Workplace Bullying Essay
Workplace Bullying
Abstract Workplace bullying is on the rise in the United States. Many employees are fighting back against bullies in the workplace and taking action. Employees who are mistreated by verbal abuse, offensive conduct and behaviors that are threatening, humiliating or intimidating and that interfere with your job that prevents work from getting done are forms of bullying. While Workplace bullying can come from another employee or corporate management this paper tells you the different strategies needed to take a stance and stand up to the bully. Victims of bullies can experience significant physical and mental health problems. Also, having a workplace bully can be very costly to the organization. …show more content…
Since there is not a law against Workplace Bullying in the United States awareness needs to be made and each corporation/organization needs to have a policy on workplace bullying and/or violence and provide annual training.
Workplace bullying, like childhood bullying, is the tendency of individuals or groups to use persistent aggressive or unreasonable behavior against a co-worker or subordinate. Workplace bullying can include such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse, and humiliation. Aggression of this type is particularly difficult because, unlike the typical forms of school bullying, workplace bullies often operate within the established rules and policies of their organization and their society. Workplace bullying can also be defined as “repeated, health harming abusive conduct committed by bosses and co-workers or repeated mistreatment: sabotage by others that prevented work from getting done, verbal abuse, threatening conduct, intimidation, and humiliation.” Unwarranted or invalid criticism, blame without factual justification, being treated differently than the rest of your work group, being sworn at, exclusion or social isolation, being shouted at or humiliated, excessive monitoring or micro-managing are a few examples of bullying.
Workplace bullying is a bit different from Corporate/Institutional Bullying. Corporate/Institutional bullying occurs when bullying is entrenched in an organization and becomes accepted as part of the workplace culture. Corporate bulling can manifest itself in different ways such as; they may try placing expectations that are unreasonable on employees, where failure to meet those expectations causes life to be unpleasant with anyone who objects. Any employee who is suffering from stress is dismissed and called ‘weak’ all while ignoring or denying potential work-related stress. Also, corporate could be encouraging employees to fabricate complaints about colleagues with promises of promotion or threat of …show more content…
discipline. Workplace bullying can affect employees by causing significant physical and mental health problems such as, Financial problems due to the employee being absent from work. Employees could have reduced self-esteem; they are constantly getting talked down upon and told they are not good enough when they have never been told that before, their confidence could dwindle. High stress or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sleep and digestive disturbances. Phobias, musculoskeletal problems, increased depression and self-blame are a few other mental and physical problems. Some typical warning signs you may be feeling outside of work to show you might be being bullied at work are; throwing up the night before you start a work week. Your family is frustrated and demands you stop obsessing over work at home. Doctor is concerned about your extra high blood pressure and recent health problems. You fear of telling your spouse or partner that you feel ashamed of being controlled by another person at work. You use all of your paid time off as ‘mental health breaks’ from the strain and unhappiness. Activities you used to enjoy and family fun time are no longer appealing or enjoyable. According to the two surveys that were conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI), with 6,302 responders all together, it found that in 2007, 37% of workers experienced bullying first hand, 62% of bullies are men and 58% are women, in 80% of cases, women target women, and finally the 68% (the majority) of bullying is same-gender harassment. The survey’s main questions were if the respondent witnessed or experienced mistreatment such as the following: verbal abuse, intimidation, threatening conduct, humiliation, or sabotage by others which in turn prevented work from being done. It also showed that from results listed previously, 45% of respondents have never been bullied or have not seen it happening first hand. Gary and Ruth Namie also found in a study that in 2007 about 147 million Americans were employed. Doing the math that would mean about 54 million of those Americans have been bullied at work. Research has shown that affected workers feel powerless in the face of more powerful bullies.
