a chip on his shoulder about anyone who had been better educated than him. He had failed the 11-plus, left school at 16 with no qualifications, and, through a combination of hard work and luck, become CEO of an advertising agency.
He regarded managers with a university education as fair game – targets for a relentless barrage of put-downs. Unfortunately this meant that just about all his direct reports were in the firing line. He would take every opportunity to belittle them and, if opportunities didn’t arise in the normal course of events, he created them.
One of his favourite techniques was to inflict a general knowledge quiz on his managers. Bob compiled the quiz so he knew all the answers (one of his little jokes was to announce the quiz by saying ‘Here’s one I prepared earlier’). If someone dared to answer correctly, Bob would go berserk and accuse them of being geeks and know-alls. People quickly learned not to produce a correct answer.
He had many ploys to ‘prove’ that he was smarter than the managers who worked for him. He would, for example, delegate tasks to people but withhold vital information from them. This virtually guaranteed that the person in question would fail, making it easy for Bob to ridicule the inadequacies of their work.
Another was to select a piece of creative work, seemingly at random, and demolish it with criticism. He would threaten the unfortunate author with instant demotion unless they produced something better. Yet another of his ploys was to pick on a manager, give them a project to tackle and then browbeat them. The monthly board meetings, chaired by Bob, provided ample opportunities for victimisation. Any defiance on the part of his victims merely prolonged the attacks.
Bob was even more vindictive towards female graduates. Plump girls with big bosoms were irresistible targets. He’d single them out one by one, summon them to his office, and tell them they were disgustingly fat and demand to know what they were going to do about it. He’d only let them go once he had reduced them to tears.
As you might guess, staff turnover was high. This didn’t seem to trouble Bob in the least. In fact, he took it as a sign of his effectiveness. ‘Good riddance!’ he’d say, followed by one of his favourite mantras, ‘If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.’
I find it interesting, but understandable, that most of the advice on bullying tends to be aimed at helping the victims. Unfortunately, Bob was my client and I had to decide what to recommend to wean him off his bullying tactics. I decided to encourage him to get some qualifications. I gambled that if he became a graduate, he might feel better about himself and less resentful. Fortunately this worked; Bob felt so chuffed about learning that he fell to boasting about that and ‘forgot’ to have a go at people.
Of course, the CIM report advocates that organisations should have formal policies to deter bullying. All good stuff, but I have a nasty feeling that it would not have stopped Bob. At organisations with training policies, 83 per cent of managers, incidentally, rated them as quite or very effective at deterring bullying – and that’s something you can’t really argue with.
Reference
1. Patrick Woodman and Petra Cook, Bullying at Work: The experience of managers, Chartered Management Institute, 2005.
Dr Peter Honey, FRSA,FCIPD, FIMC is a Chartered Psychologist and founder of Peter Honey Publications. He can be contacted on +44 (0) 1628 633946, at peterhoney@peterhoney.com or visit www.peterhoney.com
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