Not all people who bully are pathological bullies , but some certainly are. And the amount of damage they can cause is disturbing. Underlying causes and excuses aside, in many cases , bullying is a learned behaviour that can be unlearned.
In 2004 I spoke at a union conference where the topic of discussion was ‘workplace bullying in which clinical psychologist Keryl Egan, claimed in that profiling that could identify “psychotic bullies” who terrorise workplaces.
Egan highlighted three types – ‘accidental’ bullies who bully when they’re under stress, ‘destructive’ bullies who lash out when challenged, and ‘psychotic bullies’, who bully “because they can”.
AT least now, medical research is catching up. The interesting point about this research is that early intervention programs can be developed.
Brain scans: Inside the minds of bullies
BULLIES enjoy seeing people in pain in the same way others get a thrill out of gambling or taking drugs, new brain scan research shows.
Australian experts believe the discovery partly explains why some people get satisfaction out of things that repulse others.
The findings could help in developing programs to combat antisocial behaviour in young people.Scans of aggressive youths’ brains by researchers at the University of Chicago showed an area associated with rewards was highlighted when bullies watched a video clip of someone inflicting pain. Those without unusually aggressive behaviour did not have the same response.
“This is the first time MRI scans have been used to study situations that could otherwise provoke empathy,” Professor in Psychology and Psychiatry Dr Jean Decety said.
Sydney’s Brain and Mind Research Institute executive director Dr Ian Hickie said it was a very important finding. “The study confirms what people have always thought – that people who indulge in these kind of behaviours process information, including emotional information, differently from other people,” he said.“It’s like differences between men and women – when you look at brain scans they’re different. The processing of emotional information is different from person to person.”
Mr Hickie said a person’s brain kept developing until the early 20s.Psychologist Dr Helen McGrath from the National Centre Against Bullying said a link between reward and pain showed it was a learned behaviour: “Usual intervention with kids who are antisocial is to get in as early as possible – there are programs that start when they are four.
“The Government should continue to fund early intervention.”
John Mc
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John, I don’t think bullies can be reformed, if they have developed the habit. Once the bullying habit is established as a pattern of behaviour, supression of the behaviour is usually the only mechanism.
Anyting that helps provide early intervention should be supported.
Tom
Completely agree
I agree Tom that in many cases they can’t be reformed, however, early intervention may prevent the prospects of youngsters developing the habit. It’s a little late once they’ve become adults.
Take politicians like the lovely Belinda Neal, John Della Bosca and the good ole boy Tony Stewart as examples of old dogs. I love this piece by Paul Sheehan:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/paul-sheehan/labor-bully-gets-his-just-deserts/2008/11/16/1226770249784.html
Tony Stewart is a bully. Last week he refused to resign from the NSW ministry, then took legal advice when he was sacked. What does this man not understand? The incident which led to his dismissal was merely the tip, not the iceberg. The immovable object which brought him down was not just a woman’s complaint.
“Sacking him served to shut down the inquiry into his behaviour, just as it might have started to get out of control,” a former NSW police detective sergeant, John Doran, told me. “There is a much larger story here.”
Yes there is. Last Tuesday, a senior barrister, Chris Ronalds, SC, basically called Stewart a liar. After investigating a claim that Stewart had abused and intimidated a member of his staff, Tina Sanger, she found Sanger’s version of events was credible and Stewart’s version was not. “I did not accept the denials by Mr Stewart.”
The Premier, Nathan Rees, agreed with her, and also basically called Stewart a liar by asking for his resignation. That same night, Stewart made a personal explanation to Parliament in which he repeated his denials, called the accusation “hearsay”, and said he would refer the matter to his lawyers. He described the conversation that led to Ms Sanger departing in tears from a charity dinner last month as “a brief, amicable discussion”.
If this disputed incident were the only reason for Stewart’s dismissal, it would seem unfair. Ministers blow up at their staff all the time. Look no further than St Kevin Rudd. But Rees had to have been aware that this incident was merely the latest in a litany of credible accusations that Stewart has used his position in Parliament to attempt to coerce people”
The way I see it, the characteristics of a bully are often lauded in private enterprise.
Particularly when it comes to the position of “Sales Manager”.
Typically this individual is a complete w@nker. Motivated purely by money, and judges others by their ability to generate it.
No sense of humanity or societal concern. An unconscionable individual motivated by greed, with fear of dismissal as their weapon of choice.
