(CBC News) – Six weeks after a sexual harassment complaint was dismissed due to procedural errors, the RCMP officer at the centre of the issue was promoted.
Sgt. Tim Korman is currently stationed in Rosthern, Sask., but four years ago when he was a corporal in the Buffalo Narrows detachment he was accused of sexually harassing an officer under his supervision.
An investigation determined the allegation was well-founded, but a discipline process related to the complaint was terminated because the Saskatchewan commander at the time, Darrell McFadyen, botched the paperwork.
The case was examined by an internal review panel, which dismissed the matter on March 18.
Chief Superintendent Garry Jay, the manager of human resources for the RCMP in Saskatchewan, told CBC News that the Mounties were obliged to promote Korman, as soon as he qualified for advancement. Jay told CBC News that Korman’s promotion was approved six weeks after the review panel dismissed the harassment complaint.
“The reason for preventing Mr. Korman — Cpl. Korman, now Sgt. Korman — from participating in a promotion process in the past was the outstanding discipline,” Jay explained. “Where that discipline failed to come to fruition, he was entitled to a promotion to sergeant, and that promotion has been provided to him.”
Jay said the problem with poor paperwork affecting a disciplinary process has happened before with the RCMP, but added the Mounties were changing procedures so that sort of problem does not happen again.
Yeah Calvin, that is the way it goes, that the people at the top are too arrogant to care what people at the bottom think. It is really obvious that the APS program has absolutely no imput from real policemen.
Part of the problem out in Depot is that on one part of the base such as the firearms facility you have real policemen teaching a real set of police skills where there is no room for subjective peer assessments. Either you hit the target, or you didn’t.
But where the wires get crossed is in the classroom where all this politically correct nonsense gets tossed around where they are taught to think like social workers. Say for example in a scenario for a vehicle stop a cadet has his hand sitting on his “red gun”. The fire arms section and PDT will tell you that not only you can do this but you can unsnap it and can even grab the handle if you are not comfortable. But, when this is actually done in a APS scenario, than all kinds of ridiculous allegations of excessive force can be made in the form of a peer assessment. Then if you get enough people that think like this, than little labels start being slapped on people and before you know it nobody thinks like a policeman anymore because it isn’t politically correct.
I agree DT that something is either right or isn’t right and in this regard peer supervision just doesn’t work. Apart from the obvious problems, I just think it causes a lot of problems and resentment. Then the game becomes about covering your ass and always trying to keep the negative attention on someone else rather than accepting personal responsibility and working towards improving ones self or helping others- even if they aren’t your friends.
It is for this reason the slackers are usually the ones who cause the most problems in the group. While everyone is working, they are the ones sitting around drinking beer talking about who they like and who they don’t like and how they are going to screw this person or that person. Members of this group start forming their own “harmonized opinions”. The second they are stood up to, they are the first ones to go whining off the the authorities for protection and you guessed it their peer assessment/assassination of someone.
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Joan Kruger, Acting Officer in. Charge of Training, Program Support and Evaluation, Depot. Division, RCMP Training Academy …
Dr. Garry Bell of Depot Training Innovation and Research. …
The above persons took the RCMP Training Academy in a new direction. While well meaning, I think that there were major problems with aspects of their approach to police training of RCMP recruits.
Their skills were in the designing and presentations of the programs.
The experienced in put of seasoned RCMP members were ignored and became corporate memory loss.
Dr. Bell and Joan Kruger should have been given the data from RCMP officers and that information used to design the curriculum.
That did not happen.
Calvin Lawrence
CGL Consulting
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The adult learning environment is not suitable for a legal organ of the state such as the police. There is a propensity for the “go look it up, research it and get back to me” mentality of instructors. Followed by a mind numbing examination of the research results. A cynic would perhaps say that the questionable decisions reported on can be traced to such learning.
In matters of law for example, recruits have to be told in no uncertain terms what can and cannot be done. An instructor at the head of the class would be far more effective if actions were outlined instead of “researched” to see if there are charges or not, arrest or not, search or not, detain or not. You can study the criminal code for hours to see if charge a or b or c, is appropriate, but that is no substitute for say a prosecutor to tell fertile minds what to do. A lot of the sections in the Code look very straightforward until you find out how case law has shaped the section over time, including last week. Nothing replaces: “you cannot do this” or “this is the way it is today period” If nothing else it would save a lot of time.
