I*****y
发帖数: 6402 | 1 虽然是一篇很老的文章，转给没有看过的同学。相信并不是每个人都有好运气碰到nice
boss，bully boss大概能占到50％，在生物领域这个比例可能更高。
source: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_issues/articles/2006_09_22/bosses_who_bully
Bosses Who Bully
By Irene S. Levine
September 22, 2006
By making concessions to her supervisors and by working hard to keep her own
frustrations in check, Barbara was ultimately able to complete her
doctorate.
If you think bullies only lurk in playgrounds, think again. Adult bullies
are ubiquitous, cropping up as supervisors in organizations around the globe
. In laboratories and other scientific settings, the inherent imbalance of
power between trainees and their supervisors can set the stage for workplace
bullying. "Bullying thrives in situations where the perpetrators are both
powerful and frightening, and those around them too scared to challenge,"
writes physician and career counselor Anita Houghton, M.D., in BMJ Careers .
There are other reasons why science is a fertile breeding ground for bullies
. "People in certain fields rise up the managerial chain by being experts,"
says sociologist Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D., author of A Survival Guide for
Working with Bad Bosses: Dealing with Bullies, Idiots, Back-Stabbers, and
other Managers from Hell (American Management Association, 2006). "Science
is one of those fields. You can have supervisors who are brilliant in their
work as scientists but who don't necessarily have people skills. They may
not have management training or an understanding of how to work with
employees. Also, in scientific laboratories, there isn't always a human
resources person to go to, and there may be few opportunities for oversight.
If someone complains, there are likely to be repercussions, and the person
can be blacklisted."
If you're a science trainee whose boss is a bully, the challenges and risks,
to both your professional and your personal life, are formidable, and your
options are usually limited. But if you recognize this phenomenon, there are
ways to minimize its adverse effects.
Barbara's experience
Barbara,* currently a postdoc, acquired what she now calls "emotional scars"
while earning her doctoral degree. Even though the experiences occurred
several years ago, she still can't put them out of her mind. She was a Ph.D.
student in biology working in a laboratory at a European university when
she was bullied by her bosses.
"It felt like the slave trade," she says. Her advisor, one of two co-
directors in the lab, was enraged when he learned that Barbara had moved in
with her boyfriend. "If you are planning to have children," he said, "I
should know it so you can leave the lab now." Barbara had no such plans--but
when one of her labmates became pregnant, the advisor started assigning the
woman less and less work, isolating her from her peers. "You became
pregnant, and that's the last thing you do in my lab," her advisor told her.
The woman resigned.
While Barbara was writing her dissertation, the other co-director told her
he needed help running some experiments for a project that would be
published in a top-tier journal. When she told him that she was already
stretched thin finishing her doctoral work and applying for postdocs, he got
angry. He demanded that she think about it overnight and return to his
office the next day. Barbara returned and told him that she simply didn't
have the time. "You don't understand, Barbara," he said. "I'm not making you
an offer; I'm telling you that you are going to do these experiments."
Because she was close to finishing her degree and didn't want it derailed,
she felt as though she had no choice. She took on the additional work.
Her advisor also asked her to share authorship of her papers with people who
had nothing to do with the work. When she questioned the dubious ethics, he
made it clear that she wasn't in a position to negotiate. "This is my lab,
Barbara; if you don't like my rules, you can go straight to the door," her
advisor told her, not for the first time. Other students suffered similar
indignities. "Both of them were controlling, possessive, and had no problems
threatening students to get what they wanted," Barbara says.
People like Barbara--on the first rung of their career ladders--often have
no choice other than to "grin and bear it" when faced with a bully in the
workplace, says Scott, who often consults on workplace relationships.
What it means to be bullied in the workplace
There is no commonly agreed-upon definition of "workplace bullying"; the
phenomenon can manifest in different forms. Social psychologist Gary Namie,
director of the Workplace Bullying Institute in Bellingham, Washington,
defines it as follows:
Repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets)
by one or more perpetrators that takes one or more of the following forms:
verbal abuse; threatening, humiliating, or offensive behavior/actions; work
interference--sabotage--which prevents work from getting done.
The box below provides a more detailed description, with examples provided
by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS). Although
most of us have probably fallen victim to one form of abuse or another, it
counts as bullying--and becomes a serious problem--when there is a regular
pattern of such behaviors.
