Office Bullying and Harassment Policy Volume 2013 2nd Edition | Page 16

Intent does not determine whether the behaviour is bullying and harassment. A person cannot excuse his or her behaviour by saying he or she did not intend it to be humiliating or intimidating. Situations, context, and circumstances may vary. For example, yelling in the workplace may be acceptable sometimes. It might be appropriate for a construction foreman to yell to warn a fellow worker of a potential danger, or for a fire chief to shout commands at the scene of a disaster. However, yelling that humiliates and intimidates is not acceptable. What is not considered bullying and harassment? Bullying and harassment should not be confused with exercising managerial authority. Examples of reasonable management action might include decisions relating to job duties, workloads, deadlines, transfers, reorganizations, work instructions or feedback, work evaluation, performance management, and/or disciplinary actions. Who can be a bully? Who can be a target? Anyone can be a bully, so it’s difficult to generalize. Some bullies are easy to identify, while others operate more subtly. Equally, anyone can be the target of bully [??[?\?\??Y[? ?H\??]??[?\??\?Z?[H?HHYX?]Y ??]\?H[\?YYH\???Y[?H???&\?H[?[????]????\????Y??X??????\??[?H??[?^?][???[Z[??[?\?\??Y[?\?[???\??YH]??\?H?[?X[?\???H\?X?[[?Y[?[?X[[??Y?]H????\??]?[?XY???\???X?]?]K\?X?[[?\??[?[??X\?Y?\???[??\?HY???Y[?H\?\??X?Y?[H\???Z[?????\?????[?^?][??]\??X???^?H[??Y?\??\?H^?\???H[??\?[???]?[?]]?B?YX\?\?\?[????Y\?\?\?H[?X?H?[\??HHX[[??Y?]H????\???]?\??\??????\??[??Y[?????????\?H?\?X??[???X?B??