Bullies in the Workplace One of the common issues that workers have to deal with is workplace bullying. There is a difference between workplace bullying and harassment. “Workplace bullying is a persistent pattern of mistreatment from others in the workplace that causes harm. It can include such tactics a verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse, and humiliation 15 rows · Workplace bullying refers to the continuous criticism, negative comments on one’s work or Essay On Workplace Bullying. Words6 Pages. Workplace bullying is a growing issue for all the organizations to manage people. Bullying is defined as acts or verbal comments that could 'mentally ' hurt or isolate a person in the workplace. As well as, sometimes bullying can involve negative physical contact
The Impact of Workplace Bullying - Words | Essay Example
Workplace bullying is continual verbal, mental or even physical mistreatment of a person in the workplace. It can come from a boss or a coworker and can be harmful. It is a problem for employees as well as employers because it often begins in a stressful work environment and will eventually lower morale and productivity, bullying in the workplace essay.
Workplace bullying is an ethical problem that negatively affects people as well as the organization, therefore managers need to be aware of it and how to stop or prevent it. Bullying is a growing problem in the workplace today. It can occur over the period of six months or more, bullying in the workplace essay. It is misusing power and can become abusive towards the person being bullied.
Behavior that is abusive or intimidating but not necessarily aggressive is a common ethical problem for employees. Namie, Bullying is harmful to the victim as well as others within the organization. There is a very line in differentiating bullying, harassment or aggression. It can be difficult to distinguish between aggressive behavior and bullying. However there are ways a person can tell if they are being bullied.
Intimidation is a key factor. The bully sets out to intimidate or overpower someone they feel is weaker. An example of a coworker bullying someone is spreading rumors or gossiping about the targeted person. The rumors are lies made up to make the person look bad that obviously creates problems for the victim. What is so unfortunate about this is that bullying in not necessarily illegal and is not always against company policies. Since bullies like to intimidate the person they may even physically abuse them or threaten to abuse them.
This is actually rare but it is something that happens. It can also include excluding someone socially. There are times when coworkers get together after hours but a bully makes it a point to exclude that person whenever possible. In one case study a new staff member thought he had a lot in common with his new coworkers. This lead the new employee to report to human services that he felt bullied and asked to be transferred to another department. As a personal witness to bullying in the workplace it was observed that a coworker was being bullied and singled out.
The employee had engaged in some behavior that was basically unethical, bullying in the workplace essay. She had begun a personal relationship with bullying in the workplace essay parent of a student. Once the friendship was established the employee began caring for the student after school. This is something that is considered a conflict of interest within the school environment. The employee was asked to fill out several forms, which she did, bullying in the workplace essay, and asked to speak with a bullying in the workplace essay from the district.
At that point it was bullying in the workplace essay by the district that the employee was not in any violation within the district policy. So the person continued to care for the student after school and was even driving the student home from school. In spite of the district stating that no violation had occurred the coworker that turned her in and the supervisor began to bully the person.
This continued for about a month. In one instance Karen was afraid to be left alone with the coworkers that had called her names or had intimidated her.
Karen was perceived as a weak person because she was relatively quiet and appeared meek. Over time Karen began to feel humiliated and eventually depressed. Due to the added stress of being bullied at work her absences increased.
Even the supervisor intimidated Karen and also engaged in some of the negative talk about the person. Karen was friends with the union representative and got the advice that she should seek help from the union. Fortunately after the union became involved some of the behaviors stopped. However it had taken a toll on her so eventually she resigned from her job. Although it is unethical, it is possible for bullying to come from a supervisor.
The bullying can be through unwarranted criticism, intimidation, yelling at or belittling the person. Sometimes a supervisor may remove areas of responsibilities without cause or establish impossible deadlines in order to set the person up for failure.
Or a supervisor may choose to micro-manage the person and monitor everything they do so they can punish them later. There are instances when the bullying comes directly from a corporation. This occurs when there are unreasonable expectations placed on employees because they will obviously fail to meet the goals. Some of the signs of organizational bullying bullying in the workplace essay high levels of grievances, resignations and requests for transfers.
There are others ways a person can be bullied such as through jokes or emails that are considered offensive by the victim. While these seem like minor offenses, over time they can lead to a person to feel like they are being targeted. There bullying in the workplace essay several reasons why a person may be targeted.
People that become the targets for workplace bullying are often independent thinkers and do not follow the crowd. They may also be more skilled and are perceived as a threat to the bully. They may also seem submissive and less likely bullying in the workplace essay confront a bully, bullying in the workplace essay.
