A new organization, the Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute based in Bellingham, Washington, is leading the fight against psychological harassment in the workplace. One in six corporate employees report being bullied. This is three times the incidence of sexual harassment, and 1,600 times that of workplace violence - yet there is scant legislation against workplace bullying, and what exists is too weak to slow it down. The social dynamics of the phenomenon are not what you would expect. Female bosses make up 58 percent of these bullies, which may be attributed to the need they feel to assert their authority in a male-dominated work environment. The victims of the bullying, on the other hand, are rarely either slackers or weaklings. In fact, they are often their team's most capable and effective performers, which suggests that the bullies are motivated by envy or the fear of competition. In addition to being wholly counterproductive, workplace bullying erodes the health of its victims, raising blood pressure and even causing post-traumatic stress disorder. Worst of all, most bullies eventually succeed in driving out their victims, provoking them to quit, or finding insidious excuses to get them fired which have nothing to do with their actual work performance. Here is yet more proof that the corporate world is truly a confederacy of dunces...

"Companies must deal with workplace bullies or lose brightest employees" from CBC News
"A woman's approach to being the boss" from the Miami Herald
"Workplace Bullying" from Wikipedia
"Putting A Workplace Bully Back In Line" from WebMD
The Workplace Bullying & Trauma Institute web site