What if your boss is a bully?

Bullying occurs in all walks of life and it is caused by a number of reasons, but usually by people with a tendency to have psychopath and sadistic traits. This can start at childhood, and unless checked continue on to adulthood until the bully is quite old. The bully delights in telling people of his or her exploits and will stay for hours telling an audience how they got their way. Look for them at the top of the organisation; they like to control.

The structure of an organisation or business can play a part in keeping this despicable menace alive. Progression of the bully up the slippery slope can result in levels of “old boys clubs” and they usually reward themselves very well. Of course when the bully achieves this they have to work twice as hard to cover up what they have been doing. The levels of the organisation or business plays a role if it is common practice to move top management to the next level until they come to the top tier then the bullying continues, but has a greater level of control. At each level the bully makes sure they have apprentices on every level.

The bully likes face-to-face engagement with his or her victim; they engage weaker individuals they can control to help with their bullying. This behaviour always ends in the members who do not want this in their lives or cannot handle it for whatever reason to resign from the organisation. Very few people will take the bully and try to beat them; it is a long and painful process. The best way to record the progress of the bully is to create a paper trail. Never be alone, always have witnesses, and with today’s technology look for the CCTV (while this does not record sound, it records the aggressive movements of the bully).

The bully encourages his or her apprentices to misbehave at the ground level of the organisation, and the mayhem and ugly behaviour has to be seen to be believed; yelling, swearing, throwing chairs, papers, threatening personal violence and stealing property of the victim or organisation. The apprentice refuses to abide by the constitution or code of conduct or rules of the organisation until legal measures are put in place. This is usually condoned by the bully who will have secret meetings to suggest what other measures can be used to disrupt the organisation.

A good case in point is the recent stories making the headlines in the national papers and over the media is the RSL NSW. The structure is right, the progression through the ranks is in place, but the tribunals are conducted internally by “mates” and the bullying can be put in place at all levels of the organisation.

The only way to help control the bullying is to make sure the governance is strictly enforced, the bully has not been able to make an apprentice out of the enforcer, the bully does not have too many positions of power, make a paper trail, no oral exchanges on phones, always let it go to message, so you have a voice message or they cannot resist sending a text. CCTV is your friend, always ask the venue to download the incident, report your case to the police and get a number for your report.

Why do I go to the trouble to write this, you ask. I like Truth, Fairness and Justice. I speak for the people who cannot defend themselves. You need a tough skin, get used to being targeted by the bully, all in all the more people that the bully hurts the angrier I get. Some need to speak out.

Signed,

Anonymous.