BT Business Essence of the Entrepreneur awards
The Devil Wears Prada highlights worrying 'bully boss' culture trends
Bullying in the workplace leads to feelings of helplessness, insecurity, inadequacy and depression. Dignity at Work, the world's largest anti-bullying organisation, investigates how the new film, The Devil Wears Prada, highlights this problem and points out common bullying behaviour that should not be tolerated
In The Devil Wears Prada, Andrea Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is desperate to break into journalism. She's told that if she can stick 12 months of working for Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep), the editor-in-chief of Runway magazine, then she can have her pick of jobs in the magazine industry.
Apparently based on American Vogue editor, the much-feared Anna Wintour, Miranda is the classic boss from hell. While the perks are good - an expense account where anything goes - Andrea also has to contend with Miranda's continually outlandish requests, to the detriment of her own life and family.
Bullying bosses like Miranda Priestley are not exclusive to the big screen or the fashion industry. For some, the scenes will be all too familiar - one in ten employees say they have been bullied at work.
Zero tolerance in the workplace
'Miranda exhibits all the classic traits of a bully boss,' says Mandy Telford of the trade union Amicus, co-sponsors with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of the Dignity at Work Partnership.'She never gives people enough time or information to meet her demands, but then routinely chastises them when they fail. She makes people go to extreme lengths to accommodate her, only to change her mind after they have done so.'
And while The Devil Wears Prada provides an evening's entertainment for many cinema-goers, for others it will be a painful reminder of what they endure every day at work. Bullying costs UK employers an estimated £2 billion every year in staff turnover, sickness and loss of production and should no longer be tolerated.
Am I being bullied?
If you are experiencing any of the following at work then you are being bullied and you are entitled to take things further by speaking to your HR manager or union representative.
- Bullies may use terror tactics, open aggression, threats, shouting, abuse, and obscenities towards their target
- Bullies may subject their target to constant humiliation or ridicule, belittling their efforts, often in front of others
- Bullies may subject their target to excessive supervision, monitoring everything they do and being excessively critical about minor things
- Bullies may take the credit for other people's work but never take the blame when things go wrong
- Bullies may constantly override the person's authority
- Bullies may remove whole areas of work responsibility from the person, reducing their job to routine tasks that are well below their skills and capabilities
- Bullies may set the person what they know to be impossible objectives, or constantly change the work remit without telling the person, and then criticise or reprimand the person for not meeting their demands
- Bullies may ostracise and marginalise their target, dealing with the person only through a third party, excluding the person from discussions, decisions etc
- Bullies may spread malicious rumours about the individual
For more information about how to beat bullying at work, go to www.dignityatwork.org
printer friendly
send to a friend
Delicious
Digg
reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
Horoscopes| Message Boards | Quizzes | Newsletters | Join
iVillage Ltd is a UK company registered in England & Wales (3837269) at 80-110 New Oxford Street, London WC1 1HB
