Workplace Bullying: Literature Review

body of action Bullying Literature canvasWork rest home BullyingTable of ContentsIntroduction vex of This StudyBackground for this StudyThe Research Problem1. Defining the effects of intimidate2. Sensitivity of the subject3. Categories of intimidate behaviourMethodologyLiterature ReviewDoes Workplace Violence Encompass Physical as well as Emotional Violence?How Bullied Persons Are SeenWhat is a Bully Like?What Does Bullying Do to An Organization?Bullying and Workplace ViolenceFundamental Features and Categories of BullyingFeatures of bulliesTypes of BullyingBullying at SchoolsBullying at WorkplacesCyberspaceEffects of deterrencedepth psychologyNegative BehaviorsNature of BullyingCauses of BullyingWorkplace EnvironmentsPersonality of an Individual in Relation to his or her WorkplaceBullying Negates Productivity at the WorkplaceCan A Manager Be A Bully?Dictatorial Management Cannot Achieve the Best ResultsSurvey ResultsConclusionReferencesAppendixPeople in this modern world have g enerally become more aw ar of their surroundings and the ways that they should be treated. They argon generally more aware of their self-assertion and their value in society than they were in the past. wholeness reason for this whitethorn be because in recent decades on that point has been more emphasis on things handle human rights and equality of all individuals. With particular emphasis on travels conditions, people are generally aware of how they should be treated and what sorts of conditions they should be allowed to land in. From a general viewpoint, one whitethorn think that this only refers to working conditions such as the physical environment that should not have any hazards in it. The reason for this thought is due to the fact that there have been several cases in the past in which employees were given hazardous conditions to work under. In argument to this, people are more aware of these past problems, and probably would not hesitate to object to any hazards in workplaces today.In contrast to having insist the cognisance that people cleverness have regarding workplaces hazards, there are several individuals who whitethorn not realize that they are still facing workplace problems and end up not objecting to problems around them. Also, some individuals who are aware may not be able to oppose these crushs, and thus, are compelled to work under these conditions. round working conditions may not necessarily be hazardous in the conventional sense, but they may be considered as inappropriate for employees if they contain extend because of them. champion particular slip of workplace hazard is known as intimidate, and may be carried out by superiors as well as colleagues1. Statistics ricochet more than 2 million people at work feeling bullied (Andrea Adams Trust 2005). One in four people say that they have been bullied at least once in the past 5 years. With these statistics, it is further said that workplace street fightering result s in a loss of 18.9 million working years and 4 jillion2. This is because those universe bullied tend to be absent from work more practically.In sum to loss experienced in industries in terms of age and revenue, there is evidence of high levels of stress in individuals creation bullied. Yet, it is not easy to evaluate workplace bullying, and this is because of the stickyy in precisely defining what workplace bullying is.There are several descriptions of bullying, but none are agreed on. However, some of these are raise and do help to acquit significant insight to the problem. According to Stale Einarsen (1999), it is suggested that bullying occurs when someone at work is consistently subjected to aggressive behaviour from one or more colleagues or superiors over a long period of time, in a position where the objective lenss finds it difficult to defend himself or herself or to escape the situation3According to the above translation, bullying might be described as a pr ocess through which individuals feel fright by someone who uses their strength and power to lose and frighten them. The presence of this individual sop ups them feel vulnerable and uncomfortable to the extent that it stresses or de-motivates people at their work. In former(a) in specializeigence activitys, it is a systematic tone-beginning through which an individual corners an early(a), and there is no escape unless one escapes the system.Recent look in the UK conducted in the form of surveys and UK cases have highlighted the importance of exposing bullying. This is because there is significant evidence to prove that it causes anxiety that leads people to suffer physical and mental distress. These are believed to be direct results of bullying in the workplace.It is estimated that in the UK, half dozen million working days are lost annually due to stress ca utilise by bullying, job insecurity, shift work and long hours4.According to Cary make (2000), people that reported c osmos bullied had the poorest health, the lowest work motivation, the highest absenteeism figures as well as the lowest productivity compared with those who were not bullied. In addition to this, based on look for in Sweden, Heinz Leyman (1993,1996) firstly introduced the concept of mobbing (bullying) as a relentless form of harassment in organisations. Theoretically, it could be asserted that bullying is an extreme type of social stressor at work that works in a system. It may be then said that bullying is a long lasting harassment, systematically aimed at a localize person.5 Having acknowledged the tremendous loss that bullying causes an industry, the UK Government believes that employees should have the rights to work in an environment without being bullied and harassed. In