Is Your Workplace Toxic?
Examples of Workplace Bullying (Source: CCOHS)
Spreading malicious rumors, gossip, or innuendo that are not true
Excluding or isolating someone socially
Intimidating a person
Undermining or deliberately impeding a person's work
Physically abusing or threatening abuse
Removing areas of responsibilities without cause
Constantly changing work guidelines
Establishing impossible deadlines that will set up the individual to fail
Withholding necessary information or purposefully giving the wrong
information
Making jokes that are 'obviously offensive' by spoken word or e-mail
Intruding on a person's privacy by pestering, spying, or stalking
Assigning unreasonable duties or workload in a way that creates unnecessary
pressure
Underwork--creating a feeling of uselessness
Yelling or using profanity
Criticizing a person persistently or constantly
Belittling a person's opinions
Unwarranted (or undeserved) punishment
Blocking applications for training, leave, or promotion
Tampering with a person's personal belongings or work equipment
According to the Canadian Safety Council, bullying--which they consider a
form of harassment--is far more prevalent than sexual harassment or racial
discrimination, perhaps because the latter are more likely to be illegal. As
heinous as the practice is, few countries have laws that discourage
workplace bullying. (France, Sweden, and Norway are exceptions.) A recent
review in the Journal of Business Ethics suggests that although the body of
research is growing, the United States lags behind other countries both in
studying the problem and addressing it. The authors speculate that workers
in the United States may be more comfortable with autocratic bosses than are
workers elsewhere.
A study in the British Medical Journal estimates that workplace bullying
affects up to 50% of the workforce in the United Kingdom at some time in
their working lives, with annual prevalence rates of 38%. Statistics from a
workplace bullying advice line suggest that 90% of cases in the U.K. involve
a manager bullying a subordinate; 8% involve peer-to-peer bullying; and in
2% of cases, subordinate(s) bully managers. Perpetrators are equally likely
to be male or female, but targets are more likely to be female.
A study published in the Postgraduate Medical Journal focused on doctors who
work in a research environment. The investigators surveyed 259 doctors who
had registered on Doctors.net.uk--the largest Web site for doctors in Europe
--and found that more than half reported having been bullied in the form of
threats to their professional status and personal standing.
Namie estimates that nearly three out of four bullied individuals ultimately
lose their position, which suggests that perpetrators aren't often held
accountable for their actions. In many cases, victims are blamed; other
times, the situation is written off as a personality conflict between two or
more people.
"Some people are more bully-hardy or bully-resistant than others," says
Eddie Erlandson, a physician and one of the co-authors of Alpha Male
Syndrome (Harvard Business School Press, 2006), a book that describes highly
competitive and energetic leaders who unintentionally create chaos in the
workplace because of bullying tactics. Although there is some research that
portrays victims of bullies as unassertive and conflict-avoidant, other
reports suggest that bullying is an "equal-opportunity" activity and that
anyone of us is vulnerable. Although evidence is only anecdotal, some
postdocs feel that foreign trainees are particularly vulnerable as targets
due to the social isolation that occurs when someone is new to a country and
just learning its language and culture. "You don't know other faculty or
other people, so from the beginning you find yourself in this 'you and your
advisor on a boat' position," says one postdoc.
The consequences of bullying are serious and extract a huge toll on physical
health (leading to migraines, sleeplessness, high blood pressure, and loss
of appetite), emotional health (leading to anxiety, depression, irritability
, family conflict, substance abuse, and thoughts of suicide), and
productivity (due to impaired concentration, low morale, absenteeism, and
staff turnover).
Bullies exist because the workplace culture supports them. "The incentives
to challenge bullying behavior are far outweighed by the incentives to keep
your head down," writes Houghton. "This creates an aggressive culture that
continues because it selects people who can survive in it--people who are
likely to be thick-skinned and aggressive themselves. These people in turn
provide role models for the up-and-coming generation."
Tips for turning it around
So what can a science trainee do to avoid the landmines?
Look before you leap
Because it's never easy to deal with bully bosses, try to avoid them. Be
careful before you agree to work with an individual who will likely have
influence over your career for years to come. Before you accept a position,
visit the laboratory (even if it entails a trip across the ocean) and spend
time speaking with fourth- or fifth-year trainees who know the history and
culture of the lab. Directly ask them about their working conditions and
staff turnover.
