Annie Lyles is a manager at Prevention Institute in Oakland, a nationwide non-profit dedicated to improving community health and well-being.

“One of the interesting parts about this situation (at Cheesecake Factory) is the connection between bullying, male violence and bystanders,” she said. “Having an environment that has norms where people are respected in the workplace prevents things like this happening.”

Research shows that if a bystander says something, bullying generally stops within 90 seconds and doesn’t recur, she said.

“There are all sorts of amazing research about the power of the bystander and the power of supervisors to really set standards,” Lyles said. “In this case, there was a key opportunity for a bystander to support the individuals who were being persecuted, really. That’s a huge failure of the environment.”

Every culture has aspects of violence as well as aspects of respect, she said.

“It’s easy to say this was cultural, but there are plenty of people of Mexican descent who are not violent,” she said. “In terms of why would men do this, I would say when there’s an environment that allows and fosters one group to oppress another, that environment lets it grow.”

Lyles said that good people who might not otherwise participate in egregious behavior can be caught up and let an environment influence their behavior, she said.

“Policies are very important, and workplace norms are very important to keep people on the right track,” she said. “It’s the responsibility of the workplace to set an environment where people feel respected and can go about their jobs without fearing for their safety.”

She does not fault the alleged victims at the Cheesecake Factory for not simply quitting their jobs, and she understands they may have felt conflict about quitting.

“When you’re thankful to have a job in this economy, it becomes a balance of your own well-being versus your economic well-being.”

From azcentral.com.