vagabond to combat bullying in the workplace, the UK well-grounded framework gives employees the rights, which protect them from any form of unreasonable treatment within the work place.Keeping the above s tatistics in mind, this project is concerned with the effects of bullying in workplaces on individuals. It result as well as explore the nature and causes of bullying at work.Most studies regard bullying as a unified phenomenon, in spite of the fact that different kinds of behaviours are involved.6 It may be asserted here that these behaviours make individuals feel intimidated and occur in different situations and cross gender, age, and race of individuals. The intimidation and anxiety caused by bullying creates stress and stress related illnesses.The aims of the proposed study are outlined belowWhat type of negative behaviours that makes individuals feel bullied at their workplace?Explore the nature and causes of workplace bullying.Examine the effects of bullying on individuals.According to Andrea Adams in Bullying at work published in 1992 bullying at work is like a malignant cancer and the disturbing manifestations of adult bullying (Adams et al 2000, p.9) Andrea Adams, broadc aster and journalist, was the first person to recognise the significance of workplace bullying, and her book Bullying at Work, remains a landmark in this field. Adams suggests that bullying occurs when professional abrasiveness becomes tainted with an element of personal vindictiveness (Adams et al 2000, p32). Bullying is a sustained form of psychological abuse and often radiates from a senior person taking what they feel is strong management. However, bullying may not always come from a senior person in the workplace. It is thought that individuals may be singled out by a number of colleagues for various reasons.Debrah Lee (1998), who has been researching workplace bullying, argues the emergence of workplace bullying as being a problem or whether it should be considered to be an interpretation for an existing problem. She demonstrates that workplace bullying is an interpretation for a range of unfair work practices. She identifies workplace bullying asPersistent, offensive, abusive , intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviours, abuse of power or unfair penal sanctions which makes the recipient feel upset, threatened or dispirited or vulnerable, which undermines their self confidence and which may cause them to suffer stresstaking credits for another persons intellection, ignoring or excluding an individual by talking only to a third party to isolate another, spreading malicious rumours, persistent criticisms7. Therefore, it could be said that bullying encompasses various kinds of negative behaviors.There have been a range of debates around the nature and causes of workplace bullying. Stale Einarsen (1999) suggests that bullying may be used in a joking manner describing good natured horseplay or refer to minor events of aggressive behaviour that tend to be easily accepted and tolerated.In this scientific study, the concept refers to rather specific phenomenon where hostile or aggressive behaviour, whether physical or non-physical, are factors of stigmatis ation and victimisation of the recipient.8 However, Dieter Zapf (1999) categorises five different types of bullying behaviour. They areWork related bullying which may intromit changing your work tasks or making them difficult to performsocial isolationpersonal attacks on your private life by ridicule, insulting remarks, jaw or the likeverbal threats of such military unitPhysical violence or threats of such violence.(Adopted for use quoted in Zapf 1999 source Stale Einarsen 1999)Zapf (1999) argues theoretically that bullying is an extreme type of social stressor at work. It is a long lasting escalating practice aimed at a target person. There is inadequate research and it is difficult to prove the causes and effect of bullying. It emerges that multiple causes of bullying have to be take awayn into consideration, and that bullying can be caused for various reasons.1. Defining the effects of bullyingOne of the main problems of finding out the effects of bullying is stress. Estimate s of the cost of stress and stress related illnesses range from 5 billion (TUC) to 7 billion (IPD) to 12 billion (CBI) each year. Stress can be caused from a variety of reasons. (www.bullyonline.co.uk) (11/11/05) Christine Hudson (2001) defines stress asliterally a pressure of force exerted on an object. The emotional state that occurs when an individual believes that they do not have the resources to deal with a situation or series of events (Hodson 2001, p 144).Beehr Franz (1987) suggest that stress has commonly been defined in three ways as an environmental stimulus often described as a force applied to the individual, as an individuals psychological or physical response to such an environmental force (Warr 2002, ch 8 p 204). If the cause of stress could actually be pinpointed to an individuals workplace, it would be convenient to study how s/he may have been bullied.2. Sensitivity of the subjectBullying is a sensitive outcome and people may be in denial or embarrassed because of the fact that they are being bullied. Not everyone leave behind admit that they have a problem and some may not be aware that they are being bullied. Hence, it is a very sensitive area. Precautions must be taken when research is carried out.3. Categories of bullying behaviourDifferent theorists have different percepts of categories of bullying behaviours. Also, individuals have different perceptions of defining what negative behaviour is. The lit review and analysis pass on help to reveal what authors have to say close to different categories of bullying.The