What is workplace bullying?

Bullying is a global vice that has plagued the society for quite some time. On most cases, bullying is only thought to be happening in schools. This is false since bullying is often experienced at workplaces (Carter et al., 2013). A workplace is supposed to be safe so that the employees can be productive. Bullying however does not provide this safe environment rather a very hostile surrounding and it is known to drive majority of the workers to the wall (Einarsen, Skogstad, Rørvik, Lande, & Nielsen, 2016). According to research, bullying at the workplace has been ranked highest as the leading challenge that organizations face. This then leads to the question, what is workplace bullying?

Workplace bullying can be defined as the aspect or behavior where some of the employees use extrajudicial force or behavior to intimidate their counterparts. This workplace bullying can be expressed in different forms that include the use of physical force, verbal, sexual or emotional bullying and this usually depends with the context (Nielsen, Nielsen, Notelaers, & Einarsen, 2015). The Australian Law is against the workplace bullying. The law in fact states that it is a crime to treat anyone less favorably on the basis of their gender, sexual orientation, race, disability or their age(Salin, 2014). The law states that bullying might be in the form of yelling or the use of offensive language, intimidation, suppressing of ideas and the constant criticism of an individual.

There are different causes of workplace bullying. Bullying occurs due to the negative traits possessed by the perpetrators of the said vice. Most of these bullies are jealous of their counterpart’s abilities and so they vent their frustrations through bullying them in return (Spence Laschinger & Nosko, 2013). The bully often works hard to frustrate the co-worker so that their efforts or achievements does not surpass theirs. Instead of the bully working hard to achieve the same feat and create a healthy competition, they chose to bully them. Jealousy of the bullies is therefore the reason why there is bullying at the work places.

There are different strategies that are recommended to reduce workplace bullying .This will however be explained in the subsequent section. In conclusion, workplace bullying is the intimidation of coworkers using physical, verbal or emotional aspects. It is often caused by the negative traits of the bully such as jealous (Woodrow & Guest, 2013). The Australian law is against workplace bullying .Any perpetrators of bullying should be identified and appropriate actions taken against them .This is because bullying has been known to reduce the productivity of different employees.

Bullying has been associated with sever psychosocial impacts to the victims .It is therefore important this vice is handled and eradicated at the work places. There are different strategies that can be put to use to limit workplace bullying

Encouraging communication at the workplace. To reduce workplace bullying, there should be effective communication. Communication is the aspect of sharing information between two or more parties .Communication would therefore enable the victims of bullying share the experiences of how they were bullied to the respective departments (Tran, n.d.,). After they have shared their experiences, it will be easy to identify the perpetrators and deal with them accordingly .However, incorporating the culture of communication needs an effective leadership style. The most commonly style used is transformational leadership

Different Forms of Workplace Bullying

Building a support network can also assist in dealing with the workplace bullying. Every worker should have an established network both at home and at the workplace .It is this network that will enable workers have the confidence and be resilient and condemn bullying.

Training programs can also be used to deal with workplace bullying. The workers should attend different training programs that advocate for the rights of workers and equip the workers with the necessary skills on how to deal with bullying (Verkuil, Atasayi, & Molendijk, 2015). The workers should also be trained on the potential consequences of bullying if one is found doing the same. This would in turn instill fear among the potential bullies and the vice will reduce drastically.

Workplace bullying can be defined as the mistreatment of workers at their work of place and this eventually leads to physical or emotional harm. Workplace bullying can take the form of verbal, non-verbal, physical abuse or humiliation. It is thought that bullying only happens in schools. This is however in contrast to the real picture where workplace bullying is the greatest challenge that organizations face (Woodrow & Guest, 2013). The Australian law is against workplace bullying and if anyone is found guilty, he or she is prosecuted in the court of law. Workplace bullying reduce the productivity of workers and there should be strategies to deal with this vice.

There are different methods that can be used to deal with workplace bullying. Some of them include communication. In this case, the employees through transformational leadership, should be encouraged to communicate and share their opinions or bullying experiences. This will enable the management to identify the perpetrators of bullying and they will be dealt with accordingly.

