Author: Charlotte Rayner, Helge Hoel, Cary Cooper
ISBN No: 0-415-24063-8
Review date: 16/12/2025
No of pages: 0
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Year of publication:
Brief:
Which out of this list count as bullying, do you think? Threats of violence, being shouted at, insulting words and e-mails, being sent to Coventry, pressure to not claim something you are entitled to such as holidays, sarcasm, impossible workloads, and fault-finding.
Which out of this list count as bullying, do you think? Threats of violence, being shouted at, insulting words and e-mails, being sent to Coventry, pressure to not claim something you are entitled to such as holidays, sarcasm, impossible workloads, and fault-finding. According to the authors of Workplace Bullying, all these are ‘negative behaviours’ and can count as bullying. Last month’s book review, on Violence At Work, was certainly for security managers; this book, by three researchers, is aimed at personnel managers and managers in general. What then is in this study of bullying for the security manager? Well, while the research does not single out Security, the police and particularly prison service suffer above-average bullying, according to a large survey. (The Police Federation of rank and file officers held a conference on the topic in November with one of the authors, Helge Hoel.) Also, the authors point out that longer working hours, more use of contract staff, and more pressure to meet targets lead to a rule of fear to get results. Hence staff leave or go sick. Admirably, the book does not wag fingers. Usefully, it includes little case studies – such as the manager who leans on the worker who is easiest to persuade to do what is needed, and bring other workers in line. (Is that bullying, or smart leadership?) While security managers at least know where they stand when investigating aggression and threats, handling alleged intimidating behaviour is far more difficult. (If workmates bully a newcomer, is it the staff’s way of telling the bullied person that he can’t cut it?) Reception is the hub of your organisation, the book points out (page 88). What stories are reaching the receptionist, (who often today is a security guard); whose acts are worthy of retelling, what’s the corporate culture? Impressively, this book is rooted in real problems – if your organisation says it is seriously against bullying, if you put a helpline sticker on lavatory doors are you empathising with staff who retreat to the lav for privacy, or in effect saying anti-bullying belongs to the toilet of your company? If you make a bullying manager take early retirement, are you solving a problem or showing that bullying pays? Arguably the book?s greatest service is to suggest all of us should account for our actions at work. Does making a visitor wait count as bullying, or an office-political game?
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Workplace Bullying: What we know, who is to blame and what can we do? By Charlotte Rayner, Helge Hoel, Cary Cooper.
