Bullying in IT
In the last 30 years, the field of information technology (IT) has been elevated by the market to one of the most important and powerful industry sectors on a global economic scale. However, a culture of bullying is common in IT, leading to high sickness rates, low morale, poor productivity and high staff turnover.[1] Deadline-driven project work and stressed-out managers take their toll on IT workers.[2]
Bullying in IT is most commonly downwards hierarchical (such as manager to employee) but can also be horizontal (such as employee to employee) or upwards hierarchical (such as employee to manager).[1]
Incidence
In 2002, a survey of UK staff by Mercer Human Resource Consulting found that 21% of respondents in the IT industry have been bullied once or more in the past year. Seven per cent claimed to have suffered chronic bullying.[3]
In 2005, the Chartered Management Institute conducted a survey of IT managers finding that more than three out of 10 managers have been bullied during the last three years.[4]
In 2008, the Chartered Management Institute conducted a survey of IT managers finding that 61% witnessed bullying between peers and 26% had witnessed subordinates bullying their managers.[5][6]
In 2008, a survey carried out by trade union Unite of IT professionals showed 65% believed they had been bullied at work, and 22% had taken time off work because of stress caused by bullying.[7][8]
Impact
Impacts of a bullying culture can include:[1][2]
- victims are stressed and take more sick leave
- damage to the productivity, morale and performance of the whole company
- high staff turnover which may exacerbate any skill shortages
- giving a company a bad reputation, making it harder to get good staff and get new business.
Manifestations
Victims reported:[1][2]
Comments from victims and researchers
Comments from victims and researchers include:[1][2][9]
- internal grievance procedures are commonly not impartial and are open to abuses of power - the bully himself may have a close relationship with the investigating party and there may be conflicts of interest (see quasi-judicial)
- complaining may make the bullying worse and many fear to complain
- victims often conclude that the only solution is to leave the company
- IT professionals may be technically brilliant but often lack soft skills
- some managers may be technically "hands-off" and feel threatened by the technical skills of their subordinates
- there is often a culture of cronyism, protectionism and jobs for the boys
- middle managers are prone to being bullied from above and/or below in the hierarchy
- a high percentage of senior IT management possess very poor people skills
- mediation needs to be done by a fully trained impartial external mediator with a good track record, which are not available at most workplaces
- a system to report bullying anonymously may be helpful
- victims often have misplaced loyalty with a company and stay too long trusting that they would get support
- bullying is often deeply engrained and institutionalized.
Case studies
See also
References
External links
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