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Dominic Raab, bully or victim?
多米尼克·拉布是職場惡霸還是受害者？
If enough people think you’re a bad boss, then you are a bad boss.
如果有足夠多的人認為你是一個糟糕的老板，那么你就是一個糟糕的老板。
A fascinating case study on the exercise of power within an organisation has just reached a conclusion in Britain.
關于在組織內部行使權力的一個有趣的案例研究剛剛在英國得出結論。
Dominic Raab resigned as the country’s deputy prime minister and justice secretary on April 21st, after an independent investigation into whether he is a workplace bully found that he had crossed a line.
4月21日，多米尼克·拉布辭去了英國副首相兼司法大臣的職務，此前對他是否是職場惡霸進行了一項獨立調查，調查發現他確實越界了。
The civil servants who lodged complaints against him will feel justified.
對拉布提出投訴的公務員會覺得正義得到了伸張。
His supporters, and the man himself, contend that his departure sets an unhealthily low bar for being found guilty of bullying.
而拉布的支持者及其本人都認為，他的離職為職場霸凌罪名成立設定了一個不合理的低門檻。
Adam Tolley, the barrister who conducted the probe, found that Mr Raab had displayed “unreasonably and persistently aggressive conduct” while he held the job of foreign secretary.
進行調查的律師亞當·托利發現，拉布在擔任外交大臣期間表現出了“不合理且持續的攻擊性行為”。
Mr Tolley also concluded that Mr Raab’s style at the justice ministry was sometimes “intimidating” and “insulting”.
托利還總結說，拉布在司法部的工作風格有時是“讓人畏懼”和“有侮辱性的”。
Mr Raab may not have intended to upset but that is not enough to get him off the hook: the British government’s own website says that bullying is “behaviour that makes someone feel intimidated or offended”.
拉布可能并不是故意的，但這不足以讓他逃脫懲罰：英國政府自己的網站上說，霸凌是“讓人感到畏懼或被冒犯的行為”。
The context of the Raab affair is unusual.
拉布事件的背景是不尋常的。
Media interest is high, and the relationship between civil servants and British government ministers is a very particular one.
媒體對此很感興趣，而公務員和英國政府部長之間的關系尤其吸引媒體。
But the question of what distinguishes someone who merely sets high standards, which is Mr Raab’s version of events, from someone who is a bully is of interest in workplaces everywhere.
但是，如何區分那些要求高的人--這是拉布先生對此事件的說法--與進行霸凌的人，這在任何職場都是一個讓人感興趣的問題。
In a survey published in 2021 around 30% of American workers, for example, said they had direct experience of abusive conduct at work; in two-thirds of cases, the bully was someone above them in the food chain.
例如，在2021年公布的一項調查中，約30%的美國員工表示，他們在工作中直接經歷過欺凌行為，在三分之二的案例中，霸凌者是在食物鏈中高于他們的人。
It is hard to read the report and not feel an unexpected twinge of sympathy for Mr Raab.
閱讀這份調查報告時，很難不對拉布產生一陣意料之外的同情。
Unfashionable though it is to admit it, fear is a part of organisational life.
盡管承認這一點已經過時了，但恐懼是組織生活的一部分。
Hierarchies hand managers the power and remit to weed out poor performers.
等級制度賦予管理者權力和職權去淘汰表現不佳的員工。
Driven, demanding types are often the people who make it up the ladder.
能在等級階梯往上爬的往往是那些上進心強、要求高的人。
Mr Raab is definitely that.
拉布先生絕對屬于這一類。
Mr Tolley describes an exacting boss: hard-working, impatient and direct.
托利描述了一位要求嚴格的老板：勤奮、少耐心、直接。
He interrupts when he is not getting a straight answer.
當他得不到直截了當的答復時，他會打斷別人。
He does not want to spend time rehearsing arguments that have already been aired.
他不想花時間來重復已經公布了的論據。
If he thinks work falls short of the required standard, he says so.
如果他認為工作沒有達到要求的標準，他會直接這么說。
Mr Raab shares many of the attributes of a desk light: he is bright, glares a lot and is not known for empathy.