I think competent people respond to solid concepts in their training as they do in life. Your analogy of the field is correct in that the slackards will be found out. However, in society today we have assured the slackards that they cannot be fired, transferred, demoted, etc., if they think they are being picked on, conspired against, ad naseum.
As for the “peer assessments”, in the words of my neighbors 12 year old girl: “Oh my God”. A hockey coach does not build his team based on “peer” assessments. Assessment of team members should always be made by qualified, experienced supervisory personnel after careful observation of the team members skills and weaknesses.
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DT, I agree with all your points.
Going back to the issue of training again, I was just thinking about my stint in the CF. When you go on courses there you often have a garrison classroom component. Then you have a Field component.
In the garrison part it was easier for all the “plugs” to slack off and push their work onto other people. When you would get mad at them for not doing their fair share of the work to prepare for their daily inspection, they would laugh it off and head over to the mess. They knew they were going to get yelled at anyway in the morning, their attitude was “who cares.” They just flew right under the radar.
But, when we ended up in the middle of the woods, that really separated the men from the boys. Once we had to start 20 hour days of waking up to gunfire, filling in our trench, moving to a new location, digging another 5 foot trench in the heat with very little water, quickly setting up cam nets, going on a compass march and then making sure our weapons stayed clean in the sandy soil. Anyone who was an “individual” was quickly found out and there was nowhere for the clowns to hide and the Sgt’s soon found what they were made of.
I guess I have never bought into the whole adult learning concept with anonymous peer assessments/assassinations. I think a system where recruits are more heavily supervised and put through their paces would be a better way of doing things. Leave all the social worker crap out of the classroom and spend more time instilling life skills of team work, work ethic, and discipline. A system where people are taught to help each other out, instead of everyman for himself.
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Sorry Calvin, that comment was not meant for you.
Thanks JohnnyG for answering the questions, your explanations clarify your earlier comments such that they make more sense. Empirical data and/or context add impetus to any side of an issue.
As we discuss the various issues, I am more convinced each week that the need to begin at the top will be the best actions to address many of them. Removal of government, true civilian oversight board, independent employer status, complete control over itself within the law, are paramount to reform where its needed.
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Your explanation of mobbing was very well written Calvin. And, yes I believe that applies to quite a few cases I have seen in the RCMP.
DT, first off, I never said the occurrence of mobbing was rare. Dr. Leymann’s research was done nearly 30 years ago. I think it getting more and more common. Ten years ago there was hardly any information on it and the amount of books in print and websites have greatly multiplied since then. Shows like Survivor have only added to the problem.
In regards to your question about the percentage of complaints that are real vs purported- I am in no position to be giving numbers, but, I am pretty sure a high number of them aren’t legit. I am certain of that. But, what I feel is more important is what the outfit does when it uncovers the harassment when it is real and malicious. When it follows the 5 stages that Calvin outlined and it is written off as a “personality conflict”.
I also don’t think this problem is Geographically more likely in one part of the country or another. In one unit or another. Hostile work environments also occur in every type of unit both Federally and Provincially.
Also, I never said I condoned physical abuse of anyone in the context of a training environment, I was simply highlighting the differences in peer pressure vs mobbing and that they are like comparing apples to oranges. . But, since we are on the subject, I don’t believe harassing or physically abusing someone is going to make them a better employee or person. That is not what good leadership is about and it just makes people angry and defiant. It never worked on prisoners…
I believe in a training model which promotes team work. I believe in a drill program that is more rigid that the joke it has become. One that cadets actually take seriously. I also agree that the training environment has to be one where there is peer pressure and the point is given to the non hackers, but the leadership has to be there to set the tone and direction. I’ll be the first to admit that the lines between personality conflict and harassment are not always clear, but i think a better job has to be done telling the difference and dealing with with cases of malicious persecution severely and not just labeling it something else or burying the issue altogether. Also, better training on what supervisors need to look for is also needed.
I don’t have all the answers, but those are some ideas I have.
Also, DT I don’t mean to say that you don’t believe harassment exists, but I sometimes I feel you understand how nasty and how devastating this can be for people
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Your deflection with insinuation that I do not believe in harassment notwithstanding, DT.