Watch your back
Once you're on board, experts agree that one of the most constructive
approaches to minimizing bullying is for trainees and supervisors to be
vigilant and educated about its symptoms. There is a growing body of
empirical literature, advice books, and Web sites to help you recognize
first signs and teach you coping skills.
Trust your instincts
If you feel like you are being bullied, chances are that you are. Keep in
mind that there are no objective tests or criteria; bullying is subjective.
One individual may not feel bullied under the same circumstances as another.
If you are uncertain about your feelings or if you aren't sure whether you
should approach your supervisor, seek advice from a trusted friend, family
member, colleague, or mentor. If you want to speak to someone removed from
your direct situation, find a safe place online where you can remain
anonymous and solicit feedback from others who have had similar experiences.
The ScienceCareers.org Forum is one such place.
Don't suffer in silence
Recognize that supervisors are often clueless about the impact of their
words or behavior. As a first step, in a firm, but calm, professional
demeanor, tell your supervisor how his or her behaviors or comments make you
feel and see whether things change. If the situation is so bad that you
feel you have nothing to lose, consider reporting the abuse to the next
level of management--realizing it may backfire and the consequences may be
dire. Be sure to keep a diary recording details of events and collect any
written documentation.
Find ways to maintain your self-confidence
Don't wallow in your situation. Instead, allow yourself downtime from work
and engage with other people and activities that allow you to feel good
about yourself. "Trainees need to develop an awareness of how they react to
stress, strain, stretch, unexpected change, and pressure, as well as sleep
deprivation," says Erlandson. He suggests that trainees practice "reset"
strategies: regular habits of exercise, breathing, relaxation, yoga,
meditation, prayer, or music.
You are not alone
Don't let your shame keep you isolated. If your boss is a bully, chances are
that other people feel the same way you do. Find confidants, in and out of
the office, to whom you can speak openly and with whom you can strategize
appropriate actions.
Plan an exit strategy
If the situation is intolerable or causing you more grief than it is worth,
it may be time to think about leaving. Don't leave impulsively. Discreetly
check out options in other labs or other institutions. Try not to burn any
bridges before you go. And remember that the situation will look different
when you're out the other end. "I joke about it now," says another postdoc.
"I say I deserved a second Ph.D. based on my graduate school experience--one
in psychology."
Become a bully-buster when you're in charge
As a manager later on, you can play an important role in guaranteeing a
bully-free environment for all. Clarify the steps a trainee should take if
his/her concerns aren't heard or are ignored by a supervisor. Assess the
negative impact of bullying on victims and bystanders, and be willing to
step in. Make sure your organization has mechanisms in place that allow for
feedback from employees; periodic evaluations of supervisors should be
standard organizational policy, perhaps through an anonymous survey,
suggests Scott. Without exception, there should be a "zero tolerance" policy
for bullying behavior, says Erlandson: "Clear communication of this
intention makes it easy to hold bullies accountable."
Out the other end
By making concessions to her supervisors and by working hard to keep her own
frustrations in check, Barbara was ultimately able to complete her
doctorate. She also used her experience positively when the time came to
choosing her next move. "Money, location, or publications were no longer my
priorities when I chose my next lab. I just didn't want to make the same
mistake again," says Barbara. She landed safely in a new workplace and was
fortunate to find "a wonderful advisor" who is always willing to listen and
to help. Entering his office continues to bring back painful memories of her
past, but she is hopeful that those too will pass in time.
* Names have been changed to protect privacy.
Was there a great mentor who helped you "kick it up a notch" personally and
professionally during the course of your training? How did you find this
mentor? What did he or she do for you that was most helpful? Please share
your experiences for an upcoming Mind Matters Column. Send your thoughts to
I***************[email protected].
Irene S. Levine is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in many of
America's leading newspapers and magazines. Trained as a psychologist, she
works part-time as a research scientist at the Nathan Kline Institute for
Psychiatric Research in Orangeburg, New York, and she holds a faculty
appointment as a professor of psychiatry at the New York University School
of Medicine. She resides in Chappaqua, New York. |
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