The pluralistic informal sectors of an organization can reduce the calculating serial-type of bullying to a degree. But these counter measures do not last indefinitely. Here is one secondary control device that has limited reducing effects on this kind of bullying.
Educating employees, students, or populations en masse.
Educating the workplace employees, school-age students, or members of other organizations does indeed make everyone more aware of what bullying really is. This training will bring about relative amounts of buy-in and pluralistic checks-and-balances for controlling the subtle bullying and other discriminatory or predatory practices.
But in the long run, these informal devices breakdown and do not work against the never-ending schemes of the clever deep-seeded incorrigible serial bullying, the kind that knows how to use organizational structure to its advantage. This kind of bullying will eventually hurt their targets anyway, and could easily damage the organization as well.
Breakdown of counter-control efforts.
Part of the reason for the breaking-down of these informal counter measures is most individuals in organizations have their own assignments, duties, goals, and rote work to complete. Thus, if they are called to work full-time to counterbalance unnecessary bullying, their basic productivity and other organizational goals will lessen substantially.
Most organizational members do not have the time to help extinguish these fires constantly. Yet, they are willing to contribute to stopping it when and wherever they can, which eventually becomes ineffective on a part-time basis. Additionally, if the so-called bully happens to be a manager, the informal system will be worked to the bone trying to keep things straight and fair. This situation is particularly true if the manager is hostile, bipolar, overly needy, or has uncontrollable emotional problems. In these cases, the counter-control efforts for it consumes the organization’s productivity and morale.
Stand-up to bullying.
Still, on the other hand, if enough people get fed-up with this continuously harassing and stressful problem, they will stand-up and do something about it at any cost. As a result, this action will have a positive effect for fixing the bullying situation. Bullies need to know they have strong organizational opposition, which can help prevent it from happening in the first place.
Overall, then, the en-masse education of people does help to prevent or control bullying to a degree. More people suddenly become aware of how bad bullying really is, and they can spot it faster. They are also willing stand-up against the problem whenever they can. Yet, over periods of time, it is not enough to stop the incorrigible, constantly-operating-through-the-cracks kind of bullying completely, nor will it stop its never-ending organizational harm and disharmony, which, in many cases, leaves the organization liable for any damages caused by it under most conditions.
Although the newly educated, now-in-the-know people will try to counterbalance the bullying for a while, the bullying itself will not be fixed, nor will its instigators be rehabilitated by the education alone. Furthermore, when these pluralistic informal counter measures weaken, the following more harmful effects from bullying can harm an organization:
* layers of tangled webs and misunderstandings
* recurring high-levels of petty-mindedness and self-aggrandizing activity
* malice driven trickery and game-playing beyond the normal (politicizing anything and everything, even the taken-for-granted human rights and similar issues)
* more than the normal amounts of rumors, gossip, and false implications about people
* chronic attempts to irritate and goad fellow members in any way possible
* hateful control-gaming by almost everyone (unnecessary arguing and overworked attempts to put control-handles on everybody and everything)
* repeated proving of who the have’s and have-not’s are or are not
* morbid desires to break certain people down to coerce them into unhealthy relationships or deals
* lowered quality control of the products or services offered
* lowered output and productivity
* chronic groping for more of everything by almost everyone
* incessant and impassioned whining and complaining by many
* lowered group morale and self-esteem
* group inability to deal with the important issues
* basic losses of leadership
* potential lawsuits from those injured by the bullying problem and those who tried to control or stop it
* gradual conversion of an organization to substantial amounts of coverup and falsification.
In conclusion, the subtle cleverly-carried-out bullying that can take place within an organization is difficult to control through educational and informal efforts alone. To control or stop this kind of bullying, an organization needs standup action plus leadership that is willing to do something about it.