Bullying too common in U.S. workplace
By Rodney Tanaka, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 07/08/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT

The U.S. workplace fosters bullying, which damages morale and causes stress, according to a new study.
Employees in the U.S. are bullied as much as 50 percent more often than workers in Scandinavia, according to the study "Burned by Bullying in the American Workplace: Prevalence, Perception, Degree and Impact."
The report, authored by Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik, Sarah J. Tracy and Jess K. Alberts, will be published in the September issue of the Journal of Management Studies.
Only 9 percent of employees were aware that the negative acts they experienced constituted bullying, suggesting that such behavior is ingrained in the culture of the U.S. workplace, according to Blackwell Publishing, which produces the Journal of Management Studies.
"Workers suffering on the job and thinking they're `going crazy' learn that the phenomenon has a name, what it looks like, that it happens to many workers, and potentially, what they might do about it," Lutgen-Sandvik said in a statement.
U.S. organizational and cultural structures frequently enable, trigger and reward bullying, according to the study.
U.S. companies stress market processes, individualism and the importance of managers over workers, which discourages collaborative efforts and enables powerful organizational members to bully others without recrimination, according to the study.
"This paper helps to surface a problem that plagues far too many employees and that too few people are willing to speak openly about," Steven Floyd, an editor at JMS, said in a statement.
The study also looks at the secondary impact of bullying. Employees who witness others being bullies report high levels of stress and low levels of work satisfaction, according to the study.
More bad behavior might occur in a down labor market. In a robust labor market, most good people have the option of voting with their feet, said Gary Kaplan, president of Gary Kaplan & Associates, a Pasadena-based executive search firm.
"An inordinate amount of organizations don't want to lose good people," Kaplan said.
Bullying occurs more frequently in environments where there's a buyers' market mentality, as opposed to places where recruiting is competitive, Kaplan said.
"Large numbers of people - in particular the professional classes - don't tolerate that behavior," he said.
The work environment is developed at the top levels, Kaplan said. If top management permits this environment, bullying will take place, he said.
"If management takes a hard stand that they will not tolerate that form of behavior, ultimately that behavior will not happen in that environment," Kaplan said. "It all leads to one place, that's with the CEO of the organization, the stand they take on social and moral issues."

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