The stories are shocking and heartbreaking, but they are often disjointed and hard to follow. In severe cases, the narratives are even more chaotic. This is reality for victims of workplace bullying and a major reason why they stay silent, said Stacy Tye-Williams, an assistant professor of communications studies and English at Iowa State University.
No one expects to go to work and feel as though they are back on the school playground, but bullying is all too common for many workers. Approximately 54 million workers, or 35 percent of U.S. employees, are targeted by a bully at some point in their careers, according to the Workplace Bullying Institute. Instead of reporting it, Tye-Williams found several of the people she interviewed for a study, published inManagement Communication Quarterly, suffered silently.
"Many of the participants felt no one would believe them, or they were afraid of being labeled as a big cry baby or a whiner, so they didn't tell a manager or someone else in the organization," Tye-Williams said. "When you experience serious trauma in the workplace, it's difficult to explain to people what is happening to you."
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