The Core Concept of Bullying - Coursework Example

 The Core Concept of Bullying The objective of this study is the investigation of bullying and aggression and to determine whether bullying is taking place, from the perspective of both the bullier and the one being bullied. The theoretical aspects that have emerged from the literature review are as follows: (a) Bullying behaviour at work is social interaction where aggressive or hostile behaviour is continuously displayed against an individual/s by other individual/s to in effect, ostracize him or her and damage self esteem (b) The core concept of bullying is the intent to cause harm (c) Bullying is registered by a victim only when it is presented in an escalating and evolving hostile workplace (d) Bullying occurs when there is an imbalance of power and one party is rendered helpless (e) The external environment and leadership style influences bullying behaviour These are the theoretical aspects on bullying presented in this study and the research method selected to operationalize or exemplify these theories needs to be able to measure what it should do from a theoretical standpoint, i.e., (a) can hostility, aggression and the intent to cause harm be measured through the constructs being used? (b) is the external organizational environment structured in a manner that creates power imbalances and contributes to bullying? (c) Is the nature of the hostility and aggression persistent and continuous or is it discrete and explained by other factors? At the outset, the research method being used in the study is mixed methods, which also incorporates a qualitative element. Drawing out multiple worker samples from different work settings and coupling them with indepth interviews ensures content validity in this study, because it would include a solid, representative sample of the behaviour to be measured, i.e, the phenomenon of bullying. Moroever, the limitation with using only a bullying survey is that applying an operational classification method distinguishes only two groups, i.e, the perpetrators and the victims. By drawing out multiple worker samples, a class cluster approach can be utilized, wherein negative aspects are tapped and highlighted, i.e, those who are not being bullied or the class of individuals who fall into neither the class of bully or victim. Since this study uses a mixed methods approach, it would help to also address these gray areas and identify other classes of individuals such as the targets. The research instrument being used is a survey questionnaire, supplemented by indepth interviews containing questions that draw out the subjective experiences of participants and their perceptions about bullying. The use of a narrative enquiry format is appropriate because it may be difficult to standardize the experience of the bullying perpetrator, victim or target and in-depth interviews provide the facility of extraction of a considerable amount of individualized data, which can be categorized into codes for analysis. Using mixed methods also allows for both qualitative and quantitative approaches to be applied, thereby addressing a limitation in many earlier studies which have focused upon one or the other. Beightol et al (2008) also used mixed methods, but their approach was quasi-experimental, i.e, the use of role plays and problem solving activities. The operationalization of the variables selected in this study support the theoretical aspects that have been outlined earlier. The independent variables set out in the study test, tested through the survey and indepth questionnaires, assess most of the theories advanced in support of bullying behaviour. The first independent variable is abuse in early childhood, which was tested by Pollack et al (2005) through the measurement of both overt behavioural performance and autonomous nervous system changes. My study would also take into account not only the verbal cues offered by the respondents, but also their overt behavioural performance in examining the results of the research. The transferrence of aggressive parenting behaviour to produce bullies was examined by Conger et al (2003) using a longitudinal study with observational and multiple informant measures; since my study seeks to elicit this information using targeted questions about family background, the results obtained could establish a sufficient degree of validity. This study is not however able to test the secondary dependant variable, i.e, the incidence of bullying behaviour over longer time frames, i.e, over the career span of an employee, due to the financial and time limitations associated with this research effort. The indepth interviews would however seek to elicit as much information as possible about the incidence of bullying over a longer time period through the verbal accounts of the participants. This restricts the scope of information about bullying which can be extracted through the qualitative measures in this study. The use of the frequency-time based parameter may however, help to counteract this limitation to some extent, because it would shed light on a high incidence and frequency of bullying. Since other demographic variables are included however, such as age, income status, education, industry and rank in the organization, the convergent validity of the study would be quite good, despite the exclusion of the time related element. Ayoko (2007) has examined participants of his study in groups, which was useful in detecting group behavioural patterns within the organizational environment. The only limitation in this study was the same size, however since my study proposes to use multiple worker samples, this limitation of numbers may be addressed, adding to the validity and reliability of my study, because I propose to use a similar research instrument, i.e, the survey. Prior research on the issue of bullying has focused upon the The credibility and integrity of my study would be safeguarded through the informed consent and confidentiality measures I propose to institute and the care I would take to ensure that my own bias does not play a role in analysis of the results. Since I also propose to use a survey questionnaire, coupled with in depth interviews, this would provide me ample scope to corroborate results obtained from both methods. The participants would receive adequate assurance that their views and responses in this study be used only as a part of the overall analysis and their identity would not be compromised in any way, which would help to ensure that my study is conducted with honesty and integrity. In my study I have carefully coordinated and targeted my survey questions to target the theoretical aspects of bullying which were elicited from the literature review; as a result, comparing the nature and analysis of responses in this study with the theoretical aspects would help establish the validity and reliability of my study, as also a comparison with the results obtained in the other studies I have indicated earlier in this report. Read More