Human Resources Issue Recommendation Analysis: Bullying - Report Example

HR Issue Recommendation Report: Bullying Name: Institutional affiliation: Table of Contents Introduction 3 Human Resource Issue/Challenge 5 Recommendations 8 Development and implementation of bullying policy 8 Training 9 Developing support programs for employees and integrating them into the system 10 Development of effective complaints resolution procedures 11 Conclusion 12 References 13 HR Issue Recommendation Report: Bullying Introduction This human resources issue recommendation report is focused on a specific and real life human resource issue and challenge that exists in an organization. The issue report will examine the issue and the topic area it fits in then give recommendations on prevention, and management of the issues with efforts geared towards resolving such issues in an organization. This report is thus focused on Sussan Corporation Pty, a leading retailer of women’s fashion in Australia. The organization operates women fashion stores in New Zealand and Australia with items ranging from garments, accessories, make-up, jewelry, sleepwear to tribal fashion materials. The organization, which is based in Cremrone Australia, was founded in 1939 (Sussan.com.au., 2016). The decision to choose this organization is based on their position in the fashion industry in not only Australia but globally. Sussan Corporation Pty is a leading player in the global fashion industry and has firm roots owing to the fact that the company has been around for 77 years today. My relationship with the organization is in the capacity of a prospective employer as I have always wanted to work in the fashion industry. Two years ago, Sussan Corporation Australia was ordered by the court to pay former employee damages of about $240, 000 after the court established the employee had been a victim of bullying for a period of 11 days. A new management personnel at Sussan Corporation’s Cairns Central store was found to have bullied one of the organization’s employee who had returned to work after a maternity leave (Cooper Grace Ward Lawyers., 2016). This issue fits under the topic area of Bullying and Harassment. In this particular case, the conducts included exclusion of the employee from workplace discussions, ignoring employee contribution, unfair criticism of performance, aggressive communication directed at the employee and the creation of a hostile work environment by the employee’s supervisor. According to Armstrong & Taylor (2014), harassment and bullying encompass a wide range of behaviors with some extreme cases such as physical violence to subtle forms like ignoring an individual. Human Resource Issue/Challenge The human resource challenge in this case is bullying. According to Rayner & Cooper (2006), bullying in the workplace refers to any behavior that is threatening to an individual mentally, socially or physically. The acts associated with bullying have the potential of inflicting discomfort or pain to an employee in the work environment. In extreme cases, bullying can even take the form of physical contact such as shoving or pushing. For a situation to be considered bullying, there has to be repeated incidences of the mentioned behavior or there has to a pattern to the actions and behaviors that construe bullying. Such actions and behaviors are normally geared towards intimidating the individual, degrading them, offending, humiliating, or isolating the person from the group of people at work. Bullying sometimes can be defined as the use of aggressive behavior to assert power over an individual in the workplace. Bullying is a challenge in the workplace due to the negative consequences it has on the victim as well as the entire organization (Einarsen et al., 2010). It is important to understand that bullying has negative implications to the general well-being of the organization since it creates an unhealthy and hostile work environment. A hostile work environment characterized by bullying could have legal implications for the organization as seen in the case of Sussan Corporation where the organization had to pay the employee a huge sum of money in damages. In addition to legal implications Hoel et al. (2011), notes that bullying also affects the organization in various including contributing to high levels of employee absenteeism from work. This affects the overall productivity of the company. It also contributes to issues such as a high employee turnover, which consequently means that an organization may need to spend more in terms of constant recruitments and hiring. The practice may also heighten stress and contribute to an increased risk of accidents since bullying stresses an individual and may cause them to lose focus and become clumsy. Other reasons why bullying is a challenge include a decrease in motivation, productivity, a bad corporate image, reduce client confidence and low quality of customer service among other aspects. Bullying fits into the specific Human Resource area of Bullying and Harassment since it forms part of the topic with the other area being concerned with harassment. As Cowan (2012) explains, bullying is one of the main areas and topics in the various topics concerned with human resource management. This is because, majority of the time, an individual in a superior position at work conducts bullying and the treatment is directed at someone of an inferior level. To understand the significance of bullying as a human resource or challenge, it is important to first understand the role of human resource in an organization. Typically, the human resources faction is tasked with providing structure through the management of the organization’s valuable resources, which includes employee and personnel in the organization (Salin, 2008). Bullying therefore fits into the topic in the sense that it interferes with HR’s ability to structure and manage resource for the organization to meet its business obligations. The image below