Responding to an Incident of Bullying at Work: An Opportunity to Create a Zero-Tolerance Culture

Abstract

Reported incidents of workplace bullying are on the rise across workplaces around the country and the globe. This article draws on my experience in working with these issues for over 25 years and illustrates some of its themes in a 2-part case study. The article describes a series of well-intentioned but ineffective responses to incidents of workplace bullying that could be taken by a manager, defines bullying in terms of an attempt by the bully to remove power from the target and retain that control for themselves, distinguishes between true bullying at work and aggressive nonbullying behavior, and identifies a suite of 12 effective responses to workplace bullying that could be taken by organizations committed to creating a zero-tolerance culture.