Zeitschrift für Sozialwissenschaften

Abstrakt

Bullying: A Personal or Trait?

Said Shahtahmasebi

Anti-bullying policies are failing because they assume that the problem lies with individuals, i.e. the policies ignore the working environment as well as the socio-political culture in which bullying is carried out. This paper reports on ten cases which illustrates breaches of institutional values by senior managers including sexual liaisons on workplace premises, organised covert and overt bullying, and the failure of the politicians, Law Society and Trade Unions to intervene. Unfortunately, these cases represent only the tip of the iceberg. It is, therefore, concluded politicians, employers, lawyers, Trade Unions, and the Law Society are all part of the bullying problem, i.e. bullying thrives when the socio-political culture empowers and sustains a bullying management culture