Case Study 1

Bullying Bosses

“It got to where I was twitching, literally, on the way into work,” states Carrie Clark, a 52 year
old retired teacher and administrator. After enduring 10 months of repeated insults and
mistreatment from her supervisor, she finally quit the job. “I had to take care of my health.”

Although many individuals recall bullies from their elementary school days, some are realizing
that bullies can exist in the workplace as well. And these bullies do not just pick on the weakest
in the group; rather, any subordinate in their path may fall prey to their torment, according to Dr.
Gray Namie, director of the Workplace Bulling and Trauma Institute. Dr. Namie further says
workplace bullies are not limited to men—women are at least as likely to be bullies. However,
gender discrepancies are found in victims of bulling, as women are more likely to be targets.

What motivates a boss to be bully? Dr. Harvey Hornstein, a retired professor that Teachers
College at Columbia University, suggests that supervisors may use bulling as a mean to subdue a
subordinate who poses a threat to the supervisor’s status. In addition, supervisors may bully
individuals to vent frustrations. Many times, however, the sheer desire to wield power may be
the primary reason for bulling.

What is the impact of bulling on employee motivation and behavior? Surprisingly, even though
victims of workplace bullies may feel less motivated to go to work every day, it does not appear
that they discontinue performing their required job duties. However, it does appear that victims
of bullies are less motivated to perform extra-role or citizenship behaviors. Helping others,
speaking positively about the organization, and going beyond the call of duty and behavior that
are reduced as a result of bulling. According to Dr. Bennett Tepper of the University of Carolina,
fear may be the reason that many workers continue to perform their job duties. And not all
individuals reduce their citizenship behaviors. Some continue to engage in extra-role behaviors
to make themselves look better then their collogues.

What should you do if your boss is bulling you? Don’t necessarily expect help from coworkers.
As Emelise Aleandri, an actress and producer from New York who left her job after being
bullied, stated, “Some people were afraid to do anything. But others didn’t mind what was
happening at all, because they wanted my job.” Moreover, according to Dr. Michelle Duffy of
the University of Kentucky, coworkers often blame victims of bulling in order to resolve their
guilt. “ They do this by wondering whether maybe the person deserved the treatment, that he or
she has been annoying, or lazy, they did something to earn it,” states Dr. Duffy. One example of
an employee who observed this phenomenon firsthand is Sherry Hamby, who was frequently
verbally abused by her boss and then eventually fired. She stated, “This was a man who insulted
me, who insulted my family, who would lay into me while everyone else in the office just sat
there and let it happen. The people in my office eventually started blaming me.”

What can a bullied employee do? Dr. Hornstein suggests that employees try to ignore the insult
and respond only to the substance of the bully’s gripe. “Stick with substance, not the process,
often it won’t escalate,” he states. Of course, that is easier said than done.

Questions

1. Of the three types of organizational justice, which one does workplace bulling most
closely resemble?

2. What aspects of motivation might workplace bulling reduce? For example, are there
likely to be effects on an employee’s self-efficacy? If so, what might those effects be?

3. If you were a victim of workplace bulling, what steps would you take to try to reduce its
occurrence? What strategies would be most effective? What strategies might be
ineffective? What would you do if one of your colleagues were a victim of an abusive
supervisor?

4. What factors do you believe contribute to workplace bulling? Are bullies a product of the
situation, or do they have flawed personalities? What situations and what personality
factors might contribute to the presence of bullies?
Case Study 2

Difficult Transitions

Tony Stark had just finished his first week at Reece Enterprises and decided to drive upstate to a
small lakefront lodge for some fishing and relaxation. Tony had worked for the previous ten
years for the O’Grady Company, but O’Grady had been through some hard times of late and had
recently shut down several of its operating groups, including Tony’s, to cut costs. Fortunately,
Tony’s experience and recommendations had made finding another position fairly easy. As he
drove the interstate, he reflected on the past ten years and the apparent situation at Reece.

At O’Grady, things had been great. Tony had been part of the team from day one. The job had
met his personal goals and expectations perfectly, and Tony believed he had grown greatly as a
person. His work was appreciated and recognized; he had received three promotions and many
more pay increases.

Tony had also liked the company itself. The firm was decentralized, allowing its managers
considerable autonomy and freedom. The corporate Culture was easygoing. Communication was
open. It seemed that everyone knew what was going on at all times, and if you didn’t know about
something, it was easy to find out.

The people had been another plus. Tony and three other managers went to lunch often and
played golf every Saturday. They got along well both personally and professionally and truly
worked together as a team. Their boss had been very supportive, giving them the help they
needed but also staying out of the way and letting them work.

When word about the shutdown came down, Tony was devastated. He was sure that nothing
could replace O’Grady. After the final closing was announced, he spent only a few weeks
looking around before he found a comparable position at Reece Enterprises.
As Tony drove, he reflected that "comparable" probably was the wrong word. Indeed, Reece and
O’Grady were about as different as you could get. Top managers at Reece apparently didn’t
worry too much about who did a good job and who didn’t. They seemed to promote and reward
people based on how long they had been there and how well they played the never-ending
political games.

Maybe this stemmed from the organization itself, Tony pondered. Reece was a bigger
organization than O’Grady and was structured much more bureaucratically. It seemed that no
one was allowed to make any sort of decision without getting three signatures from higher up.
Those signatures, though, were hard to get. All the top managers usually were too busy to see
anyone, and interoffice memos apparently had very low priority.

Tony also had had some problems fitting in. His peers treated him with polite indifference. He
sensed that a couple of them resented that he, an outsider, had been brought right in at their level
after they had had to work themselves up the ladder. On Tuesday he had asked two colleagues
about playing golf. They had politely declined, saying that they did not play often. But later in
the week, he had overheard them making arrangements to play that very Saturday.

It was at that point that Tony had decided to go fishing. As he steered his car off the interstate to
get gas, he wondered if perhaps he had made a mistake in accepting the Reece offer without
finding out more about what he was getting into.

Questions

1. Identify several concepts and characteristics from the field of organizational behavior that
this case illustrates.

2. What advice can you give Tony? How would this advice be supported or tempered by
behavioral concepts and processes?
3. Is it possible to find an "ideal" place to work? Explain.