Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully

By Dr. Debra Stewart

The book Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully examines organizational culture and wellness in the presence of bully triads. The book includes ideas for assessment and performance improvement concerning organizational culture. The book addresses possible approaches to improve workplace culture and organizational wellness and to create bully-free environments.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543454420

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 by Dr. Debra Stewart.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2017915061

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5434-5440-6

      Softcover         978-1-5434-5441-3

      eBook         978-1-5434-5442-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

KJV

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

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Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 09/28/2017

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgment

Chapter 1 The Bully Impact

Chapter 2 Workplace Bully Triad Triage

Chapter 3 Examining Organizational Culture

Chapter 4 Assessment Of The Bully Triad

Chapter 5 Finding The Good In The Workplace Bully

Chapter 6 Finding The Good In The Workplace Victim

Chapter 7 Finding The Good In The Workplace Bystander

Chapter 8 Gratitude In The Workplace

Chapter 9 Managing The Gifted And The Ungifted

Chapter 10 Bully Triad Behaviors That Defeat Organizational Wellness

Chapter 11 Just A Few Stories Of Bullying

Chapter 12 Lasting Unquestionable Forgiveness

Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully is dedicated to my son and daughter and my grandchildren, who have been the greatest joys in my life.

The Author’s Purpose in Writing Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully

The author’s experience with bullying began with being lost in the foster system as a half-blood American Indian until she was almost eight years old—not enough Indian blood to return to her people and not enough white blood to be considered adoptable. She was sent to a woman’s work farm at the age of two, where the unspeakable occurred by bullies who operated without restraint and compassion for life. The author has finally gathered the right tools to stop organizational bullying from happening to others. Find the Good in the Workplace Bully was written to break the cycle of abuse for organizations and corporations, and the book is an edited and complete manual and has vivid application for foster homes, schools, abusive relationships, and the protection of the marginalized.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

T HE STRATEGIC TOOLS used in Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully are based on the information I learned while achieving a master’s in business administration and while working on a doctorate in organizational psychology from Ashford University and the University of the Rockies. These educational programs detail methods to heal and promote healthy workplace cultures. I am deeply grateful for all my teachers at Ashford Forbes School of Business and the University of the Rockies. I am also grateful to numerous friends and colleagues who encouraged and supported me in writing the book Finding the Good in the Workplace B ully .

I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Dennis O’Grady, who has greatly influenced my ability to improve my interpersonal and intrapersonal communication with his TALK2Me system. Dr. O’Grady helped me realize that communication is an attitude that can heal relationships and provide the basis for effective professional communication when communicator styles are understood and respected. Ideally, as we grow with the TALK2Me communicator system, we move toward and adopt the functional aspects of both communicator styles.

Bill Witte and his Vital Life Community concept have transformed my leadership focus from innovation and productivity to include a thought process that develops a concern for how these elements are achieved and to what expense. The Vital Life Community concept focuses on socialization and well-being to create a life plan that is congruent with organizational and personal goals and dreams, rather than seeking socialization and well-being only if we have time. In a Vital Life Community or organization, change occurs in such a way that bully triads, which consist of the bully, the victim, and the bystander, are dismantled peacefully, and thus, bully-free sectors are allowed to become leaders who respect not only the human doing but also the human being.

I would like to offer my appreciation to my brother, Pastor Dan Hicks, for sharing with me the passages in the Bible that defined the bully and the importance of labeling the actions that lead to a lack of reverence in the workplace. The feelings that are left behind after a bully event are difficult to dismiss; however, with proper direction and focus, bully triads can move forward if they learn forgiveness. Pastor Dan Hicks has dedicated his life to the support and protection of the marginalized and to help individuals with the process of forgiveness.

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CHAPTER 1

The Bully Impact

O RGANIZATIONAL LEADERS EXAMINE and analyze the workplace environment for anything that may hinder brand image, retention of brand knowledge, productivity, and retention of human resource talent, employee satisfaction, and customer satisfaction. Additionally, factors that may obscure the mission and values of the organization are scoured for rightness and possible ethical dilemma. When factors that create any different vision are found, issues are often addressed terminally and quickly without investigating the origin. When factors are found that are in disharmony with the desired present and future organizational stories and memories, the culture is said to be toxic and unhea lthy.

Organizational administrators often stand ready to adapt to costly new management and leadership programs to offset the rising cost of doing business in a toxic environment, enlisting consultants to diagnose organizational culture and to produce treatment plans filled with cognitive behavioral approaches that are vague and short-lived. While some consulting expense is necessary, organizational leaders may be missing the easiest of all remedies for toxic workplace environments and the escalating cost of doing business within an industry, which can be found in this book titled Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully.

Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully sounds like a misnomer; however, bullies are only using skills and talents inappropriately. It is known that bully manipulation and misuse of power can devastate work teams and organizational culture. What if those same energies and skill were used appropriately and without the unrestrained ego, greed, and self-centeredness found within carefully planned and executed bully events? What if instead of having a talent for setting up dirty alliances and bully intentions, the brutal wit of the bully was reorganized and aligned with the mission and values of the organization? Finding the Good in the Workplace Bully looks at the potential found in the bully and the need to fix the culture before considering termination of the bully.

The workplace bully can easily be identified when there are escalations in chaos and workplace tension because bullies are often central figures who receive credit for all infamous deeds and, sometimes, heroics. Bullies harbor resources, information, and knowledge and undermine every functional process. However, workplace bullies do not suddenly emerge into existence but are fueled by imbalances in the organizational culture and slowly nurtured to take their unfair share of the workplace power. What is