Workplace bullying has long lasting affects on the victim. Some of the physical problems may include loss of sleep or appetite, headaches and stomach pains. Bullying in the workplace essay are also mental health problems such as low self-esteem, bullying in the workplace essay, depression, and increased sense of vulnerability and feelings of helplessness or frustration.
Although this is something that is highly debated that bullying could cause post-traumatic stress disorder there may be a relationship between the two.
When a person has been bullied over a long period of time they may begin to have anxiety about going to work. The victim may feel withdrawn and will most likely complain to family members about the negative work environment.
They might not want to go to work every day, which leads to increased absences. When the victim does go to work they may have low morale or low productivity as a result of the increased stress. This is one of the reasons it is important for organizations to be aware of bullying. There are factors that increase the risk for bullying in the workplace.
Some of these can be related to organizational changes such as restructuring or other major changes. There are also risks with worker characteristics such as age, bullying in the workplace essay, gender or varying levels of skill. However one of the most common factors for workplace bullying is a stressful work environment. Staff shortages, conflicts of interest and personal conflicts are some of the things that create stress in the workplace and can fuel workplace bullying.
When there is a high workload tensions run high and employees become frustrated and stressed out, bullying in the workplace essay. That can lead to venting of negative emotions on a coworker or an employee, which is the basis of workplace bullying. In an organization without a policy in regards to bullying can negatively impact the workplace as well as encourage bullying.
There are many studies that have been conducted regarding workplace bullying. It will be very difficult to pinpoint specific reasons for workplace bullying but it is certain that there will continue to be research on this ethical problem. In a survey conducted using friends and colleagues it was obvious that this is a huge problem, bullying in the workplace essay.
Out of twenty-six people surveyed, sixteen have experienced workplace bullying in some way. Eighty percent of those surveyed have witnessed a coworker being bullied. One hundred percent of the people surveyed would do something if they witnessed a coworker being bullied.
So then one-question remains, why does the problem continue to increase if people are willing to step in for a coworker that is being bullied? There is a possibility that people just do not know what to do when it comes being a witness to workplace bullying. Having witnessed workplace bullying it does put employees in a difficult position.
There is some fear of retaliation for speaking up against bullying. It is important to know what policies there are and it also depends on whom the bullying is coming from but bullying can and should stop. There are things that an employee can do to stop the bullying. Keeping a journal and obtaining evidence such as emails, phone messages is going to be necessary to make it stop. Although witnesses do not always want to get involved having a record of when incidences occurred and who may have witnessed them can be helpful.
If possible the bully should be told that their behavior is unacceptable and that it needs to stop. Reporting the behavior is the next step, to the supervisor, human resources or both. Either way a formal complaint sends the message to the bully that what they are doing is not okay. Ultimately bullying does have a negative effect on the workplace. It also negatively affects the organization as a whole because it creates an unhealthy workplace.
When employees are bullied there is often a high rate of turnover, which can be costly because there will be constant training of new employees. There is also a considerably lower moral when staff members are forced to cope with bullying. The decreased motivation impacts morale and productivity. When employees are unhappy with the work environment they provide poor customer service, bullying in the workplace essay.
This eventually reduces the image of the company and the confidence customers may have had in the past. Top management should create and support a healthy working environment.
There are things that an organization should do in order to create a zero tolerance policy for bullying. Number one should be to define what bullying is and give examples of what the unacceptable behaviors are, and state the consequences of those behaviors.
Workplace Bullying
, time: 2:46What Is Bullying In The Workplace Essay - Words | Cram
Dec 02, · (Vega & Comer, ) This brief review of literature will address the racial/ethnic aspects of workplace bullying and organizational risks associated with blogger.com exhaustive studies have been done in this perspective and research has classified bullying as a source of social stress and aggression at work (Suzy Fox, ). Workplace aggression is more typically Estimated Reading Time: 13 mins Introduction Workplace bullying is a widespread issue in which people need to be educated on in order to put an end to it. Its causes are complex and multi-faceted and yet preventable. Workplace bullying puts unnecessary strain on the employees It is the employer and organizations responsibility to provide a bully free environment for their employees Bullying is slowly becoming a major problem in the workplace. This paper will look into why bullying in the workplace is becoming a problem, the different types of workplace bullying and from the point of view of the bully, the victim and the co-workers who have to work around the bullying
No comments:
Post a Comment