method selected for this research paper consists of a quantitative as well as a qualitative approach. Both approaches will help to collect as much data as possible. Qualitative data will be obtained though apt(p) journals, books, studies, magazines and newspapers, all presented in a literature review that will be analysed.Quantitative data will be obtained through a survey consisting of 50 participants. A range of questio ns will be presented to them, and the accumulative answers to these questions will be analysed. In addition to this, the quantitative data will be discussed with regard to the literature review as well. This quantitative method has been selected because a questionnaire will provide the opportunity to seek answers to questions in a larger quantity.AdvantagesQuestions are designed so that answers from the individuals interviews can be added together to produce results, which apply to the whole sample.The research is based on interviews with a representative sample of respondents.The questions are designed to be unbiasedLarge survey can often be broken downSurveys lend themselves to future replication.DisadvantageData becomes the main focus of the research retires.The data provide snapshots of points in time rather than a focus on the underlying process processes and changes.The researcher is often not in a position to check first hand the understandings of the respondents to the ques tions asked. Issues of truthfulness and accuracy are thereby raised.The survey relies on breadth rather than depth for its validity. This is crucial issue for small-scale researchers.9Making use of primary data (Surveys, focus group interviews) and secondary data (journals, databases, case studies, books, newspapers etc.), the clients aim is to find out what types of negative behaviours make people feel bullied at the workplace. This data will withal help to reveal the nature and causes of workplace bullying.Analyzing the survey data against the reviewed literature and the analysis will prove interesting. It is through this comparison that one will be able to tell whether the literature reviewed has any similarities shared with the results of the survey. It is expected that there would be similarities, and it is interesting to observe how significant these similarities are.Bullying at a workplace can very easily be likened to bullying in schools. The difference between the cardina l types of bullying is that each of them takes place in different age brackets. Bullying at a workplace is similar to bullying at school because it takes place within an institution that works as an arena within which bullying can be sustained. It is often thought that bullies at schools tend to do the said(prenominal) thing at workplaces when they grow up. This is perhaps because their behaviors may have been ignored by superiors and cheered on by classmates. As a result, the will to dominate continues as they grow up. about bullies target their victims because they feel the need to control a situation or an environment while others have a natural excite to dominate without any specific reason. Whether bullying takes place at the school level or in a workplace, it has often been noted that insecure individuals instance these behaviors.Does Workplace Violence Encompass Physical as well as Emotional Violence?According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) (1999), one of t he severest problems being faced at workplaces is physical as well as emotional violence. The ILO defines workplace violence as any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work. These behaviors would originate from customers, co-workers at any level of the brass. This definition would include all forms or harassment, bullying, intimidation, physical threats/assaults, robbery and other intrusive behaviors.10 This definition is overly said to encompass bullying.According to CUPEs National Health and Safety Survey of Aggression Against Staff (1994) a similar definition to the previous one is observed, verbal aggression and harassment in its definition of violence is Any incident in which an employee is abused, threatened or assaulted during the course of his/her employment. This includes the industriousness of force, threats with or without weapons, severe verbal abuse and persistent sexual and racial harassment.11Definitions such as this one may also encompass bullying. In say to establish a connection between these definitions of physical and emotional violence, and bullying, the following case is important.An employee of OC Transpo in Ottawa (April 6 1999) shot 4 employees dead, after which he shot himself. It was said that the employee had suffered from workplace harassment. The definition of workplace violence that had to be included in the coroners examination had to include definitions of physical violence as well as psychological violence12. Psychological violence or emotional violence includes acts such as bullying, mobbing, teasing, ridicule or any word or deed that could psychologically harm or single out an individual person in the workplace.From the inclusion of emotional violence in the definition of workplace violence, it can be asserted that definition is very broad. Such a definition has helped to encompass several behaviors that are objectionable and are recognized as harmful to emplo yees (Einarsen, 2002, 25-30).How Bullied Persons Are SeenUsually, those who are bullied are seen as weak individuals or individuals that are different and singled-out. As opposed to the way that bullied person might be seen generally, s/he might well be a capable person, and one that handles his or her work independently. Quite often, such individuals are also well liked by their co-workers. However, bullies