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Re: How to deal with bullies at work

GeekMBA360 — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:58:48 -0000

I respect the way you stood up against the bully! So, has the bully changed his behaviors after you confronted him?

I have to admit that I tend to avoid confrontation with bullies in sales or engineering because in a lot of organizations product management simply didn't have enough leverage to fight sales or engineering heads on . If the sales guy can meet his numbers, no matter how much a bully he is, the company is likely to keep him. If the engineering manager knows important part of the system, he would be kept by the organization. It's very hard to win battles against those guys given their leverage. To certain extent, because of their position, they could "keep the company hostage". Product Management plays a very important strategic role in a successful organization, but sometime it's hard for prod management to have the political captial since you drive a lot of things, but you don't have any resources per se.

Re: How to deal with bullies at work

AnotherGeekMBA — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:47:12 -0000

Sometimes a bully needs to be confronted head on. One guy was an Engineering Manager, and because he was technically good and was in good terms with the VPs, he thought he could force his priorities down the product manager's roadmap. When I did not let him have his way, he threw tantrum and raised his voice.

I told him not to speak to me like that, and pulled him aside to let him know that is an unacceptable behavior. I also let my boss and his boss know that behaving like a jerk should not go rewarded.

The bigger issue is whether the environment tolerates bullies. If the leaders of the company do, it is not a healthy place to work in, and the HR people should be notified about it. Ultimately it is your choice whether to continue or move on.

Re: How to deal with bullies at work

Andrew Wang — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:19:31 -0000

Great article. I've encountered my share of bullies as well. Here're my thoughts on the matter.

http://winning21st.com/2009/03...