Bullying: Culture Change Required
Posted by
Ricki Sharpe on
May 30, 2007
Filed Under
Work Behaviour
No matter how hard you try to meet demands at work, your boss’s feedback becomes increasingly hostile and abusive. Project requirements change after you have completed the allocated task. Your boss resents you asking for clarification, tells you that you are unskilled and ignorant, threatens to fire you and undermines your reputation with co-workers and upper management. You feel isolated and scared. At night, you have difficulty sleeping, and you wake up with a headache. You do not know it, but your blood pressure has skyrocketed.
Is this type of situation familiar? Perhaps not, but if you believe you have never been the casualty of bullying, go back to your school days. The bully has left the schoolyard and moved to the workstation next door, except that now no schoolyard monitor exists to save you. As bullying is so common, many people do not realise its harmful effects. Yelling and verbal abuse may appear as tough, if unpleasant, management. Micro managing may appear to others as an employee failing to meet expectations. Ostracism may seem like personality conflict.
Sometimes the behaviour can be subtle such as withholding information necessary to complete work assignments, name-calling and spreading rumours. Such maltreatment can occur between supervisor and subordinate or among co-workers. Targets of bullying may even start to believe they are somehow at fault. Bystanders often dismiss the behaviour or do not want, or dare, to get involved. In workplaces that allow bullying behaviour to go on, management is unlikely to intervene. Apprentice initiations are acceptable in many industries. Indeed, apprentices are twice more likely to be bullied at work than any other worker. Often, management tells employees to work it out for themselves. Targets may be encouraged to think that the bullying is all ‘in your head’.
Health Effects
Even when the effects are not that extreme, researchers agree that bullying is harmful to the health and well-being of victims, organisations and society. According to a 2003 World Health Organization (WHO) publication on psychological harassment at work, related psychological symptoms can include depression, anxiety and panic attacks, irritability, apathy, hyper-arousal, insecurity and intrusive thoughts.
The way you limit bullying behaviour is not by developing an exhaustive list of things you cannot do, but by taking a more positive approach, saying ‘This is the way we treat other people here’.
Bullying not only affects the mind; but it can also harm the body. High blood pressure, palpitations, cardiovascular disease, migraines, fatigue, muscle pain and ulcers are just some of the health effects that WHO has linked to bullying. In extreme cases, often involving long-time bullying, exclusion and systematic devaluation, as many as 75 percent of those bullied show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
What’s the Fuss About?
So, why is bullying increasingly being placed under the microscope? Apart from researchers needing to justify their positions and human resource professionals adopting the latest fad, it is mainly about money. Victims are becoming more litigious. Workers are no longer willing to grin and suffer abuse. High profile cases are hitting the headlines and subsequent legal actions are resulting in million dollar payouts. Employers are more sensitive to the costs of increased absenteeism, staff turnover, low morale and reduced productivity. Spiralling insurance premiums and the rising cost of replacing talent due to poor management practices are beginning to hurt.
What’s the Answer?
Bullying has been likened to sexual or racial harassment. Unlike these forms of harassment, however, the law in many countries does not prohibit general bullying. Norway and Canada are exceptions. In Australia, the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 does not specifically outlaw bullying, but merely states that all organisations have a duty of care to provide a safe workplace without risks to health and well-being. Many Australian companies are beginning to introduce policies in the absence of specific laws. But, just how effective a deterrent are anti-bullying policies? Many workers in the field maintain that policies without education, training and culture change are not enough.
A Multi-Faceted Solution Begins at the Top
It is a truism to say that any change ‘begins at the top’. However, without buy-in from management, most policies and training programmes soon flounder. Unless management is prepared to ‘bite the bullet’ and acknowledge bullying as a real concern, then bullying solutions will go the same way as many mission and value statements have gone - into the bottom drawer. It is not just the existence of a policy that is important, but the belief that the organisation will enact it.
Help for the Victim
It is not by mistake that researchers refer to bullying victims as ‘targets’. They are usually the most vulnerable of the work force and stand out with their ‘kick me’ signs. Much can be done to identify likely targets at recruitment and to provide support in the form of coaching, social skills and assertiveness training.
Coaching Skills for Managers
Managers need help in identifying the bullied and the bullies. Assess Systems has developed a set of coaching competencies together with a training module to help managers identify targets and actors. Besides the bullying aspect, it has an emotional intelligence component to helping managers become more aware of themselves and sensitive to the needs of their subordinates
Culture Change Across the Organisation
The prime way to limit bullying behaviour is not by developing an exhaustive list of things you cannot do, but by taking a more positive approach, saying ‘This is the way we treat other people here’. By creating a culture of trust and respect in an organisation, including creating a work environment where intimidation is not tolerated and formalising this through core values and employment guidelines much can be done to minimise, if not eliminate bullying.
Further reading
Gault, D. (2005). Creating respectful, violence-free, productive workplaces: A community-level response to workplace violence. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 4, 119-138.
Keashly, L., & Jagatic, K. (2003). By any other name: American perspectives on workplace bullying. In S. Einarsen, H. Hoel, D. Zapf, & C.L. Cooper (Eds.), Bullying and emotional abuse in the workplace: International perspectives in research and practice (pp. 31-61). London: Taylor Francis.
Neuman, J.H., & Baron, R.A. (2005). Aggression in the workplace: A social psychological perspective. In S. Fox & P.E. Spector (Eds.), Counterproductive workplace behavior: Investigations of actors and targets (pp. 13-40). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Neuman, J.H., & Keashly, L. (2005, August). Reducing aggression and bullying: An intervention project in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In J. Raver (Chair), Workplace bullying: International perspectives on moving from research to practice. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Academy of Management, Honolulu, HI.
Preventing Workplace Bullying: A Guide for Employers and Employees
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2 Responses to “Bullying: Culture Change Required”
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Dear Sir/Madam
I was appalled to read that, in Australia, the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 does not specifically (( outlaw)) work-place bullying!!
I understand this article is from the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 - however,it is now 2008 - just curious to know - has the ‘Act’ been updated since then? Is ‘Work-place bullying now prohibited??
justjules :0
I am the latest ‘target’ of workplace bullying. I work for the government which has a code of conduct however, when the bully is upper management and has sytematically defamed me to his colleagues for over 12 months, I have no chance in having natural justice. I have witnessed this manager systematically bully at least 10 other staff which has resulted in a toxic culture based on fear.Unfortunately, even though I will attempt to have my say, I have no faith that I will be given a fair trial. It’s all about power and influence and he has planned and plotted his attack whilst I ignored my gut feeling believing that no adult could be so callous and cruel. I was wrong. So very wrong.