Workers feel unable to protect themselves against the bullies or unable to stop the bully. Dr. Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik, Assistant Professor of Communications at the University of New Mexico recently conducted a study that suggests that workers may have more power than they think. Although workers feel they cannot do anything to stop the abuse, they can take a stand by leaving the workplace/organization, or they can also fight back by gathering peer support. Taking collective action, documenting abuse, allying themselves with others more powerful, and directly confronting bullies are a few measures victims can take to overcome
bullies. It may seem that quitting your job shows you are a coward by running away or giving up, but the mass departure of works in the face of bullying is marked by anger, disgust, a desire to “send a message” to those in power. The article tells two stories, on about Amy, who worked in a sports fishing industry, she said by her resignation she wanted to “send a message to the bully…he crossed my personal line in the same…so I quit. I left because two of my executives-the hardest working people in the company, and most honest, the most direct, the most trustworthy, ethical-and he bullied them. He’d debase them, and blame them, and debase them, and blame them, and he chipped away at them, and chipped away at them, until they both found other jobs… It was morally wrong.” Steve told a similar story in the article about how he left his 15 year position as a ‘highly training specialist’ in state government, he only have 3 days’ notice about leaving the company had had 2 days to train his replacement. “I did everything I could…nobody did anything…I spent two days training my replacement… and was out of there. Let ‘em go down in flames! Maybe this will open their eyes.” Margraet Fiester had a former boss put her hands on her and got into her face and starting yelling “Why did you do that?!”, while Fiester was working as a legal assistant for an attorney at the time.
An article from Insurance Journal says that bullying on the job can take many forms, from a supervisor’s verbal abuse and threats to cruel comments or relentless teasing by co-workers. It is staid that bullying will replace sexual harassment. “People who oppose it say these laws will force people to be polite at work. But you can no long go to work and act like a beast and get away with it.” Workplace bullying can take away from the morale and good order and disciple in a company. Bullying in a workplace can lead to increased employee turnover and effect product outcome. Workplace bullying has become more known now a day due to parents who have dealt with school bullying now realize that it can happen at work too. An employee who worked at St. Anthony North Hospital just outside of Denver was suspended under the hospital’s anti-bullying policy due to his comment to another employee. He was offended by a co-workers remark and suggested they “take it out to the parking lot.”
In 2009-2010 Melissa Nelson, a 32-year old mother and happily married wife, was bullying by her boss, Iowa dentist, James Knight. Nelson had worked for him for 10 years and was his ‘best dental assistant’. When Knight turned 50, he told her he found her “irresistibly attractive” and he would make rude and inappropriate comments about if Nelson saw a bulge in his pants it was because her clothing was too revealing. Knight told his pastor and he suggested he fire Nelson. On Jan 4, 2010 Nelson was fired from her job. She tried to sue, not on sexual harassment, but for gender discrimination. On December 21, 2012, the Supreme Court sided with Knight. According to the court, “A man in an uncertain marriage eager to have an affair and who immaturely lacks self-control can jeopardize his female employee’ job security and psychological safety without risk.” Since Iowa is a “right-to-work’ state, when they fire or terminate someone they do not need a cause.
A California County Grand Jury confirmed workplace bullying following multiple employee complaints. Seven workers had sworn testimony’s about abuses in the Riverside County HR department. Mostly problems that were identified in the program tasked with hiring temp workers and medical temps (TAP/MAP). Employees were supposed to have formal job training and written policies and procedures given to them annually per the 2005 audit report. As of 2012, no training has been conducted. When asked why training had not been conducted HR said it was “not a high priority.” Since the county does not have a workplace bullying policy it is difficult to bring anything up to the managers, especially since they were the ones doing most of the bullying. HR Management’s disciplinary letters to employees were considered “unduly negative, condescending, and accusatory.” The report stated that HR management knew about the bullying and one supervisor’s cruelty actually violated California Labor Laws by denying a worker time off to attend her daughter’s honor roll award at school. The court finally found that the HR managers were not required to attend management training since the courses are provided by HR themselves. Bullying seems to be done by leaders who do not know how to properly manage others, or the abuse is a “cover-up for incompetence”. In the end the key recommendations that were brought up were; the board of supervisors needs to create an anti-bullying policy and apply the policies and rules consistently to all employees.