I’ve personally had to work with four Sales Managers during my career and they were all like this. W@nkers, the lot of them..Especially the ones in Sydney.
Exactly reb! The so-called go-getters whole stop at nothing to achieve their ends. What has always pissed me off is that my career was essentially derailed because my behaviour was governed by my sense of fairness and empathy for others.
Also, imagine being rejected for a job because you lacked aggression and had too much empathy. Apparently it does happen, if Greg Chilvers’ is to be believed.
http://workers.labor.net.au/237/news1_bully.html
Workers Online : News : 2004 – Issue 237 : Position Vacant for Bully”
Psychometric testing is being used to identify bullies – then give them jobs. The revelation came as a clinical psychologist revealed profiling could identify “psychotic bullies” who terrorise workplaces.
Greg Chilvers from the NSW Police Association says a NSW employer used psychometric testing to select “a bully” after another applicant was rejected on the grounds that she lacked aggression and had too much empathy. “
John Mc
It does happen with regard to having too much empathy. In my annual assessments for the Bank I worked for I was always praised for the way I was respected and appreciated by staff and customers. Yet the report always at the end said I spent too much time dealing with customers and concerns rather than selling them more products ( read this as products they did not need). Despite this I never changed my morals.
Reb, excuse some of my shocking grammar – who’ll not whole etc LOL for some reason I get hyper when I’m on this type of subject.
joni: just don’t bully the keyboard John.
Shane,
Hugh Mackay refers, in his book ‘Right and Wrong’ to the moral muteness of many managers and their failure to ask, constantly and habitually, IS THIS RIGHT? – this failure, he rightly claims, creates an organisational climate in which management appears to be an amoral activity, economic considerations are paramount, and many employees feel able to behave less ethically at work than in their personal lives.
By the way, you ooze sincerity, honesty and empathy in your communication/comments. Just the type of person too many customers are deprived of seeing nowadays.
joni: just don’t bully the keyboard John.
Too late! LOL
Bullying seems to have been a much admired quality in Western society especially the last decade or so.
Bush, Blair and Howard all pathological bullies IMO. A lot of this bullying has been accepted by the general public under the guise of ‘individual responsibility’ or as a response to various fear campaigns.
It has already been mentioned that bullying seems to underpin the corporate system (and the free market), and our political ‘leaders’ are not immune.
I don’t think that ‘nice’ people ever do too well in the power stakes because they are ‘nice’ people.
Bad behaviour is rewarded by Govts and companies all the time. It is ‘our’ way.
Tracie
You’re right, bullying is pervasive in our society and sadly it’s all too often seen as a character strength instead of weakness..
You may never have heard of a fellow by the name of Gerry Spence who is well known in US legal circles. His record as a criminal lawyer was absolutely amazing. In 35 years he had never lost a criminal case and his take on things are pretty simple, and how he frames his debate is based on a simple philosophy.
The title of his book is ‘How to Argue and Win Every Time’, which is misleading – the term argue relates to our ability to communicate effectively.
Here’s a passage that stands out for me:
“We have traveled to the moon and back, but when we launch ourselves into outer space, we send forth a severely retarded species. In essence we remain the brute, for when confronted the brute attacks, and when faced with need or desire it takes from the weaker members of the hierarchy. It is an anomaly that we can split the atom, but we are nearly powerless to persuade each other to embrace justice. We can recombine genes, but we cannot in simple ways, ask each other for love and respect. The ultimate danger, of course, is placing the power of technology in the hands of the savage whose ability to argue has advanced a little over the grunt of his ancestors. In short, we have learned how to dominate people as things, but when relating to people as people we tread wearily in the Dark Ages.
We could advance the human race enormously if we learned to communicate honestly with our neighbours. We could experience a staggering breakthrough for the species if we but learned to achieve our needs and realise our dreams through argument (debate), rather than by splattering human bodies across the landscape’
Which sounds a lot like the Bush presidency.
“Which sounds a lot like the Bush presidency.”
Exactly!
John
Thank you for your kind words @ 8. To be honest i do not have an aggressive or angry bone in my body. While being passionate about things I always read and listen to others opinions. I have always prided myself on giving a customer the old fashioned service and only providing what I believe they need to achieve their goals. There is too much of this “Whole of Wallet” catch cry in that you sell them as much as possible so they cannot leave.
