How Workplace Bullies Use OODA: I

How do workplace bullies escape prosecution for as long as they do? Why do their targets tolerate ill treatment for as long as they do? Why do bystanders look the other way as consistently as they do? While most bullies do intimidate nearly everyone around them, that alone doesn't provide satisfactory answers to these questions.

A more satisfactory explanation is that workplace bullies shape their environments to enable continuation of their activities with a minimum of interference. The OODA model, due to US Air Force Col. John Boyd, is a useful tool for understanding how bullies shape their environments. See "OODA at Work," Point Lookout for April 6, 2011, for a summary of the model.

Here is Part I of a small catalog of the ways workplace bullies use the OODA model.

Intuition

Most bullies engage in bullying out of compulsion. Although they do plan and they do consciously formulate their attack strategies, they generally don't study bullying scientifically, and they are thus unaware of models like the OODA loop.

Their understanding of OODA is thus intuitive. Since intuition is founded on experience and observation, the bully's use of OODA is usually limited to what the bully has experienced or seen.

Targets can exploit this limitation by devising responses to bullying that would require their bullies to use OODA in ways their bullies are unlikely to have seen or experienced. See, for example, "Biological Mimicry and Workplace Bullying," Point Lookout for March 31, 2010.

Selecting targets

Bullies tend Since intuition is founded on
experience and observation, the
bully's use of OODA is usually
limited to what the bully has
experienced or seento select targets who, in their estimation, will not effectively resist the bullying. For example, bullies often regard someone who has a limited network of close associates as less likely to be able to mount effective resistance. That's one reason why bullies favor targets who are isolated from, withdrawn from, or different from the group as a whole. Since members of minorities tend to associate most closely with other members of their minority group, they're more likely to have limited networks, and thus make tempting targets for bullies.

Here are two examples illustrating the importance of limited networks of close associates. Observation is the first element of the OODA Loop. Since a limited network reduces the ability of the prospective target to acquire information about the bully's activities, people with limited networks are less able to observe their situations, and thus less able to respond effectively. Action is the fourth element of the OODA Loop. Limited personal networks also reduce the ability of prospective targets to act in their own defense, because, for example, they have less ability to secure testimony in support of allegations against their bullies.

Prospective targets can reduce their attractiveness to bullies by expanding their networks of close associates.

In Part II, we'll examine how and why workplace bullies try to control the tempo of their activities, and how they approach the more general shaping of their environments.   Next issue in this series   Top    Next Issue

Is a workplace bully targeting you? Do you know what to do to end the bullying? Workplace bullying is so widespread that a 2014 survey indicated that 27% of American workers have experienced bullying firsthand, that 21% have witnessed it, and that 72% are aware that bullying happens. Yet, there are few laws to protect workers from bullies, and bullying is not a crime in most jurisdictions. 101 Tips for Targets of Workplace Bullies is filled with the insights targets of bullying need to find a way to survive, and then to finally end the bullying. Also available at Apple's iTunes store! Just . Order Now!

More about OODA

What Is Workplace Bullying?  [March 3, 2010]

We're gradually becoming aware that workplace bullying is a significant deviant pattern in workplace relationships. To deal effectively with it, we must know how to recognize it. Here's a start.

Biological Mimicry and Workplace Bullying  [March 31, 2010]

When targets of bullies decide to stand up to their bullies, to end the harassment, they frequently act before they're really ready. Here's a metaphor that explains the value of waiting for the right time to act.

OODA at Work  [April 6, 2011]

OODA is a model of decision making that's especially useful in rapidly evolving environments, such as combat, marketing, politics, and emergency management. Here's a brief overview.

How Workplace Bullies Use OODA: II  [April 20, 2011]

Workplace bullies who succeed in carrying on their activities over a long period of time are intuitive users of Boyd's OODA model. Here's Part II of an exploration of how bullies use the model.

How Targets of Bullies Can Use OODA: I  [April 27, 2011]

Most targets of bullies just want the bullying to stop, but most bullies don't stop unless they fear for their own welfare if they continue the bullying. To end the bullying, targets must turn the tables.

How Targets of Bullies Can Use OODA: II  [May 4, 2011]

To make the bullying stop, many targets of bullies try to defend themselves. But defense alone is not sufficient — someone must ``Em''make``/Em'' the bully stop. That's why counterattack is much more likely to work.

Rapid-Fire Attacks  [August 1, 2012]

Someone asks you a question. Within seconds of starting to reply, you're hit with another question, or a rejection of your reply. Abusively. The pattern repeats. And repeats again. And again. You're being attacked. What can you do?

Projects as Proxy Targets: I  [December 18, 2013]

Some projects have detractors so determined to prevent project success that there's very little they won't do to create conditions for failure. Here's Part I of a catalog of tactics they use.

Joint Leadership Teams: OODA  [December 28, 2022]

Some teams, business units, or enterprises are led not by individuals, but by joint leadership teams of two or more. They face special risks that arise from the organizations that host them, from the team they lead, or from within the joint leadership team itself.

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Related articles

More articles on Workplace Bullying:

The Paradox of Structure and Workplace Bullying

Structures of all kinds — organizations, domains of knowledge, cities, whatever — are both enabling and limiting. To gain more of the benefits of structure, while avoiding their limits, it helps to understand this paradox and learn to recognize its effects.

So You Want the Bullying to End: II

If you're the target of a workplace bully, ending the bullying can be an elusive goal. Here are some guidelines for tactics to bring it to a close.

Power Mobbing at Work

Mobbing is a form of group bullying of an individual — the target. Power mobbing occurs when a politically powerful person orchestrates the mobbing. It's a form of bullying that's especially harmful to the target and the organization.

We Can 'Moneyball' Bullying

Capturing data about incidents of bullying is helpful in creating awareness of the problem. But it's like trying to drive a car by looking only in the rearview mirror. Forward-looking data that predicts bullying incidents is also necessary.

Bullying by Proxy: I

The form of workplace bullying perhaps most often observed involves a bully and a target. Other forms are less obvious. One of these, bullying by proxy, is especially difficult to control, because it so easily evades most anti-bullying policies.

See also Workplace Bullying and Workplace Bullying for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

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