Workplace bullying and violence awareness is the biggest issue right now. Since bullying in general is not illegal in the U.S. unless it involves harassment based on race, color, gender, religion, national origin, sex, age (40+), disability, etc. There are things you can do about bullying. If you are an employee being bullied, you need to regain control by being able to recognize when you are being bullied. You need to realize that you are NOT the source of the problem and finally recognize that the bully is about control and controlling you, it has nothing to do with you. Action can be taken by keeping a journal or log with details of the incident, such as dates, times, what was said or done and who was present. If possible procure copies of harassing/bullying paper trails; hold onto the copies of documents that contradict the bully’s accusations such as time sheets, audit reports, etc. When you are taking action in the bullying incident you need to expect that the bully will deny and perhaps misconstrue your accusations. Having a witness with you during any meeting with the bully and report the behavior to the appropriate person. Coming from the military, our definition of ‘workplace bullying’ is hazing or harassment. The SecNav Instruction 1610.2A (Department of the Navy (DON) Policy on Hazing) says the definition of hazing is defined as any conduct whereby a military member or members, regardless of service or rank, without proper authority causes another military member or members, regardless of service or rank, to suffer or be exposed to any activity which is cruel, abusive, humiliating, oppressive, demeaning, or harmful. Equal Opportunity would be another form of our ‘workplace bullying’. It’s harder to pin point legally (in the Military) if you are getting bullied or not. Most would tell you to suck it up and ‘take it like a man’ but in the recent 10 years, the Marine Corps has really put a stop to abuse and bullying. We are taught in boot camp that all Marines will treat each other with respect and we have instilled our Core Values of Honor, Courage and Commitment. “Every Marine, Sailor and Civilian Marine has an absolute right to be treated with dignity and respect.” In 2010 I had my own experience with workplace bullying. My former boss found out I was pregnant and really degraded me and bullied me. Causing stress and anxiety for me and I was worried about coming to work every day. Thankfully he ended up getting stationed in South Carolina a few months after I found out I was pregnant. The bullying and harassment and sometime violence happens a lot in the military and due to the situation, not much can be done about it. It can be brought up to a higher ranking service member and administrative action can be taken but the process is long and tedious just like in the civilian world. In conclusion, clear, and uniform legal guidelines should be developed and widely distributed to inform employers how they can strengthen violence-prevention measures without existing law, without infringing on privacy, defamation laws, or other employee rights. Relevant laws and liability issues should be reviewed to see if there are ways to improve employee safety without jeopardizing individual rights. Successful health care organizations promote professionalism, address proper work behaviors quickly and have annual training. They also develop strong policies that clearly define issues and provide guidelines for action to address disruptive behaviors among healthcare providers and employees. “All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a sing word; freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, and hope” – Sir Winston Churchill.
Works Cited
Iowa dentist lucted for assistant, fired her, state Supreme Court backs him. (2013, January 13). Retrieved from Workplace Bullying Institute: http://www.workplacebullying.org/2013/01/02/james-knight/#more-11176
Amos, J. F. (2012). Commandant 's Policy Statement on Equal Opportunity. Washington, D.C.: United States Marine Corps.
Hananel, S. (2013, April 16). Workplace Bulling Emerging as Major Employment Liability Battleground. Retrieved from Insurance Journal: http://insurancejournal.com/news/national/2013/03/04/283420.htm
Lutgen-Sandvik, P. (2007, February). How Employees Fight Back Against Workplace Bullying. Retrieved from Communication Currents: http://www.natcom.org/CommCurrentsArticle.aspx?id=839
Namie, G., & Namie, R. (2009). The Bully at Work; Second Edition. Naperville: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Report #87-2-2011. (2011, April). Workplace Bullying and Disruptive Behavior. What Everyone Needs to Know. Olympia, Washington, United States of America: Safety & Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP)Program.
