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The Bully-Proof Workplace

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The Bully-Proof Workplace

Essential Strategies, Tips, and Scripts for Dealing with the Office Sociopath

McGraw-Hill,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Bullies can damage and undermine a workplace, but you can learn to deal with them.

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

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  • Applicable
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Recommendation

Bullies blight the workplace. They harm morale and productivity. But if you understand bullies, you can learn to deal with them. Bullies fall into four categories: “Belier, Blocker, Braggart” and “Brute.” Confronting a bully is difficult, but if you succeed, you may benefit almost immediately. You could feel a weight lift from your shoulders and take pride in your ability as an executive. But, authors Peter. J. Dean and Molly D. Shepard caution in this exhaustive – and sometimes exhausting – manual, if things don’t go well, you could face an even more difficult situation. They offer varied techniques for putting bullies in their place. getAbstract recommends their guidance to human resource officials, managers and victims of bullies.

Summary

The Workplace Blight

Bullies create havoc in workplaces by upsetting people, disrupting harmony and undermining morale and productivity. Workplace bullying affects 65 million people in the US each year. When Charlotte Rayner and her associates at the Manchester School of Management studied bullying, they found that 25% of workers have suffered bullying at work.

Bullies are everywhere. They pick on people, harass them and make them feel angry and small. Bullies lack the capacity to listen to others with respect. They do not care if the way they act emotionally harms someone else.

Types of Bullies

Bullies come in four categories:

  1. “Belier” – These liars defame and mislead others by exploiting untruths and false stories. They belittle the people they bully by spreading rumors and insults about them.
  2. “Blocker” – These obstructionists act obsessively. They create inflexible rules that they want other people to follow. They try to prevent people from sharing ideas.
  3. “Braggart” – These egoists love themselves excessively and seek the spotlight. They ...

About the Authors

Peter J. Dean, PhD, and Molly D. Shepard are joint partners in The Leaders Edge/Leaders By Design, an executive development consultancy. Dean has taught at the Wharton School, among other universities. Shepard has more than 25 years of experience in executive development.

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