 One wonders how the incidence of bullying takes place at so many levels of society in this tiny island of ours. To start with it is commonly associated with the trauma felt by pupils during the prep school but this is also existent in later stages of the educational ladder.
Recently we are also reading about bullying and staff harassment in offices, factories and business environments particularly where job opportunities are difficult to find and reports on grievances have surfaced in the press by disgruntled employees.
In the financial services arena, a retail investor alleges that he has felt bullied by a larger financial institution that deprived him of a consistent means to monitor his botched investments. In a letter to the Times he complains that small investors have been told to either “put up or shut up” by Bank of Valletta/Valletta Fund Management. In his opinion, this investor alleges the bank has not given satisfactory explanations regarding the revelation that over €16 million worth of shares had been withdrawn from the fund just before it was suspended to the public.
The Bank claims it has faithfully informed all investors of the sequence of events which led to the collapsed investments. Back to discrimination at place of work. Locally, it is customary for elite law, audit and civil engineering professional firms pride themselves of employing top quality interns displaying a high standard of conduct. In truth quite a few are head hunted thanks to their loyalty via old-boys clubs and cronyism prevails.
Top vacancies still percolate to Ivy League connections whether your schooling was in a private college and other social attributes linked to your name. Merit alone will not guarantee you a long career with such firms. All this despite 30 years of free State education up to tertiary level for the working classes and equal opportunities for both sexes. This may sound like another article of dissent discussing the discrimination allegedly existing among the have and the have-nots but I assure the reader this is not the case. It is not a tirade in favour of the great ‘unwashed ‘.
It is really and truly a reflection of the harmful stress and bullying tactics that society inflicts on each one of us invariably depending on our social status and sometimes political creed. Even in such a miniscule business community one finds barriers to entry creating artificial discrimination and a feeling of being bullied by the hierarchy. Rarely is bullying explicit but mostly it is a subtle unwritten code which permeates the organisation and rewards those who toe the line while others may just as well exit quietly (yes; do not bother to apply).Can we stop and think how much agro is felt when one is unjustly deprived of a promotion or a chance to excel and evaluate the bullying pressure exerted by bosses (mostly dominant tyrants) who wish to maintain the status quo.
Their tool of choice for exertion of power being psychological coercion as opposed to other more socially legitimate means of persuasion eg. rational argument, personal appeal & consultation etc. Generally speaking one can comment that in private industry it is the directors responsibility to deal with such abusive behaviour whether this is classified at the personal and/or company policy level. Naturally in the public service there exist formal disciplinary committees where grievances are judged and each committee is ultimately accountable to Parliament.
One may well ask ; is the loss of business opportunities and reduced productivity resulting from bullying at work ever been quantified by our captains of industry. Let us now examine the phenomenon at work and in other situations. What defines a bully is an unusually high will to "win" or simply to "get their way" coupled with low consideration for others. This is both their basic strength and source of weakness. You can assume that bullies in the workplace are relatively shrewd and adept at plying their methods, otherwise they'd already be on the wrong side of the legal system.
It would be particularly difficult (if not impossible) to accurately define and legislate against the full range of potentialities that could constitute coercion. Another important aspect to consider is that a dominant boss’s behaviour tends to be geared towards accumulation of power, hence his or her actions and attitudes will be tailored according to whether they perceive you as a threat. They also size you up according to your status within the pecking order. The general tendency is for the ambitious managers to exhibit respect and loyalty upward and sheer contempt for those below.
A bully will, like most "predators" prefer the "easy kill" so subordinates are warned not be perceived as one, and thus make sure that unethical impositions are reported quickly to the grievance committee.. Still bullies will often be perceived in a particularly favourable light by their superiors as "movers and shakers". This way they aim to steal the limelight by gearing themselves up as ‘yes’ men although in the long run this will not always get the expected result - it could just as easily backfire. Hence they toil tremendously to denigrate their orderlies and aim to block their chances to complain at the shareholder’s committee or to the chairman.
This is a carte blanche type of bullying so commonly founded in private firms of a family nature that quietly infect our wholesale & import, transport, building and leisure industry. Bullies tend to excel at maintaining the initiative in relation to others so they never over react or become overly emotional with superiors. They also tend to have a particularly keen eye for faults or weaknesses in subordinates. This fault finding is common as it is their hallmark and style of keeping their dominance. Unless challenged by a new comer they maintain their coveted status quo by all means possible (both by legal and/or unethical means).
Little do they realise their insecurity. They quite simply cannot live up to the standards of perfection that they expect of others. In the final countdown, a bully will find his or her nemesis to give them a taste of their own medicine. Bullies and dominant executives will recognise their insecure existence at some point in their career and live constantly looking behind their shoulders.
It is not surprising that they will be particularly sensitive and fearful to anyone who unveils their artificiality and unmask their true self to shareholders or those responsible for corporate governance. So is there a remedy to rid oneself of this yoke? One of the preferred remedies is for bosses to manifest an effective communication platform which deters the creation of abuse dominance among the workforce.
There are three main styles of communication: passive, aggressive, and assertive. To start with, passive communicators are masters at avoiding confrontation. They are usually inhibited and shy by nature. Sometimes they do speak softly or apologise for things that are out of their control. Many passive communicators will find making eye contact difficult, especially when the communication is less than positive. While passive communicators can be great listeners, they can often try to please everyone, which is an impossible task for a manager to achieve.
The ability to listen to what your subordinates have to say can be a useful tool, but leaders with passive communication styles often have difficulty keeping control of the team. Let us take it to another level that of aggressive communicators. They certainly speak boldly, directly, and often loudly. Managers with an aggressive communication style can get their point across using few words and leaving little doubt as to their opinion. Employees often find managers with this style of communication overbearing, demanding, stressful and forceful. They are at the initial stage of a short journey ending to a bullying syndrome.
To conclude the trophy is won by assertive managers who can reach out to subordinates have the work done and be ready for the next task. They speak calmly and clearly while being honest and direct. Because managers that have assertive communication styles are sensitive in how they approach communication with others, they tend to earn and keep employee respect.
While they are willing to make compromises, assertive communicators are not easily manipulated because they are secure in their own ideas. An assertive leader can get the results that they desire without sacrificing employee satisfaction, making their teams the most efficient and easy to lead. They are the salt of the earth.
by George M. Mangion
gmm@pkfmalta.com
www.pkfmalta.com
The writer is a partner in PKF Malta, an Audit and Business Advisory firm. |