Nursing Bullying in the Workplace - Case Study Example

Nursing Bullying in workplace [Type the document subtitle] 9/6/2008 Type your name here Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Problem Statement 4 Purpose of the Study 5 Literature Review 5 Bullying in Nursing 7 Typologies of workplace bullying 7 Internal Bullying 8 Patient Initiated Bullying 8 Nursing ‘Work’ Bullying 9 The impact of Bullying on Nurses and Nursing 9 Solutions to the problem 10 Conclusion 11 References 13 Introduction Bullying is the act when people hurt others intentionally. This hurting procedure could be the result of verbal assault, physical assault or using some other forceful means such as manipulating or exploiting an individual. Some countries like the United States of America have laws against bullying whereas other countries like UK do not provide any legal definition to the term. Bullying in the workplace is similar to the bullying we used to experience during our childhood years. Workplace bullying is unfair or forceful attitudes of an individual towards a coworker. Workplace bullying includes strategies such as verbal, physical, psychological assault, humiliation. However, there lies considerable difference in the handling of these bullies. In schools, the bullying was more innocent and it was possible to handle it whereas in workplace the bullies handle within the rules and policies of the firms they are working in and it is impossible to bring them to the surface. Bullying in the workplace could include harsh co-workers, rude attitudes, aggressiveness, hollering, accusing, destruction of private property, destruction of work product, hostile attitude while team work, distribution of resources, social outcast, etc. One could be facing any or all of these problems because of bullies in the workplace. Problem Statement Workplace bullying involves the abuse of power. All types of behavior that apprehends, debases, offends, or assault physically an individual comes into the act of bullying. It deprives the individual with the basic rights of workplace dignity. However, we must not confuse bullying with aggression, as there is considerable difference between the two terms. Aggression could be a single act whereas bullying involves repeated acts of aggression on an individual that creates a pattern. Bullying must not be confused with the behavior of bosses that have high expectations or demands if their primary objective is to obtain optimum performance. Bullying in any profession is destructive and has harmful affects on the organization and its employees. In a work environment, where not all employees are able to perform to their maximum potential and some of them are trying to manipulate others. This definitely reduces the amount and quality of work. Moreover, it decreases employee morale and poise. Bullying in nursing poses an even bigger problem on the functioning and performing its tasks effectively. The phenomenon is not limited to one departments, it disseminates among the whole hospital and has drastic effects on the health care organizations and the health system including the patients. Bullying is affecting the nobility and functionality of the nursing profession drastically. This problem is becoming graver with evidences of poor nursing practices and worse working environments in many countries. These problems eventually lead to problems in holding and hiring nurses, which leads to reduction in the number of nurses and this declines the quality of care that each patient receives from each nurse. The problem is increasing as each day passes and it is hampering the nursing profession. Consequently, rather than nurse helping the patient in recovering and provide them with the care they need, they are unable to perform their responsibilities completely. Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study is to analyze and research the widespread phenomenon of bullying in the workplace. Some people like to bully others for various reasons, sometimes personal and at other times for the sake of driving some advantage out of the situation. These bullies carry on their activities in the environment they work in as well. The paper would investigate the activities of these bullies and the kind of damage they do to the working environment especially in the nursing profession. Moreover, we would also investigate the methods that employees can use for handling bullies. The prime target of the study is to investigate the impact of bullying on the profession of nursing. Various nursing organizations have realized the increasing rate of workplace bullying in health organizations. Therefore, the study would investigate the impact of workplace bullying on the profession of nursing (Hadikin, Muriel O'Driscoll, 2000) Literature Review Workplace bullying is becoming a popular term for defining unjustifiable and cruel behaviors of individuals or a group towards a person. It could also be termed as workplace violence. Workplace bullying might involve acts such as making someone feel inferior on purpose, treating an individual negatively repeatedly, exploiting the reputation of an individual in a harmful manner. Other workplace bullying tasks include out casting someone socially, abusing someone physically or threatening to abuse someone, abusive language, abusive or offensive jokes, assignments that are not achievable, intrusion to privacy, unfair assignment of tasks, favoritism to other employees, etc (Glendinnig, 2001). Some people regard workplace bullying a management problem for employers (Smith, 1999). The increasing factor of workplace bullying is demanding employers to rethink on their workplace policies and retaliation and negotiation procedures. This means that the employers should be clear with their policy that workplace bullying is violence and a form of harassment and no one would be allowed to get away with it (Parkin, 1997). Several trade unions have reached the consensus that the phenomenon of workplace bullying is becoming an important issue that requires immediate attention of the authorities (Cunningham, 1995). Some people also believe in assisting employees being bullied to take measures for handling the bullies (Dean, 1996). We see considerable amount of research on bullying in schools, however, workplace bullying is a relatively new research field (Adams, 1992). The effects of bullying in the workplace are pretty much the same to those of bullying in schools with age, gender, or position playing insignificant roles (Sheehan & Wilkiein McCarthy et al. 1996). Workplace bullying is the product of organizational working environment and the environment defines the kind of behaviors that are acceptable within it (Randall, 1997). The work environment can sometimes increase the opportunity for bullying especially when firms are undergoing reconstituting programs repeatedly and frequently (McCarthy et al., 1995). Another reason for the phenomenon of bullying in the workplace to gain strength is limited job opportunities of the victim employees and this places those employees on a vulnerable situation if the firm is downsizing. Moreover, continuous downsizing increases the pressure on employees and makes the environment favorable for bullying (Smith, 1999). Some theorists argue that insecurity of jobs and frequent downsizing drives out the bully inside the managers and other staff members (McCarthy et al, 1996). Some theorists also believe that bullying is a strategy that organizations use for forcing target employees to leave (Smith 1999). Initially, people were reluctant to use the term violence for workplace bullying and a number of theorists on the subject believe that this has lead to the increment of the problem and ignorance about the issue (Hockley, 2003). The term has gained recognition and understanding during the late 1990s, and now nursing authorities do not only emphasize on the physical aspects but the psychological impacts of violence in nursing. There are seven identified categories of bullying in nursing. Those are internal violence, patients initiated violence, violence within the organization, outer violence, third party bullying, and some other nurse initiated violence, nursing work violence (Cox, 1997). Bullying in Nursing In this section of the paper, we would discuss the violence in the nurses working environment and its identifiable typologies. Typologies of workplace bullying Theorists have come up with typologies to categorize bullying in the workplace. These typologies are specific to nursing (Rayner, 1997). Internal Bullying Internal bullying occurs between employers and employees for example it could be between nurse manager and registered nurse or it can also occur among peers such as nurse-nurse. In this type of bullying, the participants are the employees within the same health organization. These behaviors could develop a sense of low self-esteem, low morale, worthless feeling, and frustrated feeling in the victim. The incidents in this form of bullying are difficult to prove and that is why the victim finds it very difficult to report them on the higher level. Moreover, in most cases the nurse would not get support or help from other co-nurses and this worsens the situation (Hockley, 2003). Patient Initiated Bullying This form of bullying occurs from the client/patient side. It could also result from the families of the patients towards the nursing staff. Evidences and examples of this form of bullying suggest that a nurse had to undergo this form of bullying because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. This means that the motive behind this form of violence is not personal and the bullies are taking out their aggression or frustration on whoever is available. A research by Hockley in 1999 found that nurses during their relationships with patients or other co-workers are violent and obviously patients are at higher risk in such situations. Similarly, the study found that patients in mental wards and psychiatric facilities were more at risk than any other patients considering the fact that majority of them would not be able to report the violent actions (Hockley, 1999). Nursing ‘Work’ Bullying This form of violence results from the experiences that a nurse has during her working hours like extreme emergencies with exposure to bio-chemicals, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, war situations, etc. However, this form of bullying could be a strain situation more than bullying itself and it does not happen frequently. There is limited amount of research available on the amount or gravity of violence on nurses. However, studies suggest that female nurses have to cope with bullying more than their male counterparts have to. Nursing is a stressful job in itself and with bullying and violence associated with it, it can become even more stressful eventually leading to job dissatisfaction (Happell, Martin, & Pinkahan, 2003). The impact of Bullying on Nurses and Nursing The impact of the violence on nurses depends on the length of time they have experienced it and the kind of violence. Research suggests that nurses including student nurses suffer from physical, psychological, and physiological problems (Randle, 2003). Some nurses escape the impact of these events whereas for others bullying has a deep negative impact on the health and mental well-being of the nurses. An example of this could be that nurses who have been bullied for a long time are more fragile towards mental and physical problems as compared to those who have not. Some researches also suggest that nurses commit suicide because of prolonged bullying behavior by nursing staff. Not only the nurses themselves experiences feelings of depression, trauma, health problems, suicidal feelings, stress, but their family members and colleagues experience it too. Nurses are responsible for the care and proper curing of the patients because they are the ones giving the patients their medicines, providing them with services, and taking care of them during their stay in the hospital. Therefore, if the nurses themselves are not in a good shape, this hampers the quality of health care of an organization and eventually hampers the health of a patient. Nurses are directly associated with the health of the patients and if they are not themselves healthy and fit then it would increase problems for the patients and the health organization. Moreover, speaking on their behalf or letting their feelings out does not solve the problem for these nurses as they had been experiencing severe traumatic situations and they find it embarrassing. This also leads to avoidance from reporting the bullying activities of their peers, which further fuels the problem. Solutions to the problem Professional nursing associations have realized and recognized bullying in nursing and they have provided guidelines and practices to follow for dealing with them. Organizations that acknowledge the problem have come up with strategies to deal with bullying and work towards reducing it. However, theorists