Riverside County HR Department. (2012, July 19). Another County Grand Jury Discovers Workplace Bullying. Retrieved from Workplace Bullying Institute: http://www.workplacebullying.org/2012/07/19/riverside/
Workplace Bullying Institute. (2013, April 10). Early Signs of Bullying. Retrieved from Workplace Bulling Institute: http://www.workplacebullying.org/individuals/problems/early-signs/
Workplace Bullying Institute. (2013, April 10). Results of the 2010 and 2007 WBI U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey. Retrieved from Workplace Bullying: http://workplacebullying.org/wbiresearch/2010-wbi-national-survey/
Abstract Workplace bullying is on the rise in the United States. Many employees are fighting back against bullies in the workplace and taking action. Employees who are mistreated by verbal abuse, offensive conduct and behaviors that are threatening, humiliating or intimidating and that interfere with your job that prevents work from getting done are forms of bullying. While Workplace bullying can come from another employee or corporate management this paper tells you the different strategies needed to take a stance and stand up to the bully. Victims of bullies can experience significant physical and mental health problems. Also, having a workplace bully can be very costly to the organization. …show more content…
Since there is not a law against Workplace Bullying in the United States awareness needs to be made and each corporation/organization needs to have a policy on workplace bullying and/or violence and provide annual training.
Workplace bullying, like childhood bullying, is the tendency of individuals or groups to use persistent aggressive or unreasonable behavior against a co-worker or subordinate. Workplace bullying can include such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse, and humiliation. Aggression of this type is particularly difficult because, unlike the typical forms of school bullying, workplace bullies often operate within the established rules and policies of their organization and their society. Workplace bullying can also be defined as “repeated, health harming abusive conduct committed by bosses and co-workers or repeated mistreatment: sabotage by others that prevented work from getting done, verbal abuse, threatening conduct, intimidation, and humiliation.” Unwarranted or invalid criticism, blame without factual justification, being treated differently than the rest of your work group, being sworn at, exclusion or social isolation, being shouted at or humiliated, excessive monitoring or micro-managing are a few examples of bullying.
Workplace bullying is a bit different from Corporate/Institutional Bullying. Corporate/Institutional bullying occurs when bullying is entrenched in an organization and becomes accepted as part of the workplace culture. Corporate bulling can manifest itself in different ways such as; they may try placing expectations that are unreasonable on employees, where failure to meet those expectations causes life to be unpleasant with anyone who objects. Any employee who is suffering from stress is dismissed and called ‘weak’ all while ignoring or denying potential work-related stress. Also, corporate could be encouraging employees to fabricate complaints about colleagues with promises of promotion or threat of …show more content…
discipline. Workplace bullying can affect employees by causing significant physical and mental health problems such as, Financial problems due to the employee being absent from work. Employees could have reduced self-esteem; they are constantly getting talked down upon and told they are not good enough when they have never been told that before, their confidence could dwindle. High stress or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sleep and digestive disturbances. Phobias, musculoskeletal problems, increased depression and self-blame are a few other mental and physical problems. Some typical warning signs you may be feeling outside of work to show you might be being bullied at work are; throwing up the night before you start a work week. Your family is frustrated and demands you stop obsessing over work at home. Doctor is concerned about your extra high blood pressure and recent health problems. You fear of telling your spouse or partner that you feel ashamed of being controlled by another person at work. You use all of your paid time off as ‘mental health breaks’ from the strain and unhappiness. Activities you used to enjoy and family fun time are no longer appealing or enjoyable. According to the two surveys that were conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI), with 6,302 responders all together, it found that in 2007, 37% of workers experienced bullying first hand, 62% of bullies are men and 58% are women, in 80% of cases, women target women, and finally the 68% (the majority) of bullying is same-gender harassment. The survey’s main questions were if the respondent witnessed or experienced mistreatment such as the following: verbal abuse, intimidation, threatening conduct, humiliation, or sabotage by others which in turn prevented work from being done. It also showed that from results listed previously, 45% of respondents have never been bullied or have not seen it happening first hand. Gary and Ruth Namie also found in a study that in 2007 about 147 million Americans were employed. Doing the math that would mean about 54 million of those Americans have been bullied at work. Research has shown that affected workers feel powerless in the face of more powerful bullies.
