THE BULLY AT WORK


When a Bully is the Target ©2013 Gail Pursell Elliott


The term mobbing originates from the animal kingdom,


generally referring to birds although it does occur in other species. There is a barnyard behavior known as chicken pecking which is not when one bully chicken picks on another, but when all of the chickens target and isolate one bird and take turns pecking it. Each one pecks just once or twice. Not one of them really does enough to do harm. The end result is a horrific death because of the accumulation of all the pecks.


This is a good example of how random mobbing can appear and how damaging it is. Nobel Laureate, Konrad Lorenz, first described mobbing among birds and animals in his 1966 book, On Aggression. He attributed the behavior to instincts rooted in the struggle to survive. He also observed that humans are subject to similar impulses, but are able to control them.


What does this have to do with the bully at work? The target of a mobbing in the animal kingdom generally is a predator. The target of a workplace mobbing often is someone who represents a threat in some way. Anyone can be a target, including a bully. When I present programs on mobbing, occasionally a few participants will tell me that they believe they have a mobber at work and that a group of them plan to get together to stop or expose him or her. This is dangerous ground, for these well-meaning individuals are forming a mob. People often view their actions as justified when they join together to drive out another coworker. When the target is a bully it becomes reminiscent of the villagers going after the beast in the castle. Mob rule takes over and people will engage in behavior that may be out of character.


While a person who engages in bullying behavior needs to be dealt with professionally, mobbing is not the way to do this. When mobbing springs up in an effort by staff to eliminate anyone, bully or not, it may indicate a misstep on the part of management to recognize and handle unpleasant employee relations as they occur. When issues are not addressed in a satisfactory manner, people may take matters into their own hands in whatever way they can. Mobbing is one of these


Read more Trauma-Informed Care Resources Guide


Experiencing a trauma can change the way a person perceives the world. Whether trauma is caused by a single event such as a natural disaster, or by a


repeated or prolonged exposure to abuse, an individual's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are filtered through his experience and perspective.


Increasing your awareness about the trauma a person has experienced and the impact it has on him can help you when he becomes anxious or disruptive. As you sharpen your understanding of the person’s experience, your relationship with him will strengthen, and that rapport can make your interventions more successful.


When you have the trust of someone who exhibits challenging behavior, you know how to reach him, how to communicate with him, and what will help him calm down and regain control.


To help you support the individuals in your care who have experienced trauma, CPI has iden ed 14 Top Trauma-Informed Care Online Resources.


Source: CPI; crisisprevention.com Read the Trauma-Informed Care Resources Guide


There Will Be Another Mass Shooting. This Is What the Data Tells Us About It


The next mass shooting will take place on February 12, 2014, in Spokane, Washington. It will be committed by an emotionally disturbed, 38 year-old white man who will kill seven people and wound six more at a place he used to work using a semi- automatic handgun he purchased legally in the state.


That, at least, is what a look at the data on past such shootings might indicate. We'll say at the outset: Every assertion in the first paragraph is a function of probability, not fact. The next mass shooting —which will happen somewhere, sometime —will almost certainly not be in that place at that time. But a look at the historic data on such killings, compiled and shared by Mother Jones magazine, makes each of those predictions defensible.


If President Obama's second term has been beset by "unpredictable calamities" like the Navy Yard shooting, in the words of theWashington Post's David Nakamura, we thought we'd try and offer a little prediction. Especially since, if such incidents occur at the same pace for the rest of Obama's term as they have since 2009, there could be 14 more before he leaves office.


Here's how they came up with their predictions.


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