Workplace Violence and Bullying - Research Paper Example

Workplace violence and bullying Introduction Workplace violence and bullying are two different issues related to employee safety, although it is necessary to treat both the issues as similar within the context of occupational health and safety. Both issues are related to abuse of power in the workplace. However, workplace violence refers to criminal behavior unrelated to work setting such as “assaults, threats, damage to property, verbal obscenities, sexual harassment, etc." (Barron, 2013). On the other hand, workplace bullying refers to acts that may not have criminal aspects to it. Workplace violence and workplace bullying are different because legal options are different. In simplified terms, workplace violence is in physical forms and workplace bullying is in psychological forms. Workplace bullying is also part of workplace violence. Because of possible overlapping of discussion and there is yet no internationally recognized definition for workplace violence, this paper intends to treat the two terms interchangeably. However, difference between the two is to be recognized as strategies to prevent them may have to be in varying degrees (Barron, 2013). Workplace violence and bullying has been recognized since 1990s as an organizational misbehavior or rather misbehavior in organizations. Organization misbehavior is a deliberate act on the part of the members in an organization that challenge and breach of organizational norms and expectations and/or core values of society, mores and standards of conduct which are fertile grounds for workplace bullying. It can be a workplace aggression or misbehavior or a parallel occurrence that is not subordinate or identical. Incivility which is a low-level violation of organizational conduct can turn into bullying overtime (Fritz, 2013). Bullying is characterized by frequency of the behavior, imbalance of power between the bully and victim, and hostile working conditions. Bullying has been defined as an aggressive behavior aimed at causing physical or psychological attack on others (Lipinski, Albright, & Fenclau, 2013). History workplace bullying in America The book The Harassed Worker is the earliest study of workplace bullying by the psychiatrist Carol Brodsky in the 1970s by interviewing over 1,000 workers from California and Nevada who were making workers’ compensation claims but no interest was shown towards the book. It was only in 1980s that workplace bullying began to be studied by nursing professor Helen Cox who examined the abuse suffered by her nursing students at the hands of staff nurses in her institution leading to quitting the nursing school by one of her brightest nursing student-victim of abuse. Bullying manifests in many forms such as “verbal abuse (shouting, swearing, name calling, malicious sarcasm and threats to safety” (Lipinski, Albright, & Fenclau, 2013, p. 19). “Behaviors” or actions in “public or private” (p 19) in threatening, intimidating, humiliating, hostile, offensive or cruel manner. “Abuse of authority “(p19) resulting in poor evaluations, “denial of promotion, stealing credit, arbitrary instructions, or unsafe assignments” (p19). Meddling with work performance of the victim resulting in sabotage, underrating and failure of the work involved. Breakdown of work relationships with co-workers, superiors or customers. “Public humiliation” (p 19) of the victim. Humiliation in private with or without others knowledge (Lipinski, Albright, & Fenclau, 2013). In 1980s, Dr Heinz Leyman also researched the effects of “mobbing” i.e workplace bullying which he described as “hostile and unethical behavior” directed at the individuals incapable of defending themselves. He has found that those who are bullied have the high risk of becoming depressed, exhibiting signs of anxiety and showing symptoms akin to PTSD. He has also found that bullying lasts for six months to one year with at least one bullying incident every week. (Farmer, 2011). In view of varying definitions of bullying and violence at workplace, prevalence of the menace is not precisely available. However, Workplace Bullying Institute reports from its 2007 study that out of 7,740 workers surveyed, thirteen percent of them have reported being bullied. Twenty four percent have opined that though they have not been overtly bullied, they have been victimized at some stages or other during their employment. (Lipinski, Albright, & Fenclau, 2013). Few other studies have reported twenty five percent of the victims ultimately leaving their jobs, loss of work time by fifty percent and reduced commitment by the employees by one third. Victims have reported having worked only eighty five percent of their capacity and organizations lose nearly $ 5-6 billion dollars every year. Legal actions by the victims often results in negative organizational outcomes (Tomlinson, Heames, & Bockanic, 2013). The Workplace Bullying Institute has reported that an estimated fifty-four millions have suffered bullying at workplace. In spite of the anti-harassment laws in place, bullying is not fully controlled since it is “often ignored, tolerated, misinterpreted or even encouraged by the management as a management strategy” (Georgakopoulos, Wilkin, & Kent, 2011, p. 19). (Farmer, 2011). Root causes of workplace bullying People resort to bullying for three reasons: 1) Bullies feel that their self-esteem is protected. Managers themselves feel like boosting their image by undermining their subordinate’s talent or work ethic which they envy. 2) Bullies are bereft of “social competencies and emotional intelligence”. Political behavior also prompts one to behave like a bully. 