Conclusion

Analyzing the movie, "The Devil Wears Prada" allowed me to understand the Incivility spiral and conflict in depth. I have learned that in any organization, incivility and conflict arises and employees feel bullied. Tactics to combat workplace incivility give individuals relief and a sense that they are able to solve problems that bullies may cause them. The purpose of this blog is to show how incivilty spirals into other forms of abuse and tyrinical leadership in the workplace and the ways in which we can combat these issues.

"How to Bust the Office Bully"

In this next scene, we see that Andy tries to explain her plight to Nigel. He does not seem to listen to her troubles. Andy faces a huge challenge in getting her feelings out. “Bullying can come in a variety of forms, including exclusion and isolation, nitpicking, criticism, humiliation, and even hitting and slapping” (Tracy, Alberts, Rivera). Andy was facing the, criticism, nitpicking, and humiliation part and she felt that she can tell Nigel and he can help her out. However, Nigel knew the type of person Miranda was, it was second nature behavior for him and therefore, his only solution for Andy was to “Just Quit.”

In order for me to help Andy I would use the “Eight Tactics for Explaining Workplace Abuse to Decision-Makers” on how to bust the office bully. Although it is difficult for victim’s to tell their stories. “Targets frequently experience not only harassment but also a relative lack of support from co-workers and supervisors…as they try to ameliorate or change their predicament.” (Tracy, Alberts, Rivera). We see that Andy in "The Devil Wears Prada" cant really talk to her co-workers about the harassment she is facing from Miranda because they are used to it. She cant go to her father, friends or her boyfriend because they say "She got herself into the job." Ultimately, "the stories of bully victims often are not allowed to be told...workers face risk when they tell stories about negative attention." The article on "How to Bust the Office Bully" furthermore explains that targets should talk about their emotional pain of abuse.

I would advise Andy to use the eight tactics, which are be rational, people want to hear the reasons why these events occur. Express emotions appropriately, use vivid metaphors that are clear to the listener. Provide consistent details, state specific memorable details that are deemed credible. Offer a plausible story, reference back to a specific event that occurred. Be relevant, make sure you don't express your feelings in a way that people will think your crazy. Emphasize your own competence, display yourself as a strong employee. Show consideration for other's perspectives, don't sound like a "whiner," let listeners believe that you understand the bully's behavior. Be specific, use concrete and specific language to explain your story. (Tracy, Alberts, Rivera).

If Andy uses these tactics in trying to bust Miranda her working experience will be much better. In society, people feel that they do not need to listen to victim's stories. However these simple tips may be the cornerstone in helping bullied individuals speak out in their organizations.

Secondary Incivility Spirals

We can see here that Miranda's tyrannical behavior. In secondary spirals of incivility, "Employees become aware of the mounting incivility, and their response can be increasing levels of negative affect, distrust and fear. The loss of civility changes employees' expectation of one another" (Anderson and Pearson). Andy is aware that Miranda is capable of anything and everything and her fear for her is clearly displayed in this scene. She calls her colleague Emily to tell her that she will be the one going to Paris and not Emily. Ultimately, incivility is being spread throughout the organization. In any organization this fuels other forms of incivility, thus creating further spirals of incivility.

This seems to create a working environment in which employees believe that the organization or the head of the organization sole intent is to harm them or other individuals. This leads to the organization becoming and uncivil environment to work in. We see this occur when Andy is mistreated by Emily because Andy was chosen to go to Paris with Miranda.

Do You Know Why I Hired You!

Civility is a demonstration or a moral standard of respect for fellow employees, co-workers and humans in general. Civility is supposed to be our building blocks in developing and softening the division between, lower and upper class citizens and most importantly between employees and their employers. However we are approaching a time in which individuals think that we should display our "individuality" and practice freedom of speech (Anderson and Pearson). With that said, we see more and more incivility in the workplace and less practice of civility. Incivility is a huge problem in organizations. This incivility leads to employees lacking in enthusiasm in the workplace, allows them to neglect work and practice their own discourteous behavior. "A survey of 178 employees revealed that a majority of the aggression occurring in work settings is of a less intense form: verbal rather than physical, passive rather than active, indirect rather than direct and subtle rather than overt" (Anderson and Pearson). We see a less intense form of abuse in the film. However, most times, less intense forms of aggression and incivility lead to bigger problems which become hard to tame and lead to the physical, active and overt ways of handling the situation.

In the scene below we clearly see that incivility is occurring in the organization between Miranda and Andy. Miranda verbally abuses Andy, putting her physical appearance down by calling her fat girl. It seems as though Miranda's opinion is the only one that matters. This was the beginning of the incivility spiral for Andy in which she changed her social identity in the next scene which was the tipping point of the incivility spiral. Her appearance change made her apt to counter aggression for indirect revenge against her colleague Emily. She began doing better work than Emily and her appearance was also a threat.

Introduction

I will be analyzing the film "The Devil Wears Prada." In my analysis I will discuss the ways in which incivility and other forms of mistreatment in organizations occur, especially in that of the film by co-workers (Nigel and Emily). I will also discuss incivility by the employer (Miranda). I will then discuss how implementing "How to Bust the Office Bully-Eight Tactics For Explaining Workplace Abuse To Decision -Makers" by Tracy, Alberts, and Rivera could have helped Andy, the victim in the film, in combating Miranda's uncivil managing and humiliating comments. The purpose of this is to show how incivilty spirals into other forms of abuse and tyrinical leadership in the workplace and the ways in which we can combat these issues.