shows the interaction of bullying in the workplace. Recommendations The recommendations issued in this section area geared towards the prevention of the challenge, management and resolve of the issue as related to the case of Sussan Corporation Pty. In dealing with various human resources challenges and issues, several directives, strategies, and measures can be undertaken to prevent the occurrence of an issue, mitigate the issue, or manage the issue once it has occurred. In this way, the human resource faction at the organization could benefit from the recommendations in order to avoid the issue the organization faced in the presented case. Development and implementation of bullying policy Developing and implementing a policy for bullying would help the organization prevent the occurrence of the bullying incident that occurred. This is because the development and implementation of such a policy would govern how employee behaved in the company. According to Rayner & Lewis (2011), such a policy should also have a clear description of the expected conducted in the organization and the consequences in case an individual fails to comply. Policies that clearly identify what the organizations expects of the personnel are vital in ensuring that people follow through with the behaviors that are expected of them since failure to comply would come with ramifications (Harrington et al., 2012). In the case of Sussan Corporation, the new manager who bullied the employee would have known the consequences of her behavior and would most likely not engage in such treatment of the employee. Looking at this case, the employee made a bullying complaint to the management and instead of the management personnel following the organization’s bullying and harassment policy, they responded by informing the store manager of the employee’s complaint. This indicates that the policy of the organization was not well implemented and consequences of not following the procedure clearly identifies. Had there been successful development and implementation of a policy that clearly identifies the instituted course of action, then the manager would have known the consequences of not acting on the complaint. He or she would have been guided by the clearly identified channels of response in handling the situation instead of calling the manager of the store. Additionally, the presence of such a policy would have prevented the company from liability since the organization would have followed the correct procedures in handling the case and preventing the employee from seeking legal redress (Bullying and harassment - Advice for managers., 2016). Training An organization has to ensure that they have educated their personnel on issues to do with bullying and harassment such that in the event that a situation occurs, the employees would know what and how to go about it (Keashly et al., 2011). Training of the entire organization is not only beneficial for the employee but also to the superiors. Such training should aim to empower personnel and teach them to recognize and act on cases of bullying and harassment in the workplace. Sussan Corporation should institute training programs that impart knowledge and create awareness on bullying. The training should also communicate to the entire organization that the responsibility of taking action in such instances lies on everyone and not just the victim. This is a participatory process that includes employees into the running of the organization and gives them mandate to take action in case like this. Training would have helped in management of the problem since the situation would have been handled swiftly before the 11 days that the bullying continued. In training, employees need to know that they are also responsible in stopping bullying. For instance, for the bullying of the employee to continue for eleven day, it is evident that other workers were witness to the incidences at one point or another or even throughout the duration of the bullying. If they had been trained, some of them would have come forward and condemned the behavior of the supervisor or reported it to the management. In managing such incidences as the one that occurred at Sussan Corporation, it is vital to train employees on their collective responsibility in stopping workplace bullying. Additionally, Vartia & Leka (2011) observe that training should also be directed at leaders and supervisors in the organization. Such training should detail the aspect of good leadership, good leadership practices, and traits. This would help people in leadership positions such the supervisor in this case to evaluate their actions and behaviors and whether those actions conform to the aspects of good leadership. Developing support programs for employees and integrating them into the system In resolving cases of bullying, an organization may benefit from the development of support programs that are geared towards helping employees and offering emotional support such as counseling programs. After an incidence of bullying has occurred, it is important for the organization to have supportive structures for the victims of such issues. In this case, the employee was diagnosed with psychiatric problems, which may have been exacerbated or brought about by the bullying. Having support programs would have helped in resolving the problem since the employee would have been supported emotionally after action would have been taken. As Hansen et al. (2006) explains, bullying causes significant stress and other emotional problems that need to be addressed. Development of effective complaints resolution procedures According to Australia (2013), developing an effective procedure for complaints resolution is beneficial since it helps in dealing with complaints before they get out of hand. If the organization had an effective complaints channel, the employee would most likely not have been frustrated in her attempts at getting help. She complained after four days and no action was taken , instead the complaint reached the supervisor prompting aggressive and continued bullying to a point where the employee could not take it anymore. Had there been a proper procedure, the complaints would have been handled with the sensitivity they deserved and helped in preventing, managing, and resolving the underlying issue. Hoel et al. (2013) advances that lack of a proper strategy for handling the complaint may contribute to a heightening of bullying and cost the company, as is the case with Sussan Corporation. Such a strategy should also be structured in a manner that encourages employees and victims of bullying to report cases of bullying. In developing such a strategy for complaints, it is important to assure employees that they will be listened to and given priority and that; their complaints will be investigated and taken seriously. They also need to know that action will be taken is their complaints are proven true. This is line with good leadership since it encourages employees to have trust in the management system of the organization and reassures them that they are valued (Djurkovic et al., 2008). Conclusion The human resource challenge examined involves an incidence of bullying at Sussan Corporation in Australia. Bullying and harassment is one of the most significant topics in HR since the practice has numerous negative implications for an organization as seen in the case. The challenge in this case involves an employee who was a victim of bullying by her supervisor. Following the correct channel in the organization did not help in resolving the issue and as such, the employee sough legal action. Sussan Corporation was found liable and ordered to pay damages to the employee. In evaluating the case, the paper is a report that examines the issue and gives recommendations that would be useful in preventing, managing, and resolving the problem. The recommendations given include the development and implementation of bullying policy to govern such cases in the future. Training would also help in giving the organization’s personnel insights to aspects of bullying and responding to bullying in the workplace. Such training would also teach of collective responsibility in mitigating instances of bullying. Development of support programs would be beneficial in helping employing by supporting victims emotionally and lastly instituting effective procedures for complaints resolution. These recommendations are useful if integrated into the organization as they will help prevent incidences of bullying, help manage and resolve them in case of occurrence. References Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Australia, S. W. (2013). Guide for preventing and responding to workplace bullying.Retrieved 22 September 2016, from http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA/about/Publications/Documents/827/Guide-preventing-responding-workplace-bullying.pdf Bullying and harassment - Advice for managers. (2016). Hse.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 September 2016, from http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/furtheradvice/informationonbullying.htm Cowan, R. L. (2012). It’s complicated: Defining workplace bullying from the human resource professional’s perspective. Management Communication Quarterly, 0893318912439474. Djurkovic, N., McCormack, D., & Casimir, G. (2008). Workplace bullying and intention to leave: the moderating effect of perceived organisational support. Human Resource Management Journal, 18(4), 405-422. Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., Zapf, D., & Cooper, C. (Eds.). (2010). Bullying and harassment in the workplace: Developments in theory, research, and practice. Crc Press. Hansen, Å. M., Hogh, A., Persson, R., Karlson, B., Garde, A. H., & Ørbæk, P. (2006). Bullying at work, health outcomes, and physiological stress response. Journal of psychosomatic research, 60(1), 63-72. Harrington, S., Rayner, C., & Warren, S. (2012). Too hot to handle? Trust and human resource practitioners' implementation of anti‐bullying policy. Human Resource Management Journal, 22(4), 392-408. Hoel, H., Einarsen, S., Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., Zapf, D., & Cooper, C. (2013). Investigating complaints of bullying and harassment. Bullying and harassment in the workplace: Developments in theory, research, and practice, 341-357. Hoel, H., Sheehan, M. J., Cooper, C. L., & Einarsen, S. (2011). Organisational effects of workplace bullying. Bullying and harassment in the workplace: Developments in theory, research, and practice, 129-148. Keashly, L., Nowell, B. L., Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., Zapf, D., & Cooper, C. (2011). Conflict, conflict resolution, and bullying. Bullying and harassment in the workplace: Developments in theory, research, and practice, 423-445. Rayner, C., & Cooper, C. L. (2006). Workplace bullying. Rayner, C., & Lewis, D. (2011). Managing workplace bullying: The role of policies. Bullying and harassment in the workplace: Developments in theory, research, and practice, 327-340. Salin, D. (2008). The prevention of workplace bullying as a question of human resource management: Measures adopted and underlying organizational factors. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 24(3), 221-231. Sussan - Get inspired and order womens fashion at sussan.com.au. (2016). Sussan.com.au. Retrieved 22 September 2016, from https://www.sussan.com.au/ Vartia, M., & Leka, S. (2011). Interventions for the prevention and management of bullying at work. Bullying and harassment in the workplace: Developments in theory, research, and practice, 359-379. Workplace bullying - How important is it for employers to respond proactively? - Cooper Grace Ward Lawyers. (2016). Cgw.com.au. Retrieved 22 September 2016, from http://www.cgw.com.au/publication/large-payout-in-recent-bullying-case-for-empoyee-returning-from-maternity-leave/?utm_source=Mondaq&utm_medium=syndication&utm_campaign=View-Original Read More