Bullying in the Workplace

The word bullying is usually associated with playground taunting and teasing, schoolhouse villains known for stealing lunches and lunch money, or maybe high school “cool kids” picking on the “geeks”. Bullying however has made its way from childhood memories to real-life adult work settings. The epidemic is known as workplace bullying: a repetitive abusive behavior that devalues and harms other people on the job. (Barrow, 2012, p.

1) The results of a poll administered by the Workplace Bullying Institute in 2007, show 37 percent of American adults said they had been bullied at work. (Cohen, 2010, p. 1)Work place bullying takes place in verbal abuse, verbal and nonverbal offensive conduct, and behaviors that threaten, humiliate, intimidate, and sabotage and/or interfere with work. (Wiedmer, 2011, p. 35) Everyone has witnessed or been subject to the boss who calls on the weekends or during the early hours of the morning, the supervisor who inappropriately yells and screams during meetings, the manager who slams doors and throws papers, or maybe the leader who demands control by means of fear alone.Everyone has witnessed or experienced workplace bullying in action and most have let it fly.

Workplace Bullying Prevalence “Many bullied employees feel victimized by the bully and the human resource department” (Barrow, 2012, p. 1) One of the issues leading to an increase in workplace bullying is the economical decline. In good times bullied workers could just find other employment. But with unemployment rates exceeding 9 percent, and five job seekers per available job abused workers feel as though they have to stay put.Another contributing factor to being bullied on-the-job is the reduction in labor organizations. Unions were once responsible for protecting employees from abusive bosses.

A worker could report maltreatment to a shop steward and the issue was addressed on behalf of all the workers. Gone are the 1950’s when 35 percent of the workforce participated in union membership. Today less than 13% of workers possess union representation. (Cohen, 2010, p. 2) The most alarming reason for the prevalence in workplace bullying is the lack of ownership companies and HR departments are taking. 0% of employees fail to report workplace bullying (Wiedmer, 2011, p.

36) for the reason that the problem will still persist.In a 2011 survey conducted by CareerBuilders 27 percent of the surveyed workers reported experiencing bullying at work. 28 percent of those harassed employees took their concern to a higher level reporting the bully to HR, 38% of those respondents say the issue was investigated and a resolution was met however, the remaining 62% say no action was taken. (Mannino, 2012) Many employees are failed by human resource departments.

Their claims are not taken seriously, and often the bullied employees are seen as the problem. Steps are taken to terminate the “troubled” employee for poor job performance as opposed to addressing what may be a systematic problem within the organization. Human resource delegates may fail to realize that failing to take action in regards to bullying claims inadvertently protects the bully while significantly harming targeted employees. (Barrow, 2012, p. 1) Who is Being Bullied? The profile of a bullied worker is not the meek quiet worker that most expect.

Ironically the workers being bullied are often the best and brightest. Targets of bullying are veteran employees selected by the bully because they appear as a threat. Receivers of workplace bullying typically are independent employees who refuse to be submissive and are more skilled, better liked, and more appreciated by customers, colleagues, and management for their work contributions. (Wiedmer, 2011, p.

36-37) Bullied workers are often teased, publicly humiliated, called derogatory names, the subject of harmful rumors, revoked of their responsibilities, and no longer acknowledged for their work. (Barrow, 2012, p. 1)Who is a Bully? While more than 60 percent of on-the-job tyrants are men, (Belsky, 2012, p1) 61 percent of bullying takes place among the same gender and 71 percent of female bullies target other women. (Wiedmer, 2011, p. 36)According to the Workplace Bullying Institute in 72 percent of workplace bullying cases the bullies have control over the livelihood of the their targets using this leverage to block transfers and ultimately forcing employees to quit or lose their job. (Wiedmer, 2011, p.

6) Common characteristics among workplace bullies include:• possessing a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde nature, malicious in private yet appealing in public; • displaying self-assuredness and certitude to mask insecurity; • portraying self as spectacular, caring, kind, and compassionate, but actual behaviors are contradictory to this self-crafted persona; • not being able to distinguish between bullying and leadership; • manipulating others through guilt; • having an obsession with controlling others; • being convincing and compulsive liars; • lacking a conscience; excelling at deception; and • being dysfunctional (Wiedmer, 2011, p. 38) Oppressors in the workplace see themselves as better than others, which justifies their harassing behaviors.

