Bullying in Adulthood: Assessing the Bullies and their Victims

225 Pages·2002·1.02 MB·English

by  Peter Randall

Bullying in Adulthood
Peter Randall’s first book, Adult Bullying, was one of the first books to
examine the various situations in which adult bullying occurs, the forms it
takes, and how it can be identified and dealt with more efficiently,
particularly in workplace settings. Since that title was published, there has
been more awareness of the extent of adult bullying.
In Bullying in Adulthood: Assessing the Bullies and their Victims, other
aspects of the problem are examined, such as research and clinical issues,
and in particular, assessment of bullies and victims and the background
factors to such behaviour. This has become increasingly important as the
problem begins to be appreciated and addressed within therapeutic, social
and legal arenas. A number of strategies are suggested both for dealing
with bullying and victim behaviour and for monitoring situations, for
example by employers to see if problems improve. To assist in this process
Peter Randall proposes a model of adult bullying which enables clinicians
and human resources specialists to determine which factors are influential
in individual cases. This book will appeal to practitioners and researchers
in clinical/ counselling psychology, counsellors, managers/human resources
staff and social workers.
Peter Randall is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Hull where
he continues to study bullying and other forms of interpersonal aggression.
He is the author of Adult Bullying: Perpetrators and Victims.

Bullying in Adulthood
Assessing the bullies and their victims
Peter Randall
First published 2001 by Brunner-Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Taylor & Francis Inc.
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Brunner-Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.
© 2001 Peter Randall
Cover design by Terry Foley
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Randall, Peter, 1948–
Bullying in adulthood: assessing the bullies and their victims/
Peter Randall.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Bullying. 2. Bullying in the workplace. I. Title.
BF637.B85 R37 2001
650.1´3—dc21 2001035110

ISBN 0-203-46922-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-77746-8 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-23693-2 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-23694-0 (pbk)
This book is dedicated to the memory of my friend
Mike Donohue whose compassionate work gave strength
to many victims.

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
PART 1
Definitions and assessment structure 5
1 An overview of adult bullying 7
2 Workplace bullying as a variety of human aggression 32
3 A framework for assessment 55
PART 2
Characteristics of perpetrators 71
4 Bully characteristics: personal history and development 73
5 Bully characteristics: personality traits 88
PART 3
Characteristics of victims 103
6 Victim characteristics: personal history and development 105
7 Victim characteristics: personality factors 121
viii Contents
PART 4
Assessment outcomes and clinical consequences 145
8 The effects of adult bullying 147
9 The report: assessment outcomes 165
References 188
Index 205
Preface
It is an eloquent and tragic testimony to the power of adult bullying to
cause severe psychological harm that concern about this subject has been
burgeoning since the now sadly deceased Andrea Adams produced in 1992
her landmark book Bullying at Work. Since that time the acceptance of
bullying as an adult as well as a child activity has led to a vast amount of
research, formation of policies, legal actions and media attention.
The nature of this activity has inevitably emphasised its sensational and
tragic aspects but careful research and clinical investigations have been
gaining momentum and growing rapidly in the background of media
portrayal. As a result, adult bullying is now increasingly well understood
and the scientific research outcomes are filtering through to influence
strategies at both the levels of protection and intervention. My own
research into adult bullying at the clinical level has continued and has
increasingly involved one-to-one work with perpetrators and victims. Much
of this has arisen from employee assistance work but increasingly as part
of a legal investigatory process informing subsequent proceedings.
I wished to take the published work a step further into the arena of practice
by drawing together research and clinical studies to provide a first book on the
assessment of bullies and victims in the context of the factors that cause them
to act in the ways that they do. In part this is stimulated by the need to break
down the excessive polarisation that exists at present. In essence, there is an
overly simplistic assumption that victims are innocent people to whom bullying
happens and bullies are undesirables who abuse others. Whereas this is often
the case, clinical experience indicates that many victims bring into the
workplace difficulties such as emotional ‘unfinished business’ which stimulate
hostile responses. In other cases perpetrators may be shaped into their
aggressive behaviour by workplace environments that reinforce hostile
management or displacement behaviours. In addition, there may also be a
rippling effect beyond the immediate workplace environment such that
observers and family members may suffer secondary effects indirectly.
Assessments of perpetrators and victims are necessary not only from the
viewpoint of prevention, intervention and dispute resolution, but also from