ABSTRACT
Workplace bullying is a frightening, shaming, and sometimes life-shattering experience for those who go through it. In groups and organisations, fear, shame, and anger are painful facts, and our defences against what can feel like unmanageable feelings solve nothing and only prevent us from thinking, feeling, and learning. Our capacity to scapegoat and ostracise lurk in the shadow of all groups, teams, and organisations. It is difficult to understand what lies beneath the corruption complex at work without first considering the subtle and covert nature of power. In bureaucracies, the tension between worker resistance and compliance is encountered in the context of performance management, quality control, adherence to output key performance indicators, benchmarking, and so on. Overt aggression at work can be addressed through formal, albeit palliative, disciplinary procedures. What often lurks behind the facade of pleasantness and forbearance, especially for nice people in healthcare, religious communities, social work, and education are the destructive forces of anger.
