Victims' Competence is main reason for Workplace Bullying: New Workplace Bullying Institute Survey

Jan. 23, 2013 - PRLog -- The Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) conducted an online survey of 655 respondents who were self-described targets of workplace bullying. They were asked to identify reasons for being targeted. The most frequent reason given (21%) was "bully/ies threatened by target's technical skills." The complete results are posted at the WBI website. http://www.workplacebullying.org/2013/01/16/wbi-2012-ip-i/

Common misperceptions blame targets. Sometimes targets blame themselves wondering "why me?."However, bullying is a form of workplace violence and instigated workplace aggressors.  In this study, the majority of reasons for selection involved factors outside targets’ control — personality of the bully, an instigator igniting a mob,  and organizational incentives — totaling 38.5%.  The workplace environment accounts more for workplace bullying than factors related to the personality of either workplace aggressors or targets.

Workplace Bullying Institute Instant Polls are online single-question surveys that rely upon self-selected samples of individuals bullied at work (typically 98% of any sample). No demographic data are collected. Our non-scientific Instant Polls accurately depict the perceptions of workers targeted for bullying at work as contrasted with the views of all adult Americans in our scientific national surveys.

WBI is the first and only U.S. organization dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying that combines help for individuals, research, books, public education, training for professionals-unions-employers, legislative advocacy, and consulting solutions for organizations.