It is estimated that 20 million Americans endure abusive working conditions every day (Futterman 2004). Tepper (2000, p.178) describes such abuse as "subordinates' perceptions of the extent to which supervisors engage in the sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behaviors, excluding physical contact." These actions are deemed to be unfriendly, antagonistic, intimidating, and upsetting (Starratt and Grandy 2009). They may include the "silent treatment," asking employees to work at unrelated or repulsive tasks, threatening workers with possible job loss, crossing the line between personal and professional deportment, public humiliation in front of peers, and speaking ill of subordinates behind their backs (Starratt and Grandy 2009; Ayree, Chen, Sun, and Debrah 2007). This description shows that workers may face a continuous barrage of assault that is maintained until relationships end or abusers voluntarily or involuntarily change their actions.
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