Workplace Bullying: A Revocation of Belonging
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Dear Fellow Creatives,
I am glad you are here.
Welcome to my first official newsletter, though I did a soft introduction last week.
Today, I am trying out a new format. As we get to know each other, I will change it up per your feedback, as together we explore what works best.
For now, each week, on Monday, I will share an article that explores the perils of bullying in the workplace, the characteristics of innovative cultures, or conversations with researchers in the field exploring how to build more productive, healthier, and innovative work environments. At times, I will also take a side road and share my perspective on childhood bullying and how as parents, teachers, and coaches, we can encourage children to take intellectual risks as they attempt to outgrowth themselves. As a former teacher, reading specialist, and school principal, this work sits close to my heart.
To intermix some joy into the discussion, I will also tell you about one of the books I am reading this week and offer up a writing invitation to spur reflection. I hope you will share your favorite books and writing ideas too.
At the conclusion of each newsletter, I will pose a question to our community and open up space for you to ask questions of your own. Then the following week, I will share out some of your responses and offer some insights to the questions posed. In addition, I will invite you to join the conversation as you pull from your own life experiences and offer up what worked for you.
So who am I to join you on this journey? I am a writer, researcher, and college professor in Virginia who conducts research studies on workplace bullying and creativity. I also co-direct our university’s writing project, part of the National Writing Project. I wholeheartedly believe that writing has the power to change the world. In addition, I serve on the Executive Board and in the role of Education Director for the National Workplace Bullying Coalition.
As an academic, writer, and researcher, I frequently publish articles and present at conferences, and though I consider this work energizing, it often leaves little space for authentic interactions and extended conversations. This missing piece of the puzzle is the primary reason I started this newsletter. I want to share impactful research in an engaging, story-like format and build a positive and supportive community for people to ask questions, seek support, and feel seen amidst the chaos of daily living.
Let’s get started.
Workplace Bullying as a Revocation of Belonging
I am working on a theory, and I would love your thoughts.
I am what you call a Narrative Inquiry researcher, meaning that I collect the stories of individuals who lived through a shared phenomenon, such as workplace bullying or a natural disaster, and then search for themes that emerge from the tellings. Per that work, I attempt to excavate the essence of the collective story by putting my head to the pavement and listening for the common characters, settings, and plots that speak their overlapping truths.
Recently, I just concluded a three-year study in which I collected over 200 stories of workplace abuse survivors, across 10 countries, 35 states, and representing 29 diverse industries. To deepen my understanding, I conducted over 50 follow-up interviews, each lasting from 1-3 hours.
Out of that journey, I developed a theory of workplace bullying, set atop the construct of belonging. My theory is called Closed Circles vs. Big Tent Belonging in which the bully constructs an inner group or Closed Circle of followers whose members are governed by strict group norms set against a steep hierarchy, and directed by a foundational belief in scarcity, charging the bully to hoard power, accolades, and resources. In contrast, the target pitches a Big Tent, inviting diverse perspectives and encouraging cross collaborations that flatten the power structure, and encourage innovative and divergent thought, predicated on a belief in abundance, in which one’s candle has the power to light infinite torches without ever losing its shine.
Targets of workplace abuse tend to be creatives whose productivity recalibrates the status quo, questioning resets what is possible, and/or whose high standards of ethics charge them to call out bad, and at times, illegal behavior. In addition, they are often different in some way, be it their thinking, beliefs, behaviors, and/or appearances, all of which jostle the bully’s insistence on obedience and uniformity.
As a result, a conflict emerges in which the bully’s construction of a Closed Circle work culture, where conformity is required for belonging, is threatened by the target’s creation of a Big Tent, which insists belonging is an inalienable right. In response, the bully attempts to revoke the target’s belonging in the work community by initiating a Degradation Ceremony, a term first introduced by the sociologist Harold Garfinkle (1956), in which the target’s character is assassinated in an attempt to push her out and convince others to join in on the mob if they wish to maintain their “good person” status and not be targeted next.
It is the target’s loss of belonging to her work community coupled with the loss of belonging to herself, a consequence of the character assassination, that results in the significant and long-term professional and health consequences, including but not limited to job loss, gastrointestinal issues, high blood pressure, heart trouble, migraines, anxiety, depression, complex PTSD, and at times suicide.
In summary, the construct of belonging frames the bullying cycle. First, the bully’s and target’s conflicting definition of belonging spurs the conflict. Second, the bully revokes the target’s belonging in an effort to push her out the door and maintains conformity and obedience. Third, it is the target’s loss of belonging that results in significant and long-term negative consequences, both professionally and health-wise.
How does this theory mesh with your own experiences in the workplace? I would love your thoughts. Please share your ideas below in the comment section.
Book Talk
Though I am quite a fan of watching trashy television, I am more selective of the words that glide into my mind as I slip into a story in the evenings before bed and inside the twilight of the mornings as a migraine awakes me at 2 am revoking the invitation to sleep. This past week, I read Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home, shortlisted for the Man Booker in 2012
It is a poignant and haunting commentary on how we break apart ourselves, partners, and others traveling on the journey in an attempt to reconfigure a union we can live with.
“She attempted to be someone she didn’t really understand. A powerful but fragile female character. If she knew that to be forceful was not the same as being powerful and to be gentle was not the same as being fragile, she did not know how to use this knowledge in her own life or what it added up to, or even how it made sitting alone on a table laid for two on a Saturday night feel better.” ~ Deborah Levy
Writing Invitation
Reflect on how you construct belonging in your home and work community.
You May Also Want to Check Out: Being Yourself at Work: Choosing Belonging Over Fitting In
Closing Question and Conversation Starter
This week I pose two questions on our Google Form:
How has your own workplace bullying experience impacted your sense of belonging in your work community and/or your sense of belonging to yourself (identity, confidence, understanding of self, etc.)?
Do you have a question about workplace bullying or work cultures that you would like to ask? Each week I will select a reader’s question to post in the newsletter and offer up a thoughtful reflection based on the research. I will also encourage our readers to join in on the conversation.
*If you would like to share your thoughts, click on this LINK
Go forth and prosper ~ Dorothy Suskind, Ph.D. (Who is now reading Hot Milk by Deborah Levy)