may pick on such individuals who may have a non-confrontative interpersonal style. Bullies may see the target as a threat, and set out to cut the target down. A bully of this kind may be a superior or even a co-worker. A co-worker may bully another worker because the target is considered one that is capable of excelling in his or her duties. A superior on the other hand may want to bully an employee in order to keep the targets personality in check. This may be done in order to create or reinforce an impression of the superior being in control. Some superiors do take joyousnes s in bullying their employees in order to, in typical terms, show them who is the boss.What is a Bully Like?Bullies are usually insecure individuals, lacking social skills. The have itsy-bitsy mercy for individuals in general, but tend to be harsh on individuals whom they decide to target. Bullies generally try to turn their insecurity outwards by targeting others. They take pleasure in knowing that they can throw their weight around. They use their positions to attack fully capable individuals around them by subjecting them to undue criticism. A bully may also tend to humiliate, ignore and isolate a target in front of others13.If the bully is in a senior position, s/he may make things difficult for the target or victim to work through. This would include setting up tasks that cannot realistically be achieved14. A bully may also take away important tasks from a target and replace them with demeaning ones. No matter what a bully does to intimidate a target, the basic idea is to con trol situations and environments.What Does Bullying Do to An Organization?Bullied employees tend to waste anywhere between 10 to 52 % of their work time. Many of them spend time preparing themselves against bullies, searching for support, thinking over the situation, and suffering stress and demotivation15. Many of them also do not show up for work regularly due to stress and stress-related illnesses caused.A work environment in which employees are bullied is poisoned with lack of morale, anger, fear, depression, and related feelings. All this results in an employer suffering loss of efficiency, absenteeism, high turnover of staff, and lawsuits16.Not only does an employer suffer because of bullying in a workplace, but bullying has an impact on the targets family and friends as well. The daily stress that an individual suffers is carried to relatives and friends. A targets marriage is also likely to suffer as well with long-term stress. Friendships too come under strain because a tar get may become possessive (Badzmierowski Dufresne, 2005).The damages caused by bullying also impact the healthcare system. This is because those who suffer stress through bullying tend to receive medical specialty and counseling for coping with the problem, and these could last for significant periods.Bullying and Workplace ViolenceWorkplace violence is a practice that might be physical or emotional. This means that the tactics used in the process may be physical or emotional. Bullying is one of the tactics considered under workplace violence. encompassing the emotional tactics used in workplace violence are bullying, incivility, disrespect, psychological abuse, and emotional harassment. All these tactics may also be referred to as psycho terror. Whichever way one chooses to define and describe these various aspects of workplace violence, they all have the same impact. This is to say that they all result in work time being lost, demotivated employees, medical claims, legal fees, and ultimately, company decline. Quite obviously, there are tremendous losses experienced in terms of both financial loss and in quality of life (Badzmierowski Dufresne, 2005).Focusing more on bullying as a tactic of emotional workplace violence, it can be asserted that bullying is any form of negative behavior that shows disregard for other workers. It might be asserted here that along with there being several definitions for bullying presented by various scholars, there are also several behaviors that may coincide or overlap bullying behaviors. However, it can also be asserted that bullying and other overlapping practices are emotional workplace violence. Bullying is thought to consist of some of the following negative behaviors harassmentIncivilityTeasingGossipingPurposely withholding business informationOverruling decisions without a rationaleSabotaging team effortsDemeaning othersVerbal intimidation (Badzmierowski Dufresne, 2005)In addition to the above types of bullying, th ere are several more that may be included.The different types of bullying that can occur do so in an organization that tolerates incivility. Though organizations may be aware of the damages that bullying does to an organization, responses to the problem are insufficient. Many managers ignore incivility because they either do not want to get involved or they simply believe that it is too much of a waste of time getting involved. Managers sometimes like to keep their slates as clean as possible. So they would rather avoid getting themselves into any interpersonal conflict.In addition to managers not wanting to get into interpersonal conflicts, some(prenominal) of them may not even hear of any problems in the workplace. This could be for various reasons. Perhaps their co-ordination is insufficient and the opportunity for employees to take up up these kinds of problems does not arise. Some employees might feel that they would be going way beyond expected territory if they were to take complaints forward (Badzmierowski Dufresne, 2005).Another reason why managers may not hear about bullying at the workplace is because employees are afraid to bring these issues up even if the