拉布和臺燈有許多共同特點：他明亮奪目，經常對人怒目而視，也不以同理心著稱。
But he appears to be motivated principally by achieving better outcomes.
但他的動機似乎主要是為了取得更好的結果。
The investigation found no evidence that Mr Raab shouted or swore at people, or that he targeted individual civil servants.
調查沒有發現拉布對人大喊大叫或咒罵他人的證據，也沒有證據表明他針對個別公務員。
Mr Tolley was unpersuaded by allegations from officials that he made threatening physical gestures, whether banging the table loudly or putting his hand out towards someone’s face to stop them talking.
公務員們指控拉布做出了威脅性的肢體動作，包括猛拍桌子、把手伸到某人的臉跟前以讓他們閉嘴，托利對此并不信服。
The “hand out” gesture was not as emphatic as alleged, writes the lawyer; the banging was unlikely “to cause alarm”.
這位律師寫道，“伸手”的動作并不像聲稱的那樣盛氣凌人，拍桌子不太可能“引起恐慌”。
If Mr Raab is a bully, he is not nearly as aggressive as some media reporting had implied.
就算拉布是職場惡霸，他也并不像一些媒體報道所暗示的那樣咄咄逼人。
Yet that twinge of sympathy passes, as twinges are wont to do.
但是對拉布的這陣同情已經過去了，情緒本來就來得快，去得也快。
The number and consistency of complaints about Mr Raab is itself evidence that something was genuinely amiss.
對拉布的投訴的數量之多和內容之一致本身就證明確實有什么地方出了問題。
The civil servants who spoke out about him had worked for other ministers before; they were not greenhorns.
公開談論拉布的公務員以前曾為其他部長工作過，他們并不是新手。
Mr Tolley is persuaded that the complainants acted in good faith, despite protests from Mr Raab that he is the victim of “activist civil servants”.
盡管拉布抗議說自己是“激進主義公務員”的受害者，但托利還是相信提出投訴的人是在就事論事。
Mr Tolley’s most acute observation is to recognise that working life is not a series of discrete incidents, each bearing no relation to the other.
托利最敏銳的觀察是職場生活并不是一系列互不相關的事件，每個事件都與另一個沒有關系。
Some of the complaints people had about Mr Raab might seem innocuous in isolation.
單獨來看，人們對拉布的一些抱怨似乎是無傷大雅的。
A propensity to bang the table or interrupt people is discourteous but plenty of bosses do the same.
拍桌子或打斷別人的習慣是不禮貌的，但許多老板也這樣做。
Cutting people off in meetings would have mattered less if he was not also the sort of person to describe work he received as “utterly useless” and “woeful”.
如果他不是那種把他收到的工作描述為“完全沒用”和“垃圾”的人，那么他在會議上打斷別人的話也就沒什么了。
Bullying can be a one-off, but more often it is incremental: stresses accumulate, anxiety builds, atmospheres form.
霸凌可以是一次性的，但更多的時候霸凌是漸進的：壓力累積，焦慮增加，霸凌氣氛就形成了。
And even if you think Mr Raab has been unfairly labelled as a bully, it is hard to overlook another problem -- his effectiveness as a manager.
即使你認為拉布被貼上霸凌的標簽是不公平的，你也很難忽視另一個問題，即他作為管理者是否稱職。
If enough people think you are a bad boss, you are a bad boss.
如果有足夠多的人認為你是一個糟糕的老板，那么你就是一個糟糕的老板。
If employees try to avoid you, the pool of talent available to you shrinks.
如果員工總是躲著你，那么你可用的人才庫就會縮小。
Mr Tolley himself, who has done a scrupulously fair job, clearly found the deputy prime minister trying.
托利的這個案子辦得無可挑剔，他本人顯然發現這位副首相很難對付。
He describes Mr Raab’s approach to the investigation as “somewhat absolutist”.
他將拉布接受調查的方式描述為“有點專制主義”。
That sounds suspiciously like British-lawyer-speak for “he is a complete nightmare”.
這聽起來倒是很像英國律師所說的“他就是個徹頭徹尾的噩夢”。
