BBC 英语学习 6分钟英语 欺凌还是正常竞争

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from BBC, learning English. Hello. I'm Rob.

Welcome to Six Minute English. I'm joined today by Neil.

Hello, neil, hi, there, rob. Today we're talking

about a very serious topic bullying,

and you're going to learn some vocabulary

related to this topic. And it's a serious matter because it can leave people traumatized.

Yes, traumatized, it means they end up with emotional wounds which affect them psychologically.

Bullies want to intimidate people, to intimidate, in other words, to make people fear them.

Yes, it does make people feel they can't help themselves.

They're powerless, they feel helpless. Unfortunately, bullying has been increasing in the workplace, in spite of laws against it.

Let's go for some figures. Are you ready for a question?

Neil Yes, I am. The Workplace Bullying Institute based in the US, conducted a survey last year How much of the American workforce has experienced bullying at work?

Was it a 7 %? Be 27 %, or see 47 %?

Well, I don't know, but I'm going to go for 27 %.

Okay, well, I'll give you the answer at the end of the program.

I am very keen to know rob intimidating peoples a very bad thing, that some might say that, well, aggression is part of human nature.

Yeah, that's an interesting point. Now, I can imagine big, strong men imposing their will by force in the Stone Age, but behaving this way now probably isn't a good idea.

The California based anthropologist Christopher Bowham explains.

Listen and then tell me what made bullying go out of fashion?

About a quarter of a million years ago, humans began to hunt zebras and antelope, and they had to cooperate to do so, because their weapons were rather primitive, and they did not want alpha males to be dominating the carcass after it was killed.

so the thing that everyone else did was to start killing alpha males.

Police simply were not tolerated. Ah.

People had to cooperate with each other.

In other words, to work together for their mutual benefit.

They were hunting animals for food, yes, and nobody wanted the alpha male, the strong man in the group, who wanted to dominate everybody else, to take all the meat for himself.

So about 250000 years ago, when human society was involving, people realized it wasn't good for the community to have a bully around.

No. So if we make a big jump in history and back to the 20 onest century?

Well, modern companies value corporation. People's well being matters too.

That's right. Many countries have laws against bullying, which is part of the company's human resources policy.

Human Resources, also known by the initials HR, is the department which hires new employees and stores information about their career at the company.

And what sort of behaviors considered bullying in the civilized world?

Well, that's what Helen Goldberg is about to explain to us.

She's a specialist in developmental psychology.

What's the main thing that defines bullying?

Something that's intentional on the part of the perpetrator?

It has to involve some kind of power imbalance.

So it's not an argument between equals, and it's something that's repetitive, so it's not a one off rage by one person against another.

The intentest cause harm, which can be psychological or physical, to be considered bullying.

The behavior has to be intentional, which means it has to be planned or deliberate, and also has to happen many times and involve power.

Yes, indeed, one person has to have more power than the other.

You know, rob, this idea of intention is very important, because some people are just more confident in demanding than others.

They might say that they didn't mean to cause any harm.

They don't mean to bully anyone.

Yes, but it can be interpreted differently.

Down Treadway at the State University of New York studied bullying in the workplace.

He is a word which means the way someone interprets something they see or hear.

Which what is it? At the end of the day, if the target feels as if they are being bullied, the corporation needs to make sure they're addressing that feeling.

If you're the supervisor who your your subordinate says that they're being bullied by you or abused by you, why you may not feel you're doing that.

It's your responsibility as a communicator to make sure that they're getting the accurate perception of your behavior.

Being known as a bully as is a stigma that that nobody in a corporation wants its perception.

According to Darren Treadway, bullying is a matter of perception, the way some action is interpreted by a person, in this case, a subordinate, and supervisors have to be aware of how their subordinates see their behavior.

It's all a matter of communication, yes, indeed.

But we are running out of time, I'm afraid.

Let's go back to the question I put to you earlier in the program.

It's about a

survey by the Workplace Bulling Institute.

I asked how much of the American workforce has experienced bullying in the workplace?

The options were

7 %, 27%

and 47 %. And I guessed 27 %.

And

you guessed very well. The answer is indeed 27 %.

What do you think about that?

Uh, well, it's depressingly high, isn't it?

Yes, it is. OK. Well, before we go, could you remind us of some of the words that we've heard today?

Yes, we heard Traumatized to intimidate, helpless to cooperate alpha male Human resources Intentional perception.

Do log on to BBC learning english dot com to find more six minute English programs.

Bye, bye.

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