I firmly believe most of the aggression in our business community has stemmed from the good old USA where most of our work practices, modules and training have been adopted. the majority of so called worlds best practice rubbish has eminated from the USA where greed and aggression is part of the culture. They have not had ethics in their big business for many, many years and as our businesses grew and we inported bosses from the US we also imported their culture and ideals and morals, to the detriment of our society.
“I firmly believe most of the aggression in our business community has stemmed from the good old USA where most of our work practices, modules and training have been adopted. the majority of so called worlds best practice rubbish has eminated from the USA where greed and aggression is part of the culture.”
I agree Shane, and the financial incentives added to the fire.
Hopefully some major changes are coming.
How the fallout from the financial crisis could breed a new type of corporate leader
http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/13/news/companies/reingold_newleader.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008111406
“In the early 1980s, leadership became defined by a focus on the individual, a celebrity worshiped by business magazines like ours. The Visionary CEO – think Lee Iacocca or Jack Welch – personified a corporation. The twin goals that defined earlier eras (helping both stakeholders and shareholders; building a business for the long term) were refined to one simpler one: that, as economist Milton Friedman declared, “the social responsibility of business is to increase profits.” Compensation became tied – primarily through the use of stock options – to ever more dramatic moves, such as mergers, acquisitions, or other gambles. The stock price was widely accepted as a real-time CEO report card, the numerical proof of success, even as most stocks were on the rise.
“We took the complex nature of leadership,” says management thinker C.K. Prahalad, “and converted it into a single metric by basing compensation on the stock price.”
The faults of visionary leaders were first brought to light during the Enron era and the dot-com crash. There were a few calls for change – Collins, with his “Level Five” leader, and Khurana, who showed that “charismatic” CEOs didn’t boost performance in the long term. But the visionary persevered, his gambler’s instincts honed and rewarded in a lightly regulated, winner-take-all environment.
Stanley O’Neal took over as CEO of Merrill Lynch in 2002 with the express mission of catching up with the more aggressive trading firms. He bet – and ultimately lost – his nearly century-old firm on subprime and outsized leverage (and when the bet went bad took a $160 million severance package on the way out the door).
While visionary leaders talked about teamwork, they believed they could control their firms’ destiny by themselves, citing any attempts to regulate their businesses as hostile and anticompetitive.
This leadership approach has failed. According to a recent study from Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership, confidence in business leaders saw a more dramatic decline than that for any group, including politicians or the media.”
John
“We took the complex nature of leadership,” says management thinker C.K. Prahalad, “and converted it into a single metric by basing compensation on the stock price.”
Problem is they are not being compensated on the stock price now that the prices have dropped. if they were then their salaries should have been cut between 30 and 90% as this is how some stocks have dropped.
Once again it is a lie and deception. Link my remuneration to stock prices, but only when they go up. if they go down give me a pay rise to get us out of the mess I contributed to.
How this can be fixed now is beyond me as the greed has been set in our culture.
Shane I think the problem is more a glorification of greed. In the past it was frowned upon, one of the seven deadly sins.
Now we have churches that openly support the accumulation of not only their own wealth but that of their followers.
We have developed a culture that idolises the wealthy, and cultivates a desire for possessions. At the same time it demonises and scapegoats the disadvantaged.
This can be turned around, it was social engineering that got us where we are and this is not irreversible.
Tracie
I hope you a right
I think out business culture is too driven by a big, swinging d1ck culture.
Too much deliver at any cost, too much short term focus, often driven by the remuneration incentive structures for those responsible for the organisation.
It is, in part, a USA culture, but I think it has been evident here and the UK for some time. to degree, I think it characterises much of the business behaviour in the English speaking world, I’m not sure it is as evident in Japan or Germany, for example.
Now some might consider this to be contrary to comments I have made elsewhere, I think this provides more context around my opinion.
Ethical businesses retain good employees longer, their business is more sustainable, and they create a culture of inclusion and innovation. This will ultimately cause a more successful business. And I think I’ve said that before.
Tom
I agree,It has been evdenced in the Uk and here for some time. However it was all imported from the US. I was in the bank when the practices were purchased from the US for hundreds of millions of dollars and implemented with extreme speed.
We had weekends of mandatory attendance to watch video after video of sales and techniques and scripting of lines. These weekends went from 5pm friday to 5 pm sunday. IMHO it was a form a brainwashing and attempt to change our aussie culture fast and forever. It has now leached into all of our society.