Intuition and Analytical Skills Matter Most in a Crisis – continued from page 8


combining intuitive decisions with analysis made the best decisions in the crisis situations,” Bakken concludes. Those who make the best decisions in a crisis practise a flexible decision style that switches between intuition and analysis,” the researcher points out. His study also shows a lot of correlation between the participants’ preferred decision style and how they actually make decisions in the crisis simulation test.


Read more THE BULLY AT WORK


Working the Gray Area ©2014 Gail Pursell Elliott


"The only real moral crime that one man can commit against another is the attempt to create, by his words or actions, an impression of the


contradictory, the impossible, the irrational, and thus shake the concept of rationality in his victim." —Ayn Rand


Whether or not you agree with Ayn Rand’s philosophy, the above quote describes clearly a type of abuse perpetrated by mobbers and bullies in the workplace. Even if you have a bullying or general harassment policy in place, these enterprising people will work in the gray areas of those policies. This can happen on any level of the organization, whether supervisors, coworkers, or subordinates. It is important to be specific when writing such a policy that these more subtle behaviors are included and also to pay attention to concerns from employees which may seem trivial at the time but are indicative of patterns of behavior that undermine an individual’s ability to perform. As my colleague, the late Tim Field wrote, “ By the time HR get to hear of the bullying they are faced with an articulate, plausible, convincing, charming "bully" and a gibbering wreck of a "target" who is traumatized and thus unconvincing, inarticulate, incoherent, obsessed, apparently paranoid, tearful, distressed and highly emotional. By this time the bully has already convinced HR that the target has a "mental health problem", is a liability to the organization, and needs to be got rid of.”


Examples of these types of behaviors are taken from actual cases with which I have experience. Often what happens is that one individual will be held to a different standard than others, micromanaged, or is the recipient of off handed remarks that are ambiguous. If the employee questions these the response may be simply a look of incredulity. For example, in a retail environment, a supervisor or manager, under the guise


WORKPLACE VIOLENCE NEWS (continued) Measures Being Offered to Reduce Mass Shootings Not Likely to Succeed


With the one-year anniversary of the tragic school shooting in Newtown just passing many are still asking questions about what leads to these type tragedies in the United States. While some have theorized about the common personality traits of mass murderers, the frequency of these incidents, and the policies that can stop them, such speculation has led to many myths and misconceptions.


New research published in Homicide Studies finds that public policy based on these myths has a limited possibility of decreasing the rate of mass murders. “Taking a nibble out of the risk of mass murder, however small, would still be a worthy goal for the nation,” the authors stated. “Howev er … eliminating the risk of mass murder would involve extreme steps that we are unable or unwilling to take —abolishing the Second Amendment, achieving full employment, restoring our sense of community, and rounding up anyone who looks or acts at all suspicious. “


Criminologists James Alan Fox and Monica J. DeLateur analyzed research and important statistics to debunk eleven common myths surrounding mass shootings and note that “mass murder just may be a price we must pay for living in a society where personal freedom is so highly valued.”


Read more


of supervisory discretion, consistently assigns work that is unpleasant, meaningless, or impossible to complete within expected time frames to one individual. The person is assigned to working every Saturday while others work that day on a rotating basis. Adjusting a schedule and posting it without notifying one of the impacted employees while others are told about it, is another subtle way this is done. The supervisor can simply say it is the employee’s responsibility to check the schedule regularly.


Another way people work the gray area is to treat a coworker as if he or she is invisible, interacting with the person only when absolutely necessary and to a minimal degree.


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Have a question about workplace violence? Email us at Barry@WVPReport.com to get an expert answer.


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