Characteristics of bullying include an imbalance of real or perceived power, repetition, and intimidation or humiliation. Bullying may be studied in school age children but often these characteristics exist in the marketplace. Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist and public intellectual who was primarily concerned with the dynamics of power in society. Bourdieu framed social capital as accrued actual or virtual resources acquired by individuals or groups through the possession of “more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition”. Therefore, social capital resides in the individual and is linked to social connections that a person can utilize for advancement.

The workplace is a collection of people working under, what should be, similar goals and purpose. Social capital at it’s best is a collaboration among people that exchanges emotional support as it varies among the members. There is respect and a mutual building up. At it’s worst, some will feel threatened or valueless. This is when adult bullying finds it’s way into the workplace. A new hire being trained typically adds no value immediately. On the job training by untrained trainers often view this new person as a drain on their social bank account and despise helping them. The bullying often reinforces the emotional condition of valuelessness to the new hire while reinforcing the emotional condition of power to the untrained trainer.

Social learning theory suggests that social behavior is learned by observing and imitating the behavior of others. As a manager, I observe. When those lower in the hierarchy of the organization behave a certain way, it may be there are home factors as well as lifelong factors that prompt them. But in the workplace, they have new opportunity to relearn and create new habits. If there is an issue, leadership needs to be looked at. The managers of those people may need training and possibly their managers as well. We learn and operate within acceptable boundaries of what they allow and demonstrate.

Teaching SEL Skills in the workplace, top down, would be a great start to harmonizing social capital in an atmosphere of respect that would work towards building value of all. Self-regulation, perspective taking, emotion management, problem solving, communication skills, and friendship skills are just as valuable and often unknown to grown adults as they are to children.

https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/bourdieu-on-social-capital-theory-of-capital/
https://www.onlinemswprograms.com/social-work/theories/social-learning-theory/#:~:text=Social%20learning%20theory%20suggests%20that,for%20his%20influence%20on%20behaviorism.