3) Power imbalance and organizational culture result in abuse of power by managers over their subordinates and “mendacious power differentials” occur among coworkers especially when the workers are pitted against one another in competition to achieve sales targets or any other performance goals. Differences in “age, race, gender, ethnicity and educational qualifications” have the potentials of conflict and they aggravate bullying tendencies. Restructuring, downsizing, and mergers prompt managers to ask subordinates to do more with less and this gives rise to bullying tendencies. Increased span of control make managers to adopt dictatorial tendencies which can trigger bullying tendencies on the part of the managers. Economic recessionary conditions can also contribute to workplace bullying (Georgakopoulos, Wilkin, & Kent, 2011). Impact of Bullying Workplace bullying can be a source stress for the victim who undergoes negative effects as a result. Victims undergo symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It also affects the organization as a whole and even those in the organization remotely connected. It increases absenteeism and forces employees to leave jobs. This results in increased cost of recruitment and training. Besides, it also gives rise to legal disputes and sanctions as a result and adversely affects the organizational effectiveness (Lipinski, Albright, & Fenclau, 2013). Bullying is a repetitive and destructive form of communication resorted to by the more powerful directed at the less powerful at workplace. This involves four phases; First, a triggering incident which may be work related that puts the target on the bully’s focus. If the incident is not resolved, the bullying process moves to the second phase of bully’s constant criticism of the target exacerbated by the bully’s manipulation, isolation and threatening tendencies. This may end up with the bully’s reporting of the target’s performance to the management as a form of disciplinary or constructive feedback. The third phase involves the target’s reporting of the abuse to the management above the victim’s level. This will further infuriate the bully to become even more frequent in his bullying. The fourth phase witnesses either leaving of the job by the victim and being fired or transferred to another division. This results in the victim blaming not only the bully but also the organization as having failed to protect him/her (Georgakopoulos, Wilkin, & Kent, 2011). In healthcare settings, nursing staff members fail to perform to their maximum ability that will result in poor patient care. Hence safety from workplace violence is essential for healthcare workers as well as patients (Mitchell, Ahmed, & Szabo, 2104). Remedies. From the behavioral science point of view, victims instead of condoning the bullying behavior should manage the situation successfully without resorting to over-reacting. Victims should first self- introspect whether bullying they receive is as a result of bullying tendencies on their own parts, in the first place without being self-aware of it. In other words “bullying and being bullied are not mutually exclusive” (p291) and hence the initial “step is to understand one’s own degree of culpability” (p291). The victims should without ignoring the bullying behavior of the abuser, examine if there are any shortcomings in their own work related behaviors. Secondly, as bullying is due to imbalance of power, victims should try to become more powerful through various strategies. One of them is forming alliance with other victims or coworkers who will join the victim’s cause and that ensures lesser chances of retaliation from the bully. Another important strategy is to make the bully depend on the victim by satisfying the interests of critical importance to the bully. Control of information or other sources which the bully cannot receive otherwise can be a source of power for the victim. Enhancing ones’ own expertise can be crucial as the power “is much like beauty, such that it lies in the eyes of the beholder” (p295). Victims often feel helpless as they think their superiors have absolute power over them although reverse is the case since managers are expected to accomplish their tasks through others and hence they are dependent on the victims. Besides, managers only have restricted power on the disciplinary action on the victim without approval of their own supervisors or human resources and due process of law. Thirdly, the victim should confront the bully directly since “bullies