Paul PelletierProject management key note speaker, author, corporate lawyer, and executive| Paul Pelletier Consulting Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Who Gets Targeted in a Project?
Unlike schoolyard bullying, people in the workplace are not targeted because they are loners or weaklings without friends. Most likely, they are targeted because of their abilities or likeability and other positive characteristics which may have posed a threat to the bully’s desire for prominence. The perception of threat is entirely in his/her mind, but it’s what he/she feels and believes.
In the writer’s opinion, project managers are often perceived as threats because, by definition, they are bringing about change or because they are drawing resources toward their project – likely away from the bully or other projects. Also, most projects occur in organizations where project team members report, not only to the project manager, but to a line manager as well. This dual reporting promotes conditions where multiple people, who often have competing agendas, task project team members. This environment presents added opportunities for bullying behavior.
WBI research findings from the 2000 WBI Study and conversations with thousands of targets confirms that targets are usually veteran and highly skilled persons in the workgroup. Common attributes of targets often include the following:
Targets are independent.
They refuse to be subservient.
Targets are more technically skilled than their bullies.
They are the "go-to" veteran workers to whom new employees turn for guidance.
Targets are better liked.
They have more social skills and, quite likely, possess greater emotional intelligence.
Colleagues, customers, and management appreciate the warmth that the targets bring to the workplace.
Targets are ethical and honest (this is particularly true for PMI members – all of whom have committed to follow the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct).
Targets are people with personalities founded on a nurturing and social orientation – a desire to help, heal, teach, develop, and nurture others.
Saving Changes...
My take on this is that bully targets someone whom the bully thinks is inferior to him in any respect. Mind it, I am only talking about how and what a bully thinks. Why he thinks so is altogether a different subject, which I might discuss later sometime. Saving Changes...
Paul PelletierProject management key note speaker, author, corporate lawyer, and executive| Paul Pelletier Consulting Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Oddly enough, the bully indeed may consider the person inferior but the genesis of their behaviour lies with them feeling threatened. Behind the curtain we find the foundation that drives bullies. They would never acknowledge they are threatened as their arrogance and sense of importance would prevent this level of honesty and emotional intelligence.
Saving Changes...
