Types of office bullies revealed

A new study suggests that rotten behaviour and office bullying will only flourish in a climate of bad management.

While bullies and their henchmen should always be punished for their actions, there are three types of managers that help create a toxic work environment.

First of all there is the barbecue buddy.

This is the individual who probably never fitted in at school, was rejected from "the cool group'' at university and has been trying to hang with the popular kids ever since.

They are not mean, just weak, and are desperate to share a beer with staff and become "just one of the guys," the Daily Telegraph reported.

Secondly, there is the fishbowl phantom.

They live in a mystical place called the "fishbowl office" where they are isolated and practically invisible to most employees.

They take pride in being very busy people and don't have time for trifling matters like staff complaints and genuine office culture issues.

Problem is, traumatised bullying victims are too scared to approach them for fear of wasting their time or appearing trivial.

Or when they are approached, they dismiss the problem as harmless office politics.

These sorts of mangers can be held vicariously liable in bullying court proceedings if they are seen to have ignored either staff complaints or a toxic workplace culture.

And lastly there are the kneejerk.

The manger with an unstable self-esteem, combined with an inability to handle office change and take constructive criticism, creates a perfect storm for office bullying.

Similar to their fishbowl friend, the knee-jerks are also difficult to approach.

They have an unstable self esteem, they work well until they are challenged and when they are challenged they become highly defensive.

They are highly sensitive and unstable when challenged.

If they have to performance manage a staff member they become quite authoritarian.