They dwell in the middle ranking positions of large firms but are thriving in small companies. (Marano, 1995, p. 60) “Bosses may abuse because they have impossibly high standards, are insecure or have not been properly socialized. But some simply enjoy it. ” (Cohen, 2010, p. 1) What are the Effects of Bullying at Work? Bullies at work do a great deal of damage in organizations.

They harm profits, stifle innovation, decrease morale and reduce retention. In a survey of 9,000 federal employees 42 percent of the females and 15 percent of the males reported being harassed within the two-year time period, the total lost in time and productivity exceeded $180 million dollars. The loss was highly attributed to absenteeism of the harassed employees, reduced productivity due to emotional wounds, and unfair unsatisfactory performance appraisals causing the organizations to spend more on the salaries for employee replacements. Farrell, 2012) Companies are also at risk for legal ramifications when they fail to control on-the-job bullying.An Indiana Court awarded a perfusionist $325,000 to be paid by a surgeon who threatened and violently came towards him during a surgery. (Klein, 2008) Though the costs for bullying in the workplace are high for companies, the cost paid by the abused employees is immeasurable.

In several instances bullied employees suffer from headaches, high blood pressure, heart disease, nervous tension, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, and suicidal urges.One author recounts a situation of an abused nurse who after being verbally assaulted for over an hour by a member of upper management, experienced 17 days of insomnia, had to seek professional mental health, suffered from post-traumatic-shock, and refers to the experience as soul shattering. (Strawbridge, 2001, p. 1) Though all cases are not this extreme the majority of bullied employees feel helpless, frustrated devalued, despondent, and worried about job security.

In very extreme cases bullied workers may retaliate and violently seek revenge on their bully and other employees of the organization, seven percent of bullied employees consider homicide or suicide. The wounds caused by workplace bullies are real. (Barrow, 2012, p. 1) Prevention To effectively reduce workplace bullying employees need to know their company supports them.

Experts have developed steps to aid human resources in maintaining a civilized workforce. An organization should provide a clear understanding of bullying, the behaviors, and examples.A company should encourage all members to report acts that could possibly be considered bullying. The organization should react fairly, investigate ethically, and attempt to timely solve all instances of reported bullying immediately irregardless of who is reported. An action plan should be developed identifying resources and solutions to remedy suspected problems and when necessary a behavioral implementation plan should be followed.

All employees should be trained and expected to uphold the company non-bullying policy and the policy should include disciplinary and legal consequences for failing to oblige.Lastly employers should incorporate screening for behaviors associated with bullying during the recruiting process. (Wiedmer, 2011, p. 38-39) Targeted employees can also reduce workplace bullies. Tactics have been developed for taking workplace bullying into one’s own hands.

Seasoned organizational consultants recommend confronting the bully. “Bullies lack boundaries on their own behavior. ” “A bully can’t bully if you don’t let yourself be bullied. ” (Marano, 1995, p. 60) Another solution is pointing out to the bully how his or her behavior is viewed by the workers.In some cases tyrants are not aware of the effects that their negative behavior is having on production and the organization as a whole.

Humor is sometimes a great way to conquer a bully, comparing a bully to an unfavorable caricature may better illustrate their shenanigans. If all else fails employees can recruit allies, there is power in numbers. One must be careful with this option because forming alliances is also deemed unfavorable by employers and can be punishable with penalties up to and including termination. The elimination of workplace bullying is the responsibility of everyone.

By launching united efforts, defining and implementing clear policies, putting in place model practices, and having the courage to stand up against bullies, individuals in all lines of work can stop workplace bullying. (Wiedmer, 2011, p. 41) Conclusion Employers have a moral and social responsibility to protect employees from bullying and to guard those who compromise their workforce. (Wiedmer, 2011, p. 37) “Ideally, employers should rein in abusive bosses on their own, but that rarely happens.

Many bullies are close to powerful people in the organization and carefully target less powerful ones” (Barrow, 2012, p. )Statistics on workplace bullying suggest that only 1. 5 percent of bullies lose their jobs. (Barrow, 2012, p. 1) Silence unfortunately only allows bullying to continue. Perpetrators often have an extensive history committing similar abuses.

Instead of appropriate and effective action being taken to discontinue the unacceptable behaviors they get moved from one department to another. (Murray, 2009, p. 275) Best stated by (Wiedmer, 2011) preventing workplace bullying requires time, input, policy changes and adapting a company culture that does not tolerate bullies.