How bullying manifests in South African workplaces
Casual observation of South African workplaces shows that everyday bullies get more and more emboldened with little or no consequences for their actions. There are no resources out there for targets of bullying.
Bullies at work are not doing their job by bullying their targets, i.e. it is part of no one’s job to bully others, not the subordinates, not the colleagues at the same level, and not the superiors. In other words, there is no place in the workplace to:
a. Ridicule other people
b. Sabotage other people’s work
c. Lie/ gossip about others at work
d. Talk down on you
e. Assign your work to other people without a legitimate reason
f. Make unfounded insinuations about your competence, integrity, work commitment, etc.
g. Yell or scream at other people- regardless of what they have done/ failed to do
h. Play practical jokes on other people
i. Forget to invite other people to meetings and blame them for what they did not do, when they were not informed about what they should do
j. Steal other people’s ideas or credit pets for work done by others
k. Give others silent treatment
l. Blame others it is not their fault
m. Humiliate others in front of colleagues or subordinate- whether there is wrong -doing on their part or not
n. Prevent others from using privileges and perks that they are entitled to
o. Invade other people’s personal space, privacy
p. Gas light others, etc.
If you have been in the South African workplace long enough you may have been subjected to one or more of the unsavoury behaviours and may not have been aware that you are being bullied. If you were brave enough to query what was happening to you or tried to set record straight in terms of unfair blame- the bully may have brushed it off as you being too sensitive, not intending to inflict any harm or even blamed you for being sensitive. Whether the bully perpetrates bully behaviours to inflict harm on the target-or whether they do what they do due to their own personality defect – harm is inflicted on the target. Targets of workplace bullying are singled out for different detrimental treatment whether consciously or unconsciously and bully behaviours are always harmful to the target.