Subject Matter Bullying

Workplace bullying is any aggressive behavior associated with work and intended to cause physical or psychological harm to another. [Brenner 2025.2] Subject matter bullying is a special kind of (usually workplace) bullying. Someone might be engaged in subject matter bullying when the intended harm inflicted on the target is a loss of social status, or denial of social status, with respect to the community concerned with the subject matter. For example, in the course of a debate among data architects about the causes of an database anomaly, subject matter bullying might be occurring when one participant engages in an ad hominem attack on another in order to reorient the debate toward criticisms of the target's favored architectural approach.

In this description, the phrase might be occurring is doing a lot of work. In subject matter bullying, the distinction between bullying and passionate debate can be subtle. One clarifying guideline is that in bullying, the advocates seek to advance their arguments by intentionally harming their debate opponents.

Perpetrators employ the tactics of subject matter bullying not merely to advance their own social status, though that is often a result. The primary motive of subject matter bullying, like all bullying, is inflicting harm on the target.

Identifying subject matter bullying

Identifying bullying in the workplace is sometimes difficult, because perpetrators use a variety of ploys to disguise their bullying. [Brenner 2010] But distinguishing subject matter bullying from ordinary work can be far more difficult than distinguishing other forms of bullying from ordinary work, for at least three reasons.

A degree of subject matter mastery is required

The debates within the community of a field of knowledge can be deep. Just understanding those debates can require a level of mastery many never attain. Distinguishing subject matter bullying from ordinary work can sometimes require a level of mastery beyond understanding the debates that arise in ordinary work.

Near the heart of the difficulty is the fact that the subject matter of subject matter bullying is the same as the subject matter of ordinary work. In other kinds of workplace bullying the subject matter might differ from the subject of ordinary work. It might be how privileges are granted, or what work is assigned. In subject matter bullying, the harm inflicted is much closer to the subject of the work. For example, the harm might be rejection in a humiliating manner of the target's idea for solving the problem at hand.

Contextual factors beyond the here and now can be significant

To fully appreciate the dynamics of subject matter bullying, a thorough grasp of contextual factors can be necessary. Knowing the past history of the relationships between bully and target (or between the allies of each) can affect whether or not we perceive an interaction as bullying. [Pinto, et al. 2023] Likewise, knowledge of the past history of the ideas espoused by perpetrator and target can also determine whether or not we perceive a given interaction as bullying.

For example, in a debate about the merits of the current design of a system, the perpetrator might sarcastically comment, "Although this design is fundamentally atrocious, the prototype didn't detonate when we first energized it." This might sound like nothing more than a wry comment, but when we know that the target's concept did detonate when first energized, the comment is more clearly a nasty attack.

Mobbing and collaborating can be isomorphic

In the context of bullying, the term mobbing refers to "concerted effort by a group of employees to isolate a co-worker through ostracism and denigration." [Denenberg & Braverman 2001] [Sloan, et al. 2010] But "concerted effort" is the essence of collaboration, which is the engine that drives development of knowledge in all fields. In the knowledge workplace, collaborations form and dissolve frequently. Some are actually virtual, in the sense that their members might meet only rarely in person.

Given this high level of structural fluidity, collaboration formation and dissolution can be a sign of a healthy community associated with a given field of knowledge. But such a social structure is also subject to mobbing. Secret conversations are easily arranged. Excluding, isolating, or expelling individuals is easily accomplished. Distinguishing mobbing from collaboration requires intimate knowledge of the group's communications.

Last words

Because inflicting harm on the target is at the center of any bullying, we can more easily recognize subject matter bullying if we first try to identify the person harmed. In subject matter bullying, the harm is expressed in terms of the target's loss of stature in the community that surrounds and supports the subject matter.  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!

Footnotes

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:

Hurtful Clichés: II

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. Here's Part II of a series exploring some of these clichés.

Rapid-Fire Attacks

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?

So You Want the Bullying to End: I

If you're the target of a workplace bully, you probably want the bullying to end. If you've ever been the target of a workplace bully, you probably remember wanting it to end. But how it ends can be more important than whether or when it ends.

Unrecognized Bullying: I

Much workplace bullying goes unrecognized. Three reasons: (a) conventional definitions of bullying exclude much actual bullying; (b) perpetrators cleverly evade detection; and (c) cognitive biases skew our perceptions so we don't see some bullying as bullying.

What Micromanaging Is and Isn't

Micromanaging is a dysfunctional pattern of management behavior, involving interference in the work others are supposedly doing. Confusion about what it is and what it isn't makes effective response difficult.

See also Workplace Bullying for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming August 13: Leaving High-Touch Jobs: How

High-touch jobs require that we work closely with colleagues, teammates, clients, or suppliers. Because choosing to leave such a job affects all these people, and the person departing, we would do well find a path that respects all involved. Here are some suggestions. Available here and by RSS on August 13.

And on August 20: Earned Value and Goodhart's Law

Earned Value Management, widely used approach to project management, is most useful in contexts in which estimators are familiar with the Tasks, the Technologies, and the Teams. But even then, it is vulnerable to the tactics of those who game the metrics. Available here and by RSS on August 20.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenaXXxGCwVgbgLZDuRner@ChacDjdMAATPdDNJnrSwoCanyon.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