lose their power if you don’t cower” (p296). Also because bullies are emboldened if their victims display weakness. The bullies then start behaving in a constructive manner. Confronting the bully involves many processes: Setting up time with the bully to discuss the matter in private in a calm, confident and assertive manner. Explaining to the bully why he considers bully’s behavior offensive. Telling the bully in a categorical manner that such a behavior should abate immediately. Next step is to report the bully’s behavior internally to bully’s superior or to the human resources manager, ombudsman or any other internal reporting system with sufficient documentation describing the bully’s behavior on particulars days and time. The report should be made in a timely manner i.e six months to one year depending upon the severity of the bullying behavior after giving the bully chances to rectify. Taking legal action by the victim will be necessary if the management fails to resolve the bullying behavior reported by the victim. There is no federal law or state law to deal with workplace bullying. However existing laws may be resorted to address the issue under Civil Rights Act 1964, Age Discrimination in Employment Act 1967, Americans with Disabilities Act 1994, Occupational Safety and Health Act, and anti-discrimination laws of the States as may be applicable under appropriate situations the victim is in (Tomlinson, Heames, & Bockanic, 2013). Massachusetts and Indiana courts have awarded damages exceeding one million dollars to the victims of bullying. The General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act offers guidelines to reduce employees’ exposure to workplace violence though there are no binding rules (Georgakopoulos, Wilkin, & Kent, 2011). The United States has no effective laws to penalize bullying. South Australia has anti-bullying laws to impose fines on the organizations that fail to intervene and stop the bullying behavior. Countries like France, Spain. Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Germany have enacted laws to ensure bully-free working conditions. Quebec State in Canada has amended labor standards to make psychological harassment illegal. In the U.S., states like Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma and California have laws in the making to make bullying and intimidating conducts unlawful (Georgakopoulos, Wilkin, & Kent, 2011). Recommendations If workplace bullying is left unchecked, it will result in social injustice. Anxiety, depression, symptoms of PTSD will continue to increase. There should be policies in the organizations to prevent bullying at the base level and they should be implemented with a blue print for action to achieve a zero tolerance workplace bullying policies. Namie (2003) has given the following model to prevent the menace. 1. Zero tolerance of workplace bullying behaviors. 2. Workplace bullying should be made part of occupational safety and health domain with a zero tolerance steps for enforcement. There should be an effective inquiry and adjudication process to resolve workplace bullying issues. There should be progressive disciplinary initiatives on the occurrence of bullying incidents. Counseling for those involved in bullying i.e victims, bullies and witnesses (Namie, 2003). (Georgakopoulos, Wilkin, & Kent, 2011). Conclusion Workplace bullying which is mainly in psychological forms should be made a criminal offence and equated with workplace violence in view of the mounting incidence of workplace bullying. Workplace violence in criminal context can be effectively tackled by the existing criminal laws. References Barron, O. (2013). Why workplace bullying and violence are different: protecting emplyees from both. In M. Gill, B. S. Fisher, & V. Bowie, Violence at Work. Portland: Routledge. Farmer, D. (2011). Workplace Bullying: An increasing epidemic creating traumatic experiences for. The Special Issue on Behavioral and Social Science .Avialble from < www.ijhssnet.com> accessed 2 March 2014. Fritz, J. H. (2013). Organizational Misbehavior. In J. Lipinski, & L. M. Crothers, Bullying in the Workplace: Symptoms, Causes and Remedies. Rouledge . Georgakopoulos, A., Wilkin, L., & Kent, B. (2011). Workplace Bullying: A Complex Problem in Contemporary Organizations. International Journal of Business and Social Science , 2 (3), 1-20. Available from 2 March 2014. Lipinski, J., Albright, C. M., & Fenclau, E. J. (2013). History of Bullying in the American Workplace. In J. Lipinski, & L. M. Crothers, Bullying in the Workplace: Symptoms, Causes and Remedies. Routledge . Mitchell, A., Ahmed, A., & Szabo, C. (2104). Workplace violence among nurses, why are we still discussing this? Literature review. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice , 4 (4), 147-150. Namie, G. (2003). Workplace Bullying: Escalated Incivility. Ivey Business Journal Online . Tomlinson, E. C., Heames, T. J., & Bockanic, W. N. (2013). Workplace Bullying : Remedies for Victims. In J. Lipinski, & L. M. Crothers, Bullying in the Workplace: Symptoms, Causes and Remedies. Routledge . Read More