Point Lookout: a free weekly publication of Chaco Canyon Consulting
Volume 11, Issue 16;   April 20, 2011: How Workplace Bullies Use OODA: II

How Workplace Bullies Use OODA: II

by

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.
A modern roller coaster showing an inverted portion of the trip

A modern roller coaster showing an inverted portion of the trip. Although targets of bullies often use the roller coaster metaphor for its evocation of the "up and down" of being the target of a bully, the metaphor is much more useful than that.

Roller coasters produce in their riders an overwhelming sense of fear. Even though they progressively slow down after their first hill, the experience of fear never lets up, and in the best coasters, it builds throughout the trip. They accomplish this by using ever-tighter turns, inversion, and view management to create a heightened sense of fear as the ride proceeds. Fear management is the essence of the coaster designer's art. Bullies do exactly the same thing.

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 people
bystanders 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 in this series  Go to top Top  Next issue: How Targets of Bullies Can Use OODA: I  Next Issue

101 Tips for Targets of Workplace BulliesIs 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!

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Related articles

More articles on Workplace Bullying:

A polar bear, feeding, on landResponding to Threats: III
Workplace threats come in a variety of flavors. One class of threats is indirect. Threateners who use the indirect threats aim to evoke fear of consequences brought about not by the threatener, but by other parties. Indirect threats are indeed warnings, but not in the way you might think.
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Nobody else seems to be concerned about what's going on. You are. Should you raise the issue? What are the risks? What are the risks of not raising the issue?
A mixed stand of aspen and pine in the Okanagan region of British Columbia and Washington stateHow Workplace Bullies Use OODA: I
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.
A U.S. Marine sniper wearing sniper camouflage gear known as a "ghillie" suitHow Targets of Bullies Can Use OODA: II
To make the bullying stop, many targets of bullies try to defend themselves. But defense alone is not sufficient — someone must make the bully stop. That's why counterattack is much more likely to work.
A human marionetteManipulators Beware
When manipulators try to manipulate others, they're attempting to unscrupulously influence their targets to decide or act in some way the manipulators prefer. But some targets manage to outwit their manipulators.

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

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

A meeting in a typical conference roomComing April 3: Recapping Factioned Meetings
A factioned meeting is one in which participants identify more closely with their factions, rather than with the meeting as a whole. Agreements reached in such meetings are at risk of instability as participants maneuver for advantage after the meeting. Available here and by RSS on April 3.
Franz Halder, German general and the chief of staff of the Army High Command (OKH) in Nazi Germany from 1938 until September 1942And on April 10: Managing Dunning-Kruger Risk
A cognitive bias called the Dunning-Kruger Effect can create risk for organizational missions that require expertise beyond the range of knowledge and experience of decision-makers. They might misjudge the organization's capacity to execute the mission successfully. They might even be unaware of the risk of so misjudging. Available here and by RSS on April 10.

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