“Don’t cause any trouble.” “It won’t do any good.” “Nothing ever changes.” “You’ll just get fired.” “He’s the boss’ favorite, you’ll get canned.” The litany goes on.
It’s a cultural thing. We are supposed to be tough, supposed to be able to handle it, not be a sissy.
That is empowerment. Definite, hardcore, empowerment. It makes every bully, every wiseass put down artist – well nigh invincible.
If there is anything you should avoid, it’s making some two-bit bullies feel good about themselves.
The article below explains some of the downsides to not speaking out.
Yamada’s work is excellent. I recommend his work.
James Pilant
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
The trick that I found is to outsmart the bully in a way that brings to light the issue to the supervisor (or his boss if the bully is your immediate supervisor). Of course each situation would call for its own way of handling it, but the overall principle is the same.
If you tattle, then it becomes a he said he said situation. The bully got to be that way because, for some reason, the boss typically sees him as a golden child so that usually doesn’t work out. Also, tattling will create a situation in which your other co-workers aren’t going to want to work with you either. I don’t want to work with someone if I know he/she is going to run to the boss every single time that their feelings get hurt. Of course, that is different from blowing the whistle on a bully, but I wouldn’t want to be the next in line should tattling for every little thing becomes a pattern of behavior for this person.
Yes, there should be something done about workplace bullying, I agree. I would imagine, though, that some of those cases could be instances in which the employee needs to grow a thicker skin. A supervisor cant effectively do his/her job if they have to pussy foot around his/her employees all of the time.
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