Maintain Civility at Work and Avoid Bullying From Within

by Nov 11, 2015

A recent study concerning workplace bullying prevention provides some interesting findings on how do employees behave towards an abusive boss. Accordingly, employees who chose to avoid or ignore the threatening boss makes things work out between the employee and the boss.

The study’s hypothesis stated that showing acts of kindness and empathy towards a boss may possibly lessen their bullying or abusive tendencies. According to the intelligent prediction, acts of kindness or acts of civility at work might diminish abuse.

Surprisingly, the researchers found out that their predictions did not appear in their study for it yielded a different result. Findings tell that there is no showing of an impact of acts of kindness towards an abusive boss. On the contrary, they found out that the ones who managed to disengage themselves from the emotional collision caused by interactions with the boss are the ones who showed positive findings. Hence, if something is to be changed, it would be one’s ability to control and manage one’s emotions, rather than those who chose to change their attitudes towards the boss. Such result might pave way to a need for an empowering workplace bullying training course.

To conclude, the study shows that one can free oneself from the emotional sabotage brought by an abusive boss by reframing one’s mindset on how he objectively sees his boss’ interaction with him and with others. Self-examination might be a good way to start by asking one’s self if he had been one of the reasons why the boss’ temper is fueling up. A workplace bullying raining course may also be a good complement to achieve emotional freedom.

To learn more, click here for full article.

Do you know how much money chronically bad behavior costs your company? Spoiler alert – it’s a LOT higher than you want it to be. Download our data and worksheet to see how it’s costing your organization and what you can do to fix it.

 

Catherine

About Catherine Mattice

Catherine Mattice, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is the founder/CEO of Civility Partners, an organizational development firm focused on helping organizations create respectful workplace cultures and specializing in turning around toxic cultures. Civility Partners’ clients range from Fortune 500’s to small businesses across many industries. Catherine is a TEDx speaker and an HR thought-leader who has appeared in such venues as USA Today, Bloomberg, CNN, NPR, and many other national news outlets as an expert. She’s an award-winning speaker, author and blogger, and has 50+ courses reaching global audiences on LinkedIn Learning. Catherine’s award-winning book, BACK OFF! Your Kick-Ass Guide to Ending Bullying at Work, was hailed by international leadership-guru, Ken Blanchard, as, “the most comprehensive and valuable handbook on the topic.” Her latest book is Navigating Toxic Work Environments For Dummies (Wiley).

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