Another aspect to work place bullying is where a 'group' of employees bully another staff member. In this situation, the pack mentality provides the justification for bullying in a manner similar to that in the book "Lord of the Flies"; no rumour or act too cruel.
My observation is that this tends to happen in smaller organisations. The 'victim' tends to be someone who is different from other staff members. The difference could be gender, ethnic, body-type (Hey, let's pick on the fat girl..!), educational level or generational( eg: a Baby-boomer in a group of Gen Ys). A charismatic person starts the bullying and it become acceptable by others to harrass that person. This is an unpleasant manifestation of 'group-think' as has been observed and researched by sociologists. To some extent, it becomes almost
neccessary to bully that person, so as to fit in with the rest of the crowd.
At one company where I worked, a young woman who was a Goth was bullied out of the company by a group which comprised mostly Ladettes and Farmgirls. Socially, these people pretty much ran the whole show. Here, the gothic girl was ostracised both during and after work hours. She was largly ignored by others during work (CRM implications are obvious) except to be given menial extra tasks by other work "mates". She was rarely invited to drinks or dinner after hours.
On her last day with the company, she walked out the door without any acknowledgement to other staff (she had privately said good-byes to myself and another person who had given her support). One of the Laddettes noted:
"..and she didn't even say goodbye to us.."
Well, really, who would?
