Leadership: Moving Away from Bullying
bully: a blustering, browbeating person
bully, bullied, bullying: to treat abusively; to affect by means of force or coercion; to use browbeating language or behavior
by Terry E. McSween, Ph.D.
Do you have managers or supervisors that are guilty of bullying other employees in your organization? Bullying has been in the press a lot in these past few months: articles and news coverage on bullying in our schools and even in professional sports. Many people think that bullying is confined to the playground or high school hallways. Yet, some people at work use their positions at work to intimidate others and prefer to describe their intimidating behavior—throwing objects, slamming doors, yelling, threatening, name calling—with terms like “tough manager” or “high expectations” or “perfectionist.” They don’t realize or don’t want to admit that, in reality, they are bullies.