SWE - Winter 2009 - (Page 34) The institute recognized that a bully’s superior must act to stop the behavior, because “doing nothing” puts the superior in cahoots with the bully. “When nothing is done, the employer becomes the bully’s accomplice, whether deliberately or inadvertently, by allowing it to continue unabated,” the institute report stated. Bullies are often cruelly innovative, the report said, and can vary their actions from shouting, swearing, and malicious sarcasm to making undeserved evaluations of the target, to stealing credit or trying to tarnish the target’s reputation. Contrary to the stereotype that a bully’s target is a whiner, the Zogby poll showed that only 3 percent of the targets sued, University, told SWE conference attendees of a younger woman who “smack talked” her behind her back in order to deny her a muchanticipated promotion. Dadhich refused to leave the company because she felt committed to the many people still loyal to her. Dadhich even managed to renew a relationship with the young woman who had back-stabbed her. Such conciliatory action is difficult with a higher-up bully. When an employee must play defense against a bully, Bryant suggests the following: • Document everything and keep copies at home • Copy your e-mail responses to others in the work group so it doesn’t become a one-onone situation • Find an external network of friendly, supportive people • In a tough economy such as this one, try to find a friendly, trustworthy colleague, or talk with an ombudsman or human resources person, rather than leave the job in the heat of the moment Early intervention needed New research at the University of Chicago shows that unusually aggressive young people may actually enjoy inflicting pain on others. Scans of aggressive male teenagers’ brains showed that an area associated with rewards was highlighted when the teens watched a video clip of someone inflicting pain on another person. Jean Decety, Ph.D., the Chicago professor of psychology and psychiatry who led the study of boys 16 to 18 years old, said the bullies knew that someone was in pain or hurt. “Bullies use what for you and me would be negative information — someone is in tears; he is sad — and they like it,” said Dr. Decety, a father of two sons ages 11 and 13, who believes it is important to intervene with bullies when they are very young. “[Bullies] have a very strong reaction in regions of the brain involved in pleasure, reward, and excitement [when they see people suffer],” Dr. Decety said. “It’s as if, when they watch, they know people are in pain but they enjoy it.” Dr. Decety believes these bullies were abused or mistreated as babies or as very young children, and may have learned to associate such treatment with pleasure. “I do not know that [for a fact],” he said, noting that he is seeking a National Institutes of Health grant to continue his research on younger children, ages 7 to 11. The initial tests used MRI scans of the teenagers looking at video clips in which people endured pain accidentally, such as when a heavy bowl was dropped on their hands, and intentionally, when a person stepped on another’s foot. “The aggressive youth activat- “[Bullies] have a very strong reaction in regions of the brain involved in pleasure, reward, and excitement [when they see people suffer].” — Jean Decety, Ph.D., professor of psychology and psychiatry, University of Chicago 4 percent filed a formal complaint, 38 percent informally notified their employers, and 40 percent did not even tell their employers. The notion that an authoritarian personality squelches innovation was the topic of a 2008 SWE conference panel titled, “Building an Innovative Culture: I Wish I Had a Blueprint!” The panel’s facilitators, Suchita R. Dadhich, innovation leader for IBM Americas Rational Software, and John P. McDonald, technical executive with IBM Americas Rational Software, told of their own personal experiences: Dadhich of being stabbed in the back, and McDonald of being given assignments at which he was expected to fail. They pointed out that people who are innovators, who are bright and ambitious, will naturally pose a threat to bureaucrats, obstructionists, idea thieves, and others with vested interests in keeping things the way they are. The key to overcoming these obstacles is to build your credibility, enlist key allies, negate the fear that obstructionists and others harbor, and try to set up a situation in which everyone can win. Dadhich, who holds a bachelor’s of science in management information systems from Temple University and a master’s in informational technology leadership from La Salle 34 SWE WINTER 2009
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