Case Study

The case study² is taken from Pam’s (first author) work with organizations troubled by bullying. The setting was Youth Matters, a youth delinquency program in which staff worked with middle and high school adoles­cents who had problems with drugs, school failure, and misdemeanor crimes in the com­munity.

Prior to Buddy’s management of the youth program (he had served as treatment director for the entire agency), Youth Matters had a dismal reputation in the community. Educators and law-related professionals (i.e., probation, courts, and police) had little faith in the program or its staff. May, the past program manager, had a confrontational relationship with these professionals, typically displaying undisguised contempt for them and their orga­nizations’ goals in relation to the youth they were tasked with helping. Buddy, on the other hand, was charismatic and convincing in com­munity outreach efforts with these profession­als, easily winning them over. In fact, school and probation professionals described him as a “breath of fresh air” after May’s dampen­ing effect. As a result of Buddy’s charisma and efforts, the client numbers (and related billing revenue) increased fourfold in the first year (from $30,000 to nearly $120,000).

Additionally, the adolescents’ families loved Buddy’s engaging style and had extraordinary faith in his ability to help their children. As effective as Buddy was in the community, with adolescents, and with their families, he was equally ineffective at managing employees.

For instance, Buddy practiced a haphazard manner of hiring staff. If he liked someone he just met, he immediately offered the per­son a job, claiming he could train the person to be a youth delinquency counselor. For example, Buddy hired Hank, a man who was an academic guidance counselor at a local high school. He also hired Kimberly, a young woman working in a men’s clothing store (with a college degree but no experience), because he “loved her energy.” Buddy did not fulfill his promises to train them adequately, and eventually, they disappointed him. Once staff members drifted into the “disappoint­ing” category, Buddy systematically blew up at them, constantly criticized their efforts, repeatedly spoke with Claire, the executive director, about writing up a (retrospective) case for firing, and ignored or ridiculed them in case review meetings.

Three staff members (Toby, Bob, and Deb) initially resisted Buddy’s abusive style and complained to the executive director. Kimberly and Hank were too fearful to support others’ grievances, stating that they would report their experiences only if their statements would be held in confidence. Even when outside consul­tants came in, Kimberly and Hank remained reticent to speak, saying they feared Buddy’s aggression (with good reason; complaining staff always became targets, likely because Buddy deemed them his “enemies”). Two staff members (Carrie and Sue) allied with Buddy and supported his negative judgments and subsequent “punishment” of others. Even dur­ing formal interventions, Carrie and Sue stood by Buddy. Buddy eventually targeted both of them, however, and they were transferred to other organizational programs.

On one hand, the administration loved Buddy.

Buddy was a narcissistic bully (explained in later sections); Buddy saw himself as a superstar and viewed staff as lesser than him. If staff members failed to support Buddy or complained about his performance, they were punished. Following interventions, he would make small shifts in his abusive behavior but continued his wild hiring style—always with an unfortunate result. Sadly, no interventions had any long-lasting effects on his behavior. When turnover rates were confronted, Buddy would argue that the program dealt with a very difficult population that caused staff to burn out. In nearly all instances, he was able to sway the executive director and the board to see his viewpoint. When Claire retired after 4 years of Buddy’s tenure, the board inexplica­bly appointed Buddy the interim executive direc­tor (despite warnings from external consultants). Buddy served for 3 months before exiting the organization. The board did not reveal whether he was fired or left on his own volition.

We refer to this case throughout the chapter as it applies to the thrice-told tale. We move now to a discussion of targeted workers—their general profiles, motivations in conflict situ­ations, and tactics used to manage conflicts. From this, we will also discuss bystanders and bullies using these three factors.