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Women are the worst bullies in workplace, study shows
Females sent 'over the edge' by their bosses
By Gary Grattan
MORE and more women in Northern Ireland are becoming victims of bullying in the workplace - at the hands of other women, it was revealed today.
And the two so-called "caring professions" - nursing and teaching - are the worst by far.
This is the alarming trend which has been uncovered by a Co Londonderry man who counsels victims of the growing scourge.
Dr Hazlett Lynch says workplace bullying in general is costing companies heavily in sick leave and driving hundreds of people in the province "over the edge".
But he is highly concerned at the increasing number of women who have contacted him in recent weeks and months.
"Women that I have spoken with are finding that the ill-treatment they are receiving from their female managers leaves their male managers far behind.
"It's interesting that the two professions that are heads and shoulders above the others for bullying behaviour are nursing and teaching.
" These 'caring professions', it seems, do not 'care' for their own staff but mete out to them the most disgraceful behaviour imaginable," said Dr Lynch.
The former Presbyterian minister said women were being "emotionally abused" by their same-gender bosses and peers.
"They are made to feel worthless, are highly de-motivated, experience severe dysfunction at work and in domestic and social contexts.
"Marriages are often put under extreme pressure by the 'psychological terrorisation' that these people experience.
"In the most severe cases women have considered suicide as the only solution to end their nightmare."Dr Lynch says most victims of woman-on-woman workplace bullying are good at their job and popular with co-workers.
"Bullies are often neither good at their jobs nor can they get on well with their staff. They have deep personal and emotional problems that need to be resolved.
"They are not competent in their own jobs, therefore they cannot cope with the competence of those more junior to them.
"But they cannot admit to this, therefore they act to humiliate their employees by transferring their inadequacies on to them. Exactly the same is true of male-on-male workplace bullying."Dr Lynch says that the annual 'staff appraisal' is a superb means of 'getting at' and 'bringing down' a good staff member - because it is done under the guise of professional objectivity.
"What is rather strange is that employees who have been given excellent appraisals over the years now find that their appraisals have taken a downward plunge, and for what reason? They have not been doing anything different, yet they are 'put down' by their line managers."Dr Lynch can be contacted at 23 Parkmore Close, Magherafelt, Co Londonderry, BT45 6PL - Tel: 028 7963 4684.
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