Contra-Bullying and Lateral Violence at Work

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A high school teacher is subjected to verbal abuse, audacious rumors, and classroom whispers each day by the students she teaches. She is met with a shoulder shrug and a closed door upon appeal to the administration for support. Exasperated by the toxic climate, she leaves mid-year and takes a job at Starbucks.

A school principal hired to bring innovative ideas to a stagnant culture gets driven out of a job, despite the success of her tenure and support of students and families, by a small group of teachers who stand staunchly in protecting the status quo.

A nurse was lauded for her empathetic bedside manner and exceptional patient care is subjected to daily eye-rolls, exclusion, and sabotage by her fellow nurses, who believe her hard work and compassion are recalibrating expectations, shining a light on their shortcomings, and hence once again lending fat to the bone that “nurses eat their own.”

What Is This Phenomenon Called?

So, what do we call these transgressions when students go after their teachers, employees target their bosses, and co-workers join forces to terrorize their colleagues? As bullying researchers, we refer to these upward and lateral attacks when people bully those below or adjacent to them on the hierarchy as contra-bullying, horizontal abuse, or lateral violence (Taylor, 2016).

Though bullying is most often considered a top-down job, and research supports this typical downward trajectory, bullying someone of equal or lesser power can result in the same devastating consequences, including but not limited to job loss, intense emotional suffering, and significant physical health consequences (Juliana, 2007).

Why Does Contra-Bullying and Lateral Violence Occur and What Does It Look Like?

Contra-bullying and lateral violence, similar to other forms of workplace abuse, are predicated upon a belief in limited resources or scarcity, in which my good deeds, accolades, and accomplishments are seen as a direct threat to your livelihood, stability, respect, and opportunities for advancement. To take back power, because bullying is almost always about power, those with lesser or equal organizational power, per their placement on the organizational hierarchy, attempt to regain control by exerting social power, a move that requires the target to be villainized and stripped of respect.

In the halls of schools, universities, hospitals, nonprofits, and companies, contra-bullying may look like students rolling their eyes at their instructor, carrying on boisterous off-topic discussions during instruction, and launching unsubstantiated and often anonymous complaints to higher-ups for the sole purpose of damaging the target’s professional reputation and possibly driving her out of a job. Inside a hospital, lateral violence may present as a targeted nurse being assigned a larger number of patients on the floor, having her patient files tampered with, and being excluded from after-work drinks or get-togethers.

In What Types of Organizations Does Contra-Bullying and Lateral Violence Tend to Occur?

Organizationally, these transgressions tend to unfold within work climates that share characteristics, including a lack of civility, transparency, defined roles, upward mobility, and accountability. Such environments tend to have poor communication flow and function, amongst a fair amount of chaos and instability (Taylor, 2016).

On the individual level, the institution may employ a disproportionate number of people who Conti-O’Hare (2002) calls “wounded healers,” a term referring to the phenomenon in which people who suffered early life trauma pursue employment in helping fields, such as nursing, teaching, social work, and nonprofits. Though such placement can often be beneficial to the employee and those she serves, if she has done the work to heal her own hurt, and thus her deep empathy and understanding function as a bridge and a strength; however, it can also be a hazard. For if the hurt still remains, she takes on the identity of the “walking wounded,” using her job as a platform to discharge her suffering and exert control over others in an attempt to make a life that at one time seemed so out of control, manageable and safe (Christie &Jones, 2013).

What Is the Impact of Contra-Bullying and Lateral Violence at Work?

In organizations where employees bully down and across, individuals’ feelings and emotions tend to be minimized. Because of this disregard, coupled with the fear of retaliation, employees begin to silence themselves, no longer willing to share innovative ideas. In addition, to endure the bullying environment, abused employees begin to avoid difficult co-workers and isolate themselves, consequently opting out of opportunities, social events, and training (Taylor, 2016).

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There is also evidence to support that the harm incurred by contra-bullying and lateral violence is far-reaching and dangerous, putting patients, children, and clients in jeopardy as conscious and compassionate care declines in response to the bullying environment, and those people employees are charged to serve end up instead getting hurt (Katz, 2017).

How to Address Contra-Bullying and Stop It Before It Starts?

Often we think of bullying as childhood antics relegated to the playground; therefore, research shows that when adults come under attack, few employees identify the behavior as bullying. Instead, they attempt to make the most gracious assumptions about their colleagues’ egregious behaviors and subsequently put up with the abuse or attempt to fade into the background, where attacks are less likely.

When the contra-bullying or lateral violence accelerates and the destruction becomes alarmingly apparent to the target and bystanders, fear of retaliation, unfortunately, tends to inhibit reporting; thus, the abuse builds, and the overall culture begins to turn brittle from the toxicity. In such environments, avoidance and isolation become primary coping strategies, and chaos, unethical behavior, disrespect, and a lack of support become institutional norms (Taylor, 2016).

Therefore, the antidote is not to be found solely in addressing the bully, though this step is essential for cultural healing, but in bringing organizational awareness to the bullying cycle. Simply conducting workshops and requiring corporate training in workplace abuse is an appropriate place to start. Such training should cover the characteristics of workplace bullying, the predictable cycle of workplace abuse, and the emotional and physical fallout of psychological terrorism on the job.

The next step is to create confidential reporting procedures where targets can share their experiences without fear of rebuke (Sellers et al., 2012). Though Human Resources play a pivotal and important role in organizations, in my experience as a workplace bullying researcher, collecting the stories of over 200 targets across the world and representing diverse industries, unfortunately, reporting workplace abuse to Human Resources often causes great harm to targets. To rectify the situation, I propose an independent department whose loyalties are not to protect the liability and reputation of the institution but instead are deeply devoted to the safety and health of those being abused.

Finally, since workplace bullying is often about revoking a target’s community belonging, it is essential to create organizational practices that support diverse voices and perspectives and create safe and innovative spaces for people to show up at work as their full selves. This is beneficial for all, for it is in people’s differences that we expand our thinking and grow innovative organizations that support the common good.