I don’t know what I said but please accept that was not my meaning.
Lets take this mobbing process a bit further. The RCMP member returns to work or is still working. She may be and is likely suffering from some of the problems listed. Managers usually make her lack of ability to fully function a performance issue rather than a medical issue. She now is given negative assessments.
What will be her reaction when she hears commissioned officers, facilitators at Depot, and others say in writing and speech that “WE HAVE A ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY REGARDING HARASSMENT IN THE RCMP”? That gets a little old after a while.
You know the statement: Justice must not only be done but must appear to be done. Now the RCMP expects this member to say oh well, and go out and do a good job for them.
After all is said and done, more is said than done.
I think the info I sent should enable JG to determine if it applies to the RCMP.
Calvin Lawrence
CGL Consulting
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Thanks Calvin, most informative. I assume your first line is tongue in cheek though: “Society is crumbling when women have to be protected from men. This includes female RCMP members. ” We have been crumbling for a long time, from honor killings to spousal abuse, the legend continues barely unabated. However, take heart, some Provinces have good legislation combined with political direction to get moving.
I am still waiting for some answers though. Your deflection with insinuation that I do not believe in harassment notwithstanding, you remain silent on the questions posed JohnnyG.
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Society is crumbling when women have to be protected from men. This includes female RCMP members.
One proven case is one too many.
Workplace harassment follows 5 stages
As was researched and discovered by the Late Dr. Heinz Leymann,(The Mobbing Encyclopedia), there is a five stage process that occurs when Mobbing begins. Once in full swing this process is very difficult, if not impossible, to stop.
Stage 1
Begins with an unresolved conflict or a critical incident. Usually the target is an above average employee with a vulnerability that can be exploited. This often stems from jealousy,the need to scapegoat or to deflect blame, or simply because it builds social cohesion in divisive and dysfunctional groups. This stage is very early in the mobbing process, and may not go any further in developing to mobbing.
Stage 2
Here is where the assaults begin to take place. There are different tactics that are utilized and this is when the process begins to pick up steam. Here a ring leader and allies will not only add fuel to the fire, but sabotage any resolution of the conflict to ensue that the lynching will run its course. They will counter and dismiss all attempts at resolving the conflict and when the outrage seems to be quieting will rejuvenate the topic by taking it into another direction.
Here one can find a list of subtle tactics. http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/amibeing.htm
Stage 3
This is the stage where management begins to play a role. This is the first step in the elimination process. Managers often misinterpret the situation, and blame falls onto the victim.Supervisors simply don’t want to believe that their employees are capable of this kind of behaviour. With the targets now discredited and stigmatized any defence they make is disregarded. With “reality” now distorted, their individual word will not be taken over a group’s.There truly is strength in numbers.
Stage 4
This is where the process meets a critical stage where the target is labeled mentally ill or antisocial. By this time the target has become frustrated, withdrawn and unhappy while coworkers maliciously contort this into mental illness. The target is highly suspicious of others, which is well founded, and targets are further discredited by being labeled paranoid. Counselling at this point is mostly ineffective, as it does little to relieve the toxicity of the work environment. Unfortunately, many psychologists are ignorant or untrained in mobbing and its devastating effects and will often attribute this to permanent mental conditions and personality flaws that were “always there”. Nobody sees that this is a “normal reaction to an abnormal situation”.
If the target begins to fight back, they are labelled the aggressors.When the target is excluded, withdrawn and seeks solace, they are the ones who are introverted. The mob will put the target in the compromised position, and will attack them for being there. As in any abusive situation, victim blaming is always the aggressors way of abdicating responsibility.
Stage 5
This is expulsion process. By this time the target is mentally and physically drained, and has difficulty mustering the resources to provide an adequate defence. Often times there is little due process in the removal of a target and they have little chance of succeeding. Management being human as well will take the course of least resistance, they are more concerned about making the problem go away than getting to the root of the problem- bully/mob behaviour. It is easier to remove one target than it is to deal with a gang of bullies.
