Case Incident 2 Bullying Bosses
BULLYING BOSSES I. Case Background
After a long weekend, Kara stared at her computer with a sick feeling in her stomach: Her boss had added her as a friend on Facebook. Kara did not feel particularly close to her boss, nor did she like the idea of mixing her social life with her work. Still, it was her boss as a Facebook friend. Little did she know her troubles were only beginning.
Kara’s boss soon began using her online information to manipulate her work life. It began with inappropriate innuendos regarding Facebook photos. Eventually, Kara’s boss manipulate her work hours, confronted her both on and off Facebook, and repeatedly called Kara’s cell phone questioning her whereabouts. “ My boss was a gosipping, domineering, contriving megalomaniac, and her behavior dramatically intensified when she used Facebook to pry,” Kara said. Eventually, Kara was forced to quit. “I feel like I got freedom back and can breathe again,” she said.
II. Case Problem
1. Workplace bullying demonstrated a lack of which one of the three types of organizational justice?
2. What aspects of motivation might workplace bullying reduce? For example, are there likely to be effects on an employee’s self-efficacy? If so, what might those effects be?
3. If you were a victim of workplace bullying, what steps would you take to try to reduce its occurrence? What strategies would be most effective? Least effective? What would you do if one of your colleagues were a victim?
4. What factors do you believe contribute to workplace bullying? Are bullies a product of the situation, or do they have flawed personalities? What situations and what personality factors might contribute to the presence of bullies?
III. Review of Time Literature
1. Need theories, Maslow’s hierarchy, if motivation is driven by the existence of unsatisfied needs, then it is worthwhile for a manager to understand which needs are the more important for individual employees. In this regard, Abraham Maslow developed a model in which
After a long weekend, Kara stared at her computer with a sick feeling in her stomach: Her boss had added her as a friend on Facebook. Kara did not feel particularly close to her boss, nor did she like the idea of mixing her social life with her work. Still, it was her boss as a Facebook friend. Little did she know her troubles were only beginning.
Kara’s boss soon began using her online information to manipulate her work life. It began with inappropriate innuendos regarding Facebook photos. Eventually, Kara’s boss manipulate her work hours, confronted her both on and off Facebook, and repeatedly called Kara’s cell phone questioning her whereabouts. “ My boss was a gosipping, domineering, contriving megalomaniac, and her behavior dramatically intensified when she used Facebook to pry,” Kara said. Eventually, Kara was forced to quit. “I feel like I got freedom back and can breathe again,” she said.
II. Case Problem
1. Workplace bullying demonstrated a lack of which one of the three types of organizational justice?
2. What aspects of motivation might workplace bullying reduce? For example, are there likely to be effects on an employee’s self-efficacy? If so, what might those effects be?
3. If you were a victim of workplace bullying, what steps would you take to try to reduce its occurrence? What strategies would be most effective? Least effective? What would you do if one of your colleagues were a victim?
4. What factors do you believe contribute to workplace bullying? Are bullies a product of the situation, or do they have flawed personalities? What situations and what personality factors might contribute to the presence of bullies?
III. Review of Time Literature
1. Need theories, Maslow’s hierarchy, if motivation is driven by the existence of unsatisfied needs, then it is worthwhile for a manager to understand which needs are the more important for individual employees. In this regard, Abraham Maslow developed a model in which