Training programs can also be used to deal with workplace bullying. This involves regular training of the employees on the consequences of bullying and how to handle them. The training programs should be organized after certain time intervals so that the employees get updated each and every time. Another method is encouraging the employees to build a strong network. The employees should build a strong network both at home and at school. The aim of this network is to collectively assist the employees develop confidence and resilience to handle the workplace bullying.

RESPONSE TO OTHERS POSTS

In the paper, the Author started by telling us the structure of the paper. This is contrary to the expectations .In the introduction part, the author has to start by introducing the topic of interest. The structure of the paper can then come at the end of the introduction. The definition is also not captured well. The author has not clearly arranged the idea of workplace bullying in a cohesive manner. Furthermore, the author has also used the word bullying in the definition, this is not correct. The best definition according to this author would have been, workplace bullying is the harassing, offending their emotional and physical well-being at the work place(Verkuil, Atasayi, & Molendijk, 2015). This could have made more sense. There are also issues to do with sentence structures just in the first sentence of the definition. The author should therefore work on his grammar.

It is also not good to provide an in text citation at the end of the paragraph. The last line of each paragraph should be a statement that summarize the idea in the paragraph and therefore it should not be cited. The author has also not clearly quoted the laws regarding workplace bullying. The strategies used to deal with workplace bullying have been covered well and the conclusion as well.

Just from the outlook, the post of Maria Ventura looks clumsy. The author has not even used topics so that we can understand what she is talking about. The author has however introduced the topic very well. The definition is also precise and clear. In one of the statement however, the author notes that workplace bullying arise due difference in power (Verkuil, Atasayi, & Molendijk, 2015).. This means that the author is suggesting that in most cases it is the senior staffs that bully the junior staff. This is not the case, bullying can take place among people with the same rank.

About the strategies used to deal with the workplace bullying, the author has actually done a commendable job. She has talked of good leadership was my idea too especially the transformational leadership style. The author has also mentioned of raising employee awareness and this is actually correct(Woodrow & Guest, 2013). The Author however failed to provide a conclusion of the assignment and she should work on this next time .In conclusion, the over assignment was covered well just that she should consider using subtopics and provide a conclusion in future. 

References

Carter, M., Thompson, N., Crampton, P., Morrow, G., Burford, B., Gray, C., & Illing, J. (2013). Workplace bullying in the UK NHS: a questionnaire and interview study on prevalence, impact and barriers to reporting. BMJ Open, 3(6), e002628. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2013-002628

Einarsen, S., Skogstad, A., Rørvik, E., Lande, Å. B., & Nielsen, M. B. (2016). Climate for conflict management, exposure to workplace bullying and work engagement: a moderated mediation analysis. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(3), 549-570. doi:10.1080/09585192.2016.1164216

Nielsen, M. B., Nielsen, G. H., Notelaers, G., & Einarsen, S. (2015). Workplace Bullying and Suicidal Ideation: A 3-Wave Longitudinal Norwegian Study. American Journal of Public Health, 105(11), e23-e28. doi:10.2105/ajph.2015.302855

Salin, D. (2014). Risk factors of workplace bullying for men and women: The role of the psychosocial and physical work environment. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 56(1), 69-77. doi:10.1111/sjop.12169

Spence Laschinger, H. K., & Nosko, A. (2013). Exposure to workplace bullying and post-traumatic stress disorder symptomology: the role of protective psychological resources. Journal of Nursing Management, 23(2), 252-262. doi:10.1111/jonm.12122

Tran, B. (n.d.). Impact of Organizational Trauma on Workplace Behavior and Performance. Impact of Organizational Trauma on Workplace Behavior and Performance, 221-245. doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-2021-4.ch009

Verkuil, B., Atasayi, S., & Molendijk, M. L. (2015). Workplace Bullying and Mental Health: A Meta-Analysis on Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Data. PLOS ONE, 10(8), e0135225. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0135225

Woodrow, C., & Guest, D. E. (2013). When good HR gets bad results: exploring the challenge of HR implementation in the case of workplace bullying. Human Resource Management Journal, 24(1), 38-56. doi:10.1111/1748-8583.12021