After the expulsion, the target is emotionally devastated and can often show signs of Post-Traumatic stress disorder. With their professional reputation destroyed, nobody else wants to hire them. Their lives are all but ruined…
What does bullying do to my health? Bullying causes injury to health and makes you ill. How many of these symptoms do you have?
constant high levels of stress and anxiety
frequent illness such as viral infections especially flu and glandular fever, colds, coughs, chest, ear, nose and throat infections (stress plays havoc with your immune system)
aches and pains in the joints and muscles with no obvious cause; also back pain with no obvious cause and which won’t go away or respond to treatment
headaches and migraines
tiredness, exhaustion, constant fatigue
sleeplessness, nightmares, waking early, waking up more tired than when you went to bed
flashbacks and replays, obsessiveness, can’t get the bullying out of your mind
irritable bowel syndrome
skin problems such as eczema, psoriasis, athlete’s foot, ulcers, shingles, urticaria
poor concentration, can’t concentrate on anything for long
bad or intermittently-functioning memory, forgetfulness, especially with trivial day-to-day things
sweating, trembling, shaking, palpitations, panic attacks
tearfulness, bursting into tears regularly and over trivial things
uncharacteristic irritability and angry outbursts
hyper vigilance (feels like but is not paranoia), being constantly on edge
hypersensitivity, fragility, isolation, withdrawal
reactive depression, a feeling of woebegoneness, lethargy, hopelessness, anger, futility and more
shattered self-confidence, low self-worth, low self-esteem, loss of self-love, etc
Calvin Lawrence
CGL Consulting
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You still haven’t ventured a guess to the questions I posed. Your true ‘mobbing’ (or plain bullying), is a rare occurrence according to your own references. Your vaunted Dr. Heinz Leymann acknowledges that fact. So what are the percentages that you think are real in the RCMP? I am guessing your case would be one. Do you perceive the number of occurrences you can establish to be indicative of; a trend, alarmingly commonplace, or epidemic? Geographically limited or widespread?
And inter troop discipline is not removed from your definition, in fact it is prima facie evidence of it: ..”group solidarity against one whom all agree does not belong; and the euphoria of collective attack.” Like your assertions it is a two edged sword. You appear to condone one under the guise of “So, the innocent members of the troop would give their portion of the punishment back to the non hacker who screwed up. The goal of inter-troop discipline was to strive for group excellence, and team work. ” I would be interested in hearing the side of a future officer drummed out because his bedsheets and clothing were tied in knots every day until he quit. You cannot persuade me that the troop leader sanctioning the actions would never act in haste or apply a little too much from time to time, or even need to sanction by failing to prevent unnecessary attacks.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Rumor and innuendo can ruin someone. It is ignorant one dimensional statements that deny this that helps perpetuate the problem. Studies have been done in europe for decades and we are still in the dark ages in this regard.
A good employee isn’t initially destroyed by rumor and innuendo. What happens when you get on the wrong side of a person (and yes it is often for nefarious reasons) they make your life hell, withold important information and set you up to fail. You basically get sabotaged. The second mobbers see the slightest bit of frustration these losers take that, twist it around and run with it. It snowballs.
Deepthroat, until I see a basic understanding of what mobbing really is than, I don’t see any point in continuing to discuss this issue with you as I don’t find you are grasping the most basic concepts of what I speak of.
Do your homework and come back and explain to me what the 5 stages of mobbing are by Dr. Heinz Leymann in detail.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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You missed the question to jamie, johnnyG. Re-read the post and see if you can answer the question. One in each post actually as he never answered the first set.
I do not think that honest, hardworking, first class employees can be ruined by “innuendo” and “rumor”. Your hard work and dedication speaks for itself in any climate.
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Inter-troop discipline and workplace mobbing are two different things. Let’s not confuse them.
Inter troop discipline is a function of a military system. In this system teamwork is emphasized and if one person screws up, the whole troop had to pay the price. So, the innocent members of the troop would give their portion of the punishment back to the non hacker who screwed up. The goal of inter-troop discipline was to strive for group excellence, and team work.
Workplace gang bullying and mobbing has a much more selfish objective. It is never the cream of the crop that resorts to mobbing. It is usually when a group of borderline incompetents conspire to ruin the career of someone they don’t like or works harder then they do. It could be from extremely vindictive people. Sometimes it is from someone who was told to get their act to together and resents the person who made them feel like the slug that they are. It could be peer on peer, supervisor on employee, or gang of employees against supervisor. An example of the latter happened in a detachment in H division some years ago where some supervisors wanted the constables to actually do some work and a group of them went crying to staffing and the result was sensitivity training for the boss. But, the opposite of this happened at the Ontario drug section where everyone was on stress leave because of a bully boss.
