Managers also suffer workplace bullying

Edited by Jill Wright, 29 September 2014

Last week Business Insider picked up on a study by US-based jobs site CareerBuilder which showed that managers were just as, if not more likely to suffer workplace bullying as other employees.

The most common source of the bullying, according to the survey, was the boss, or someone higher up in the organisation, although in 46 per cent of cases, a co-worker was responsible.

What they didn't explore was something that our business psychologists quite frequently come across: the phenomenon of "upward bullying", where managers are victimised by disgruntled, or vindictive team members.

Research by organisational psychologists in the Department of Management at Griffith University's Business School, indicated that almost a quarter of Australian managers suffered from this form of bullying at work.

Psychology Melbourne's team of business psychologists has found that organisations can often overlook this form of bullying, exposing themselves to the threat of action under new workplace bullying legislation.

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Tags

• workplace bullying
• workplace conflict
• work stress