How Workplace Bullies Use OODA: II

Last time, we began our exploration of how workplace bullies use the OODA Model by noticing that most bullies are very intuitive about it. And we gained some insight into how bullies select targets, and how targets can respond. Let's now consider how bullies use the OODA model for shaping the dynamics of the environment in which they work.

Controlling tempo

Bullies understand that a high tempo of attacks can overwhelm targets. By getting inside their targets' OODA loops, they reduce the effort required to maintain the advantage. Since workplace bullies also understand that targets who feel hopeless are more likely to quit their jobs, bullies relent when they sense that their targets are near their breaking points.

Targets often report a feeling of being "on a roller coaster" of emotion, as they experience this alternation of intensity levels of bullying. The variation of intensity itself wears on targets. Some cease all efforts to resist, resigning themselves to just finding a way to endure. Bystanders are often intimidated, too, as they witness the bully's power to destroy targets.

Targets who understand and expect this alternation of intensity levels are better able to maintain emotional control. They won't relax as much during low-intensity phases, and they won't lose all hope during high-intensity phases. They also understand that their bullies use the targets' own responses to gauge what level of intensity would be most effective.

Environmental shaping

From the bully's perspective, environmental shaping requires paying attention to the activities of many people. First, there are the targets themselves. But there are also bystanders, supervisors, and miscellaneous officials.

Because From the bully's perspective,
environmental shaping requires
paying attention to the
activities of many peoplebystanders might report the workplace bully's activities to officials, bullies seek to intimidate bystanders, or better, to convert them into compliant allies. Since supervisors can also be threats, bullies either mollify them with bribes of performance, or threaten them directly or indirectly. They often employ deception to confuse the supervisor, and they carefully monitor the supervisor's state of mind. They must also monitor, deceive or control other organizational officials, who tend to be less trouble since they're usually more distant.

Since the environment surrounding the bully can be very complex, the bully tries to simplify the situation by limiting the number of players involved, or by deceiving them about the nature of the bullying activity. Undermining the bully's deceptions is therefore a profitable strategy for targets, because it adds complexity to the overall problem the bully must solve.

These observations suggest that to confound the bully, targets can also use OODA. By being less predictable, and by overloading the bully's ability to shape the environment, targets can get inside the bully's OODA Loop. We'll examine ways to accomplish these goals next time.   First 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: I  [April 13, 2011]

Workplace bullies who succeed in carrying on their activities over a long period of time rely on more than mere intimidation to escape prosecution. They proactively shape their environments to make them safe for bullying. The OODA model gives us insights into how they accomplish this.

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.

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Workplace Bullying:

Intimidation Tactics: Touching

Workplace touching can be friendly, or it can be dangerous and intimidating. When touching is used to intimidate, it often works, because intimidators know how to select their targets. If you're targeted, what can you do?

Hurtful Clichés: I

Much of our day-to-day conversation consists of harmless clichés: "How goes it?" or "Nice to meet you." Some other clichés aren't harmless, but they're so common that we use them without thinking. Maybe it's time for some thought.

Social Isolation and Workplace Bullying

Social isolation is a tactic widely used by workplace bullies. What is it? How do bullies use it? Why do bullies use it? What can targets do about it?

On Gratuitous Harshness

Rejecting with gratuitous harshness the contributions of others can be an expensive pattern to tolerate — or to indulge. Understanding how the costs arise and what factors exacerbate them is the first step to controlling the pattern.

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

Coming June 4: White-Collar Contractor Sabotage

Modern firms in competitive, dynamic markets draw on many types of employer/employee relationships, including contractors. By providing privileges and perks preferentially among these different types, they risk creating a caldron of resentments that can reduce organizational effectiveness. Available here and by RSS on June 4.

And on June 11: More Things I've Learned Along the Way: VI

When I gain an important insight, or when I learn a lesson, I make a note. Example: If you're interested in changing how a social construct operates, knowing how it came to be the way it is can be much less useful than knowing what keeps it the way it is. Available here and by RSS on June 11.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenubcqSvusyBsQaEDwner@ChacfhuriyFKgDguTpuYoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info