The game of mobbing is slippery and I really thing part of the problem is that there is not enough training. There is much more to this than meets the eye. A lot of psychologists have misdiagnosed people because many of them don’t even understand the full scope of this. There has to be much better awareness on what to look for. Too many don’t know the difference and don’t know what to look for. Just ask anyone who as been put through that malicious ringer. Calvin, do you think your bad experiences have made you much wiser in this regard?
I know a former DSSR and a current one who had a combined service of about 80 years of service who say the kind of backbiting nastiness is un-precedented. In the past the goal was to get someone to smarten up, nowadays it is to destroy the member. Most of this is never above board and always involves a malicious campaign of rumor and innuendo.
So, I think admitting that there is a problem and proper education on how to deal with the rotten apples would be a very good start at improving this problem. I don’t have all the answers, but this I am sure of.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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“But, when the RCMP feminized itself and demilitarized it’s training, team work and esprit de corps went right out the window.”
Does that include inter troop discipline such as horse troughing, being tied in the cold showers for hours, pillowcasing, soap bars etc., on men that did not come up to troop standards or caused them to be group disciplined for one persons transgression?
If you say this is a broader issue than just the RCMP, how do you feel it should be addressed? As a part of society, its various organs in the legal system suffer the same, so where does the answer lie?
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Yes their favorite word is “work place conflict”…….. and you are right when you say it is not just the “upper” management…but often times it is not taken as seriously as it should be….therefore, upper management are letting their employees down by not calling it what it is and ensuring that it is not perpetuated…..that’s what I meant. Your right it is a dirty little secret and maybe the formation of a union will help this????? Once again it comes down to should they be investigating themselves???? Maybe if it was looked at by an entity at arms length distance, those responsible for ensuring that this type of thing doesn’t go on will stand up and take notice???? Just a thought!
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JamieinRed has a point that the extent of the harassment within the RCMP is a dirty little secret that is worse than many will acknowledge.
The problem is that too often the person who is harassed is discredited with labels such as shoddy work/wrong occupation. Too often gang bullying or mobbing is conveniently written off by staffing as “personality conflict”. Too often workplace bullies are borderline incompetents themselves that are trying to get rid of someone who is making them look bad. Not to say that those problems don’t exist, but these terms are often the window dressing for much deeper problems. The only thing I will digress with what Jamie said is that it just isn’t the upper brass doing it, the game of “survivor” has worked it’s way into the rank and file and that is what many perceive as what you need to do to get ahead, at the expense of hard work and helping your fellow coworker.
It’s not just the RCMP where these problems are getting worse, it is broader society. But, when the RCMP feminized itself and demilitarized it’s training, team work and esprit de corps went right out the window. That I why I believe things are particularly bad. I believe the new corporate culture has made the outfit that much more cut throat and is where the “I/me” culture came from.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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What percentage do you feel is purported and real? As opposed to real harassment in the workplace, how much would you say is attributed to such things as: family problems; personality conflicts; being held accountable for shoddy work; in the wrong occupation; vindictiveness; wanting a change of venue; relationships gone sour; etc?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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This is NO surprise…..anyone with in that organization should know by now there is no such thing as harassment in the RCMP…..that’s what they say all the time!
For the “few” cases like this you hear of…there are tons where this has gone on and nothing gets done, insulated by by the upper management!
Here in BC it is rampant. You look at the stats of cops off on stress leave and if they were honest you would see that most are off because of harassment from upper management.
The office that is suppose to deal with this type of behaviour is completely & totally spineless when it comes to calling it what it is…..get rid of those who are afraid to stand up and say enough is enough!!!!
If you think for a second that when a complaint is made like this lady made something gets done…you’d be right, they promote and transfer the problem and run the person who complained out, or make their life a living hell!
Until the RCMP actually start owning up to being bullies in the sand box you will see more of this!
For the guy who did this, I hope the place you work at in nowhere saskachewan takes a good long hard look and you and see’s you for what you are, a spineless bully…..insulated by the incompetence and indifference of the higher ups!
Hot debate. What do you think?
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