also believe that it is necessary to develop strength and vigor to deal with these issues on a personal level. Some nurses also recommend tougher rules and regulations in the nursing arena to counter workplace bullying (Connolly, 2001). One strategy of tackling bullying in the workplace specifically in nursing is to ask government, employers, workers, public bodies, professional bodies, and the community to participate. The implementation of the strategy requires the integrated, cultural, gender sensitive, nondiscriminatory participation of these bodies. A futuristic approach to the problem is realization of the violence and the potential bullies and the victims and then coming with a strategy to do something about them. It is not possible to eradicate bullying in nursing considering the outward nature of the work, however, it is possible to measure the risks with the help of evaluating the factors that are causing it and analyzing the aspects of the organization that are modifiable so that we are able to minimize the risk of bullying. Some people propose approach in relation with the public health and they promote intervention of the framework of human rights. This approach is beneficial in the sense because it requires the employers to care about the health and other rights of their employees. Violence in nursing could undermine the physical and psychological capabilities of an individual, which is it has tremendous impact on the individual himself, the firm, the nursing sector, the health care sector and the overall health care system. Another strategy of dealing with bullying is dealing with it on an individual scale. One of the strategies is counseling, which has been found effective in a number of cases. However, individual strategies depend on the type of violence and the kind of support they have from their respective organizations. Moreover, support also depends on circumstances; this means that studies suggest that victims of internal violence do not receive the same kind of support like the victims of external bullying. Conclusion It is not necessary for all nurses to undergo bullying in the workplace from the categories discussed in the earlier parts of the paper but it is likely that they would experience some form of the bullying during their working time. Nursing is an extremely noble profession with a huge responsibility on its shoulders. Acts like bullying, violence, and other activities are not only harmful for the nurses, they affect the patients adversely. Moreover, it becomes even more problematic for health organization to retain and recruit nurses. Experience in nursing is also a virtue but considering the increased phenomenon of bullying, it seems difficult that nurses would opt to stay to in the same place for a long time. The authorities, public bodies, communities, NGOs need to come up with policies and frameworks that minimize workplace bullying so that the effectiveness of nursing is retainable and achievable. In addition to this, individuals being bullied also need to work towards saving themselves and standing against the bullies. References Ruth Hadikin, Muriel O'Driscoll, Hadikin (2000). The Bullying Culture. Retrieved on September 5, 2008 from < http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=bF5HT03prQAC&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=nursing+bullying+in+the+workplace&source=web&ots=pbOPq5hbkG&sig=sitUL6qRFGhcaxleXM0LskOW5MU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result> This source was particularly useful in understanding the concept of bullying. It provides a detailed analysis of bullying and the motivations behind it. Moreover, it also outlines the culture that promotes it. The author has explained the phenomenon concisely and it is very easy to understand from the phenomenon. Glendinnig, P.M. (2001). Workplace bullying: Curing the cancer of the American workplace. Public Personnel Management, Vol. 30, pp. 269-285 The author of the book explains bullying with respect to the culture in an American working place. Culture governs the actions and activities of all the countries. The author provides the concept of bullying with respect to the organizational environment in America. Smith, W. 1999, ‘Stressed Out’, Courier Mail, May 1st, p. 29. This book is particularly useful in understanding the factors that lead to the attitudes and behaviors of various individuals in the workplace. The author very intelligently explains the factors that lead to the violent behavior of individuals and suppression of other individuals as a consequence. Parkin, J. 1997, ‘AMWU Backs Call to End Initiations ... Violence Can Be Stopped’, Metal Worker, vol. 3, no. 4, p. 7 Parkin’s book explains that there could be method which the authorities and individuals can adopt to stop violence at the workplace. Bullying in various situations seems unavoidable considering that it does not surface very easily that is why it becomes even more difficult to reduce it. The book defines various strategies using which we can reduce bullying in the workplace. Cunningham, J. 1995, ‘Fear and Disfavour’, Guardian, 13 September, p. 2. Cunningham explains another aspect of bullying, which comprises of psychological abuse rather than physical abuse. Favoritism is a common phenomenon in all organizations. The author regard it as a form of bullying and how it affects the employees adversely. Dean, C. 1996, ‘Two Bullied by Heans Can Claim Cash’, Times Educational Supplement, 15th March, p. 13. Randall, P. 1997, Adult Bullying: Perpetrators and Victims, Routledge, London. This book is particularly useful in understanding the difference between schoolyard bullying and bullying at the workplace. The author explains the difference and the causes in a comprehensive and clear manner. McCarthy, P., Sheehan, M. & Wilkie, W. 1996, Bullying from Backyard to Boardroom, Millennium Books, Alexandria. This source explains the path of development of bullying in individuals, the motivations behind bullying and the development from childhood bullying to workplace bullying. McCarthy, P., Sheehan, M. & Kearns, D. 1995, Managerial Styles and Their Effects on Employees’ Health and Well-being in Organisations Undergoing Restructuring, Faculty of Commerce and Administration, Griffith University, Nathan, Qld. Cox, 1997, ‘Survey of Bullying Among Nurses’, Journal of Family Nursing. Rayner, C. 1997, ‘The Incidence of Workplace Bullying’, Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, vol. 7. pp. 199-208. Read More