The Proof That Bullying Employees Is A Perversion

Research from the University of Minnesota shows that poor performers are not the only ones to be bullied. Star performers are bullied too.

If bully managers, as they often claim, were bullying their employees to motivate the least effective ones to improve their performance, they would not be bullying their high performers.

But, according to this study, bully leaders perceive star performers as a threat to their power (status, attention, resources, advancement opportunities…).

Bully managers indeed approach the world as a competition between winners and losers, a view that is known in psychology as social dominance. They see themselves as winners and exhibit their power by humiliating the supposed losers.

This study shows that bullying is not a managerial strategy but a perversion. If bully leaders were psychologically healthy and able to make sound decisions, they would not bully their best employees and risk losing them.

Therefore, the many bully managers who rationalize their behavior not only deceive others, but also deceive themselves.