Like wolves in a pack : stories of predatory alliances of bullies in nursing

![CDATA[This paper reports some of the findings from the first, qualitative stage, of a large national study of bullying in the nursing workplace currently being undertaken in Australia. The findings reported here reveal how relationships between bullies were embedded within informal organizational networks, resulting in a form of bullying that was predatory, co-operative, and planned. Operating within “predatory alliances” provided protection to bullies, and enabled abusive activities to be hidden within legitimate organizational processes such as performance review, disciplinary procedures and organizational restructuring. By identifying the previously unexplored role of informal organisational networks in condoning and perpetuating workplace bullying, this research has important implications for management and further research in this field.]]