badworkplace

Posts Tagged ‘Annie Le’

, ,

Was Annie Le’s killer a BULLY unchecked?

In WORK - Bad Workplaces, WORK - Workplace Violence on 10/11/2009 at 9:27 pm

Bullying at work is a grown-up version of schoolyard bullying, and far too often it is ignored until the bully’s behavior crosses the line into violent behavior.  Bullies are coworkers who use ridicule, make overt or covert threats, or exert authority that the organization has not given them. At the Yale U. Lab Raymond Clark allegedly tried to give orders to others regarding footwear (not a responsibility delegated to him) and cleaning cages (his job, which he had no authority to assign to others). 

Bullies are insecure individuals who have unresolved personal problems of one kind or another. They intimidate others as a means of getting their way or to compensate for their feeling of low self-esteem. They do not feel capable of winning others over to their side by stating their positions or by competing intellectually.  In other words, they pick on and threaten others to “act out” their own feelings of worthlessness.  For that reason, they often attack the most vulnerable—the coworker who is least likely to fight back—to demonstrate their power and their worth.

Bullies also attack the most competent—the ones against whom they fear they cannot compete successfully on the basis of workplace performance. Their objective may be to get the over-achiever to slow down or quit so that he or she is no longer a threat.  Or bullying may simply be the way that individual has learned to handle his or her jealousy of another’s competence or popularity.  In this case, the negative behavior probably is the bully’s way of showing that, while an individual may be successful or popular, he or she is less powerful and more vulnerable than the bully is.

Finally, there are individuals who are so mentally unfit that they simply enjoy humiliating, embarrassing, or degrading their coworkers. Even at the risk of alienating other coworkers, they savor the moments of control over the targeted person’s sense of well-being.

Whatever the reasons or motivations, bullying behavior does not just cease if ignored.  It can advance to more serious acts, including murder.

###

, , ,

Annie Le’s Workplace Murder – Why?

In WORK - Bad Workplaces, WORK - Workplace Violence on 09/21/2009 at 12:12 am

Annie Le’s murder is an act of workplace violence because it happened in the workplace; it may also have resulted from a workplace disagreement.  But why did Clark allegedly commit this hideous crime?

Often it’s difficult to differentiate between causes that stem from work factors and those that come from personal and environmental factors. Personal life and work life are symbiotically related. So operating in an environment characterized by change, innovation, uncertainty, and stress, a worker’s behavior may stem from that general environment as well as the company’s internal environment.

To a large extent, we have been transformed into a violent society by shortcomings in our general environment. Consider some of the sociocultural environment influences that make violence more acceptable and workers more vulnerable.

Violence is “forgiven” or left unchecked by an inefficient judicial system supported by large legal fees, rationalized, glamorized in our entertainment industry, practiced through computer and video games, provoked by the failure of the world’s greatest economic system to provide enough good jobs, and worsened by stresses brought on by our economy. We all become desensitized to some degree, but emotionally fragile persons can become totally desensitized, legitimizing their actions on the basis of others’ violent acts.

Other sociological reasons include the detachment from family, church, and community so that those institutions are no longer there to pull them through in times of trouble.  And, of course, we can’t overlook the increased presence of, and access to, both alcohol and legal and illegal drugs.

###

, , , ,

Did Raymond Clark Resent Annie Le?

In WORK - Bad Workplaces, WORK - Workplace Violence on 09/20/2009 at 11:46 pm

Throughout our history workers have vocalized or otherwise expressed their anger at being stuck in boring, unchallenging, or underpaid jobs.  Now these stressed workers have a larger problem:  keeping any job. As women began to gain ground in society and in the workplace, more men attacked women because that secondary anchor for women was a challenge to male authority and potency.

Diversification and stratification of the workforce are two environmental changes that affect employee relationships both inside and outside the organization.  Some males simply are not accustomed to relating to women as coworkers, supervisors, or subordinates in the workplace. Some are quick to resent women who show great confidence and don’t appear as submissive as the male prefers.

Some workers are emotionally affected when they find themselves working in close proximity to any workers from other cultures, races, sex, sexual preference, or age. They may be uncomfortable with their relationship with coworkers, their coworkers’ personalities, work patterns, communication styles, etc.  In such cases the worker may elect to act out his displeasure either by attacking the employee directly or indirectly.  Such workers are more likely to feel threatened when they already harbor negative attitudes toward coworkers who differ from them.

In addition, employees who are “stuck” in low-level jobs may resent workers whom they see as moving up in the company or moving on to better jobs. Le seemed to be a young woman on her way up; Clark seemed to be in what appears to be a dead-end job with no status.  Many of us have difficulty believing that we could be the cause of jealousy, especially to such a degree that the jealous person would harm us.

People experience stress when they face anxiety or frustration from aspects of their work that they cannot control. They may not be able to fully utilize their skills and knowledge or receive the respect or recognition they expect for their accomplishments.  Employees may become frustrated from overly repetitive work or from unclear or conflicting job responsibilities that lead to confusion and frustration.  Some work processes separate people and create feelings of isolation, which may in turn cause stress for some workers.

The point of all of this information is to help us identify coworkers whose stress and anger are building toward a violent eruption, like a volcano.