Every month, the “MTW Newsstand” brings you a curated selection of articles relevant to work, workers, and workplaces. Whenever possible, the pieces are freely accessible. Here are this month’s offerings:
Caitlin Flanagan, “The Problem With HR,” The Atlantic (2019) (link here) — “If HR is such a vital component of American business, its tentacles reaching deeply into many spheres of employees’ work lives, how did it miss the kind of sexual harassment at the center of the #MeToo movement? And given that it did, why are companies still putting so much faith in HR?”
Shahida Arabi, “Bullied by Narcissists at Work? 3 Ways Narcissistic Co-Workers and Bosses Sabotage You,” PsychCentral (2019) (link here) — “If you work or have worked in a traditional corporate environment, chances are you’ve run into a narcissist or sociopath in your career. Research suggests that psychopathic personalities do climb the corporate ladder more readily and are able to charm and gain trust from other co-workers and management to do so.”
Quentin Fottrell, “Is your boss a psychopath?,” MarketWatch (2019) (link here) — “Do you ever wonder why the bad guy is in charge — and the good guy is pushing paper? There may be a reason for that. Bad bosses often promise the world, according to Deborah Ancona, a professor of leadership at MIT Sloan School of Management and founder of the MIT Leadership Center, and hard-working employees can be left to deal with the aftereffects. ‘Toxic leaders are often talking about all the great things that they can do,’ she told MIT Sloan.”
Amy Coveno, “As adults, some former bullies try to keep history from repeating,” WMUR (2019) (link here) — “News 9 put out a call on Facebook for former bullies to tell their stories.”
Ruchika Tulshyan, “How to Reduce Personal Bias When Hiring,” Harvard Business Review (2019) (link here) — “Changes in process and diversity initiatives alone are not going to remedy the lack of equal representation in companies. Individual managers who are often making the final hiring decisions need to address their own bias.”
Randall J. Beck & Jim Harter, “Why Great Managers Are So Rare,” Gallup (2019) (link here) — “Gallup finds that great managers have the following talents….”
Janelle Nanos, “Wayfair walkout is part of a new era of employee activism,” Boston Globe (2019) (link here) — “Employees of Wayfair, the online furniture giant based in the Back Bay, weren’t planning to stage a walkout on Wednesday. But when the company’s leadership shrugged off workers’ objections to fulfilling a $200,000 furniture order for detention centers on the US-Mexico border, ‘Wayfairians’ became the latest group of tech co-workers to start a social activist movement targeting their own employer.”
Minding the Workplace 
In the nursing world, human resources is viewed as the “KGB of the employer.” In other words, enter at your own risk. Trust is important in patient safety culture so it’s an uphill battle to start.When you look at articles on HR it seems to be geared on defending the employer. I met with HR people several times over the years. Once to complain about a bully boss. The only result of that was they could no longer deny there was a problem. If somebody else complained it was already on record. I was gone but I think it was two more years before that person was moved. Just think of all the damage done. Another time an HR enforcer warned me not to email a certain person, anymore. This person was a patient safety resource. They were not interested in my observations or concerns. I once heard that there were going to be best practices for HR that might have actually benefited employees but heard nothing since. Over two years ago.
Hey David,
I’m wondering if you have done any research on the onset of Chronic illnesses due to workplace bullying. I would be very interested in the subject. Thanks for all you do.
Lee-Ann
Lee-Ann, thanks for your comment. I haven’t done health-related research myself (most of my own research is on the legal/public policy side), but for years we’ve known that sustained workplace bullying can negatively impact the immune system, which definitely gives rise to chronic diseases.
Lee-Ann, I recalled a blog piece I had done many years ago on a couple of studies by respected researchers linking work abuse with fibromyalgia. This may be helpful to you: https://newworkplace.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/workplace-bullying-stress-and-fibromyalgia/.