Workers feel unable to protect themselves against the bullies or unable to stop the bully. Dr. Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik, Assistant Professor of Communications at the University of New Mexico recently conducted a study that suggests that workers may have more power than they think. Although workers feel they cannot do anything to stop the abuse, they can take a stand by leaving the workplace/organization, or they can also fight back by gathering peer support. Taking collective action, documenting abuse, allying themselves with others more powerful, and directly confronting bullies are a few measures victims can take to overcome
bullies. It may seem that quitting your job shows you are a coward by running away or giving up, but the mass departure of works in the face of bullying is marked by anger, disgust, a desire to “send a message” to those in power. The article tells two stories, on about Amy, who worked in a sports fishing industry, she said by her resignation she wanted to “send a message to the bully…he crossed my personal line in the same…so I quit. I left because two of my executives-the hardest working people in the company, and most honest, the most direct, the most trustworthy, ethical-and he bullied them. He’d debase them, and blame them, and debase them, and blame them, and he chipped away at them, and chipped away at them, until they both found other jobs… It was morally wrong.” Steve told a similar story in the article about how he left his 15 year position as a ‘highly training specialist’ in state government, he only have 3 days’ notice about leaving the company had had 2 days to train his replacement. “I did everything I could…nobody did anything…I spent two days training my replacement… and was out of there. Let ‘em go down in flames! Maybe this will open their eyes.” Margraet Fiester had a former boss put her hands on her and got into her face and starting yelling “Why did you do that?!”, while Fiester was working as a legal assistant for an attorney at the time.
An article from Insurance Journal says that bullying on the job can take many forms, from a supervisor’s verbal abuse and threats to cruel comments or relentless teasing by co-workers. It is staid that bullying will replace sexual harassment. “People who oppose it say these laws will force people to be polite at work. But you can no long go to work and act like a beast and get away with it.” Workplace bullying can take away from the morale and good order and disciple in a company. Bullying in a workplace can lead to increased employee turnover and effect product outcome. Workplace bullying has become more known now a day due to parents who have dealt with school bullying now realize that it can happen at work too. An employee who worked at St. Anthony North Hospital just outside of Denver was suspended under the hospital’s anti-bullying policy due to his comment to another employee. He was offended by a co-workers remark and suggested they “take it out to the parking lot.”
In 2009-2010 Melissa Nelson, a 32-year old mother and happily married wife, was bullying by her boss, Iowa dentist, James Knight. Nelson had worked for him for 10 years and was his ‘best dental assistant’. When Knight turned 50, he told her he found her “irresistibly attractive” and he would make rude and inappropriate comments about if Nelson saw a bulge in his pants it was because her clothing was too revealing. Knight told his pastor and he suggested he fire Nelson. On Jan 4, 2010 Nelson was fired from her job. She tried to sue, not on sexual harassment, but for gender discrimination. On December 21, 2012, the Supreme Court sided with Knight. According to the court, “A man in an uncertain marriage eager to have an affair and who immaturely lacks self-control can jeopardize his female employee’ job security and psychological safety without risk.” Since Iowa is a “right-to-work’ state, when they fire or terminate someone they do not need a cause.
A California County Grand Jury confirmed workplace bullying following multiple employee complaints. Seven workers had sworn testimony’s about abuses in the Riverside County HR department. Mostly problems that were identified in the program tasked with hiring temp workers and medical temps (TAP/MAP). Employees were supposed to have formal job training and written policies and procedures given to them annually per the 2005 audit report. As of 2012, no training has been conducted. When asked why training had not been conducted HR said it was “not a high priority.” Since the county does not have a workplace bullying policy it is difficult to bring anything up to the managers, especially since they were the ones doing most of the bullying. HR Management’s disciplinary letters to employees were considered “unduly negative, condescending, and accusatory.” The report stated that HR management knew about the bullying and one supervisor’s cruelty actually violated California Labor Laws by denying a worker time off to attend her daughter’s honor roll award at school. The court finally found that the HR managers were not required to attend management training since the courses are provided by HR themselves. Bullying seems to be done by leaders who do not know how to properly manage others, or the abuse is a “cover-up for incompetence”. In the end the key recommendations that were brought up were; the board of supervisors needs to create an anti-bullying policy and apply the policies and rules consistently to all employees.
Workplace bullying and violence awareness is the biggest issue right now. Since bullying in general is not illegal in the U.S. unless it involves harassment based on race, color, gender, religion, national origin, sex, age (40+), disability, etc. There are things you can do about bullying. If you are an employee being bullied, you need to regain control by being able to recognize when you are being bullied. You need to realize that you are NOT the source of the problem and finally recognize that the bully is about control and controlling you, it has nothing to do with you. Action can be taken by keeping a journal or log with details of the incident, such as dates, times, what was said or done and who was present. If possible procure copies of harassing/bullying paper trails; hold onto the copies of documents that contradict the bully’s accusations such as time sheets, audit reports, etc. When you are taking action in the bullying incident you need to expect that the bully will deny and perhaps misconstrue your accusations. Having a witness with you during any meeting with the bully and report the behavior to the appropriate person. Coming from the military, our definition of ‘workplace bullying’ is hazing or harassment. The SecNav Instruction 1610.2A (Department of the Navy (DON) Policy on Hazing) says the definition of hazing is defined as any conduct whereby a military member or members, regardless of service or rank, without proper authority causes another military member or members, regardless of service or rank, to suffer or be exposed to any activity which is cruel, abusive, humiliating, oppressive, demeaning, or harmful. Equal Opportunity would be another form of our ‘workplace bullying’. It’s harder to pin point legally (in the Military) if you are getting bullied or not. Most would tell you to suck it up and ‘take it like a man’ but in the recent 10 years, the Marine Corps has really put a stop to abuse and bullying. We are taught in boot camp that all Marines will treat each other with respect and we have instilled our Core Values of Honor, Courage and Commitment. “Every Marine, Sailor and Civilian Marine has an absolute right to be treated with dignity and respect.” In 2010 I had my own experience with workplace bullying. My former boss found out I was pregnant and really degraded me and bullied me. Causing stress and anxiety for me and I was worried about coming to work every day. Thankfully he ended up getting stationed in South Carolina a few months after I found out I was pregnant. The bullying and harassment and sometime violence happens a lot in the military and due to the situation, not much can be done about it. It can be brought up to a higher ranking service member and administrative action can be taken but the process is long and tedious just like in the civilian world. In conclusion, clear, and uniform legal guidelines should be developed and widely distributed to inform employers how they can strengthen violence-prevention measures without existing law, without infringing on privacy, defamation laws, or other employee rights. Relevant laws and liability issues should be reviewed to see if there are ways to improve employee safety without jeopardizing individual rights. Successful health care organizations promote professionalism, address proper work behaviors quickly and have annual training. They also develop strong policies that clearly define issues and provide guidelines for action to address disruptive behaviors among healthcare providers and employees. “All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a sing word; freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, and hope” – Sir Winston Churchill.
Works Cited
Iowa dentist lucted for assistant, fired her, state Supreme Court backs him. (2013, January 13). Retrieved from Workplace Bullying Institute: http://www.workplacebullying.org/2013/01/02/james-knight/#more-11176
Amos, J. F. (2012). Commandant 's Policy Statement on Equal Opportunity. Washington, D.C.: United States Marine Corps.
Hananel, S. (2013, April 16). Workplace Bulling Emerging as Major Employment Liability Battleground. Retrieved from Insurance Journal: http://insurancejournal.com/news/national/2013/03/04/283420.htm
Lutgen-Sandvik, P. (2007, February). How Employees Fight Back Against Workplace Bullying. Retrieved from Communication Currents: http://www.natcom.org/CommCurrentsArticle.aspx?id=839
Namie, G., & Namie, R. (2009). The Bully at Work; Second Edition. Naperville: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Report #87-2-2011. (2011, April). Workplace Bullying and Disruptive Behavior. What Everyone Needs to Know. Olympia, Washington, United States of America: Safety & Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP)Program.
Riverside County HR Department. (2012, July 19). Another County Grand Jury Discovers Workplace Bullying. Retrieved from Workplace Bullying Institute: http://www.workplacebullying.org/2012/07/19/riverside/
Workplace Bullying Institute. (2013, April 10). Early Signs of Bullying. Retrieved from Workplace Bulling Institute: http://www.workplacebullying.org/individuals/problems/early-signs/
Workplace Bullying Institute. (2013, April 10). Results of the 2010 and 2007 WBI U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey. Retrieved from Workplace Bullying: http://workplacebullying.org/wbiresearch/2010-wbi-national-survey/