opportunities do arise. Employees may be afraid to bring bullying matters up because there are organizations that would regard these complaints as personal disputes and they may not be seen as the concern of the management. It might be asserted here that this could occur because managers know that employees would not take these matters too far even if they were to get serious. However, targeted employees have been known to bring lawsuits against companies for bullying. In the UK, there is legal support for employees that feel bullied, as the UK suffers a loss of several working days and revenue due to workplace bullying. The matter is a serious one, and so is the legal protection of targeted employees in the UK.Though there is legal protection available for targeted employees, there are organ izations that permit or even reward blinding confrontation among employees. This is done in the name of competition within organizations. However, there are lines that need to be drawn and if rude language and negative behaviors are overlooked, an organization can suffer intensely.Research shows that when targets believe that someone at work has treated them disrespectfully, half will lose work time worrisome about future interactions with the instigator, and half will contemplate changing jobs to avoid a recurrence. One-fourth of research respondents who feel that they have been treated uncivilly will intentionally cut back their work efforts. A few will steal from their instigators or their organizations. Some will sabotage equipment. Most will tell friends, family and colleagues about how badly they have been treatedin the worst case, some targets of incivility will exit (Pearson and Porath 2005).Fundamental Features and Categories of BullyingAccording to common terms, bullying is known as a type of harassment, carried out by one child over another who is seen as weaker. With this common view of bullying in mind, there are three common features in this form of behaviorIt is aggressive and negative, bothThe behavior is sustainedThere is in inequality in power of the bully and the target, with the bully having more power (Einarsen, 2002, 25-30)There are also two main categories into which bullying falls. These areDirect andIndirect bullying, which may also be called aggressionDirect bullying is common among males. Indirect bullying is common among females and children. Indirect bullying usually results in the target nice socially isolated. There are several ways through which this may be achieved. Some of the ways include gossip, ignoring the target in public, treating those who mix with the target in the same manner, and finding fault with the targets style of dressing and various other social belonging that the target may have, such as his or her religio n, race, disability, etc.Bullying can take place in almost any type of set up. It is known to commonly take place in schools, colleges, universities, workplaces, in neighborhoods, and even between countries. No matter where bullying takes place, it must be noted that the element of power has an important agency to play, and the power structure seems to be of great importance (Einarsen, 2002, 25-30). To observers of a relationship in which bullying takes place, the power a bully has is dependant on the perception a target has of the bully. The target usually is afraid to defend him or herself effectively. In many cases, a target has reason to be intimidated. S/he may fear the bully may carry out threatened actions such as physical/sexual violence, or loss of livelihood.Features of bulliesThere are few notable characteristics of bullying, particularly in male bullies. These include the need for a bully to feel in control and be powerful, sadism, which is a situation where a bully get s satisfaction at watching another person suffer, complete lack of consideration for others, and a particular pattern according to which they work in order to blame the target (Einarsen, 2002, 25-30).Quite commonly, an individuals upbringing is blamed for the way that a bully behaves. It is thought that a bully may have been brought up in an abusive environment where s/he might have been exposed to physical forms of punishment at home, little or no parental concern, and an environment in which violence has been used as a way of sorting out problems.Other research reveals that belligerence and forceful behaviors, perceiving others behaviors as aggressive, a drive to preserve ones image, and demonstration of obsessive actions are also observed17.Types of BullyingBullying, whether a male or a female carries it out, may be considered to be an obsessive and compulsive behavior. This behavior has repeated actions or verbal insults that are used in order to have power over a target (Einar sen, 2002, 25-30). There is also a mixture of intimidation and humiliation used against targets. Some examples of bullying techniques are given belowName-calling often using the targets or victims names commonly, the target is accused of being useless in all s/he doesGossiping about the targetStealing items that belong to the victimUnjustly demoting a victim substance abuse of threats to get a victim to do what a bully wantsCyberbullying this includes making use of various information technologies to bully a victimPhysically assaulting a person or his or her propertyBlackmailFraming a victim before an authority figureUse of insulting remarks against a victims family,about ones home,personal appearance,sexual orientation,religion,race,income level,or nationalityIgnoring or Isolating a victimInterfering with a victims personal belongings, and damaging them or using them to mock a victimDominating a victim by staringInsulting graffiti18When bullying occurs in school