This proposal is designed to educate people on workplace bullying and to propose solutions in order to bring this matter under control. Whether you are aware or not, bullying in the workplace is still a serious matter in our society. As a result, it affects the victims to many levels such as emotional, physical, and their work performance. To examine the issue, I make the use of sources from the library and my personal experiences. In the upcoming proposal, firstly, I will define the term “workplace bullying” and explain how it occurs in the workplace. Furthermore, I will explain the different types of bullying and its effects. And finally I will make some recommendations to overcome workplace bullying.
By definition, the workplace bullying is repeated acts of moral harassment resulting in a deterioration of the working conditions of the employee likely to alter one’s physical or mental health or to compromise his professional future. In others words, Daisy and Kee defined workplace bullying as: “A continuous mistreatment of one employee by another employee(s) in the workplace.” (Daisy & Kee, 2018) This continuous mistreatment, in the circumstances, humiliates, weakens or threatens the victim. There are risks to both mental health and physical.
One of the reasons is a poor level of leadership. As a leader, it is a duty to make sure that every employee is satisfied and work in a safe environment. To do so, the manager or leader should provide opportunities for growth, ensuring job satisfaction of its employees, solving efficiently conflicts in the workplace. A failure to do so gives more time to its coworkers to find a target to bully. In addition to it, we also observe that employers tend to give false promises (raise, promotions) and sometimes fail to make it happen. As a result, the victim feels exploited and is subject to be a target to its peers. In contrast, supportive leadership promotes organizational citizenship behavior, trust, and positive relations at work.
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Bullying in the workplace can occur verbally. Offensive remarks. The fact that an employee has suffered repeatedly and in humiliating terms criticism of his activity and reproach in front of his colleagues is harassing (reflections and criticism every time she did her job as it was him asked, work routinely called into question under the pretext that it was not what had been asked, reproaches without even checking the realization, constant criticism, unjustified aggression, permanent depreciation …) Name callings. This is a situation that most of the time happen when a victim suffers hurtful and humiliating remarks (inappropriate remarks about the dress, the age) repeated by a superior.
Couple months ago, I have been a witness of bullying in the workplace. One of my colleagues was calling names based on his physical characteristics “short”, “failure”. It was upsetting to see it every day. At first, it appears as a funny joke that my manager wanted to make. However, the more I was working in this company; I realized that it was a bad habit that my boss had. Did he experience something like this in the past? I had no clue but honestly, I can definitely state that my coworker was unfortunate under the circumstances. By the time I took it in consideration, he quitted the job without even noticing somebody. It was a painful experience for me because there is nothing I have done to stop it at this time.
Spreading rumors and gossiping. Privileges have been most of the reasons why my coworkers were spreading rumors in the workplace. Gossiping in the company where I used to work was vital because people were so competitive, and always wanted to upgrade their position. As a result, bullying becomes more and more intense and sometimes the harasser was trying to gain support from the group by discrediting the victim. Incivility. Most of the time, in the workplace, there is always that one person that does not like a person and intentionally tries to push the victim on the edge. It is either by being mean in front of others, ignoring the other person or throwing up a cup of coffee intentionally.
Excessive monitoring of task. The fact that an employer has repeatedly harassed someone (depreciating tasks that do not correspond to his qualification), discredited him with his co-workers make this person more subject to being bullying. On the other hand, instead of depreciating the task of the victim, the employer takes a pleasure by giving more responsibilities to the person. As a result, the victim feels pressured; I call it moral harassment.
It can also occur non-verbally Socially isolating the target. Those who are different from others are more likely to be harassed. This is particularly the case of the disabled. At my job, one of my coworker was disabled. His situation was touching, but my manager made him work for another campaign. I can tell that he did it on purpose but it has been very subtle about it. Workplace bully can be physical. Physical attack and Pushing. Most of the time, conflict that arise in the workplace can lead to physical attacks if the manager does not take control of the situation quickly.
As a result, the victim can be subject of many consequences emotionally, physically or psychