How Do You Handle Your Boss Who Is Acting As A Bully?

By Author: Joseline Edward
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Recently on a social blog, a female IT professional mentioned her boss’ behavior. She mentioned that her boss was snooping and spying his direct reports also he forced her to work for long hours every day without remuneration under threat of dismissal. Besides she was threatened in front of others. I was really shocked to see the manager behavior.

At some point of time in our career, most us have faced or may face these kinds of bosses. A study by the Employment Law Alliance was reported in CIO magazine reveals that almost half of all employees have been targeted by a bullying boss at some point of time in their career. The detailed result shows that 81 percent of bullies are managers; among, 50 percent of bullies are women managers and 50 percent are men managers; 84 percent of targets are women; 82 percent of targets ultimately lost their job; 95 percent of bullying is witnessed. They cause high turnover rates, reduced productivity and increased employee absences which are bad for an organization.

In general most of us would like to have a good working relationship with our superiors, but what ...
... if our bosses are impossible to work with? I would like to suggest three-step-process to handle such situations.

Step 1: In general we can classify bullying managers into two categories. The first category managers do not bully intentionally, they do it by mistake. On the other hand, the second category managers do this intentionally. The managers who come under the first category can be educated to correct their behavior. The victim can have a one-to-one session with the bullying manager to explain how his or her actions hurt the individual both personally and professionally, this would help to change their behavior. A boss who was bullying his subordinates without intentions would most likely understand the situation and would correct his behavior.

Step2: Your boss is continued to behave as he or she was. In this situation, you can approach your Human Resource (HR) department for assistance. You need to keep all evidence to answer questions from HR. Most likely the HR team would help you. Besides, you can try to find a job within a company with some other departments if you really like the company and wanted to stick with the company to develop your career.

Step 3: Now, let us assume that the HR department was not able to help you, your boss continues to behave as he or she was. Besides, you are not able to find a suitable position within the company. What is the best approach for you now? I would suggest you to need find a good job and quit the company. If the company was not able to retain good employees like you, let them bear the burden. It is not a loss for you, Instead, a loss for the company.
About Author:
Joseline Edward is founder and CEO of Lucas Project Management Consulting Company which is offering 60 days PMP® and CAPM® Prep courses and Mock Up exams online. We provide the required training, including all the materials needed to prepare for the exam. Free mock up exams included to evaluate your readiness. Check out the URL http://www.way2pm.com/ or our blog http://www.way2pm.com/blog/ for additional information.