Cycle of Workplace Bullying

Workplace Bullying (WPB) is a form of abusive behavior that tends to follow an escalating cycle.

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Stage 1: Initial Incident

Stage 1: Initial Incident

• Triggering event
• Initiates cycle of abuse
• conflict between employee and management
• management views employee's behavior as unacceptable

when a manager engages in abusive behavior cloaked as "performance improvement", stage 2 is triggered.

Stage 2: Progressive

Stage 2: Progressive Discipline

• Begins with casual comments about performance
• moves to documented reports that become part of employee's record
• abusive managers systematically build distorted cases against target employee
• Managers take advantage of their power to create the formal record of what occurred

There is a cycle within the cycle: The more a target is bullied, the more anxious, nervous and fearful they become. They are less likely to stand up for themselves and more likely to be bullied even more.

Stage 3: Turning Point

• Repetitive criticism moves focus from performance improvement to removal
• Manager continues to control the narrative; Target's attempts to explain are shut down
• When target recognizes he/she must request help from upper management, stage 4 is triggered

Stage 4: organizational ambivalence

Stage 4: Organizational ambivalence

• In the rare instance that a target goes to upper management for help, organizations tend to sweep the problem under the rug, or in some cases, make the situation worse
• Targets learn that the organization is not going to do anything to help them

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Stage 5: isolation AND& silencing

Stage 5: isolation and silencing

• Coworkers rarely stand up for targets; targets are separated from other coworkers because they are actively denied support
• Targets learn it is not safe to discuss the abuse or their feelings
• Feeling alone, lacking support within the organization and still being bullied, most targets decide to leave

When a manager really wants to get rid of a target, some make the work environment so problematic, hostile, abusive and difficult to cope with in order to push the target out. This is called "constructive discharge" because, while the target chose to leave, they would not have if the situation had not been purposefully created to force them out.

Stage 6: Expulsion and cycle regeneration

• There is a brief calm after the target leaves
• Due to a. the manager getting away with the abuse, b. the organization failing to respond and c. coworkers acting as enablers, the cycle eventually restarts with a new target

This is how workplace bullying becomes embedded in an organization's culture, making it much harder to recognize, address and change.

Unfortunately, some bullies continue to bully even after the target has left the organization. They engage in a type of blacklisting where they sabotage the target's attempts at obtaining a new job.

If you are being bullied and need to talk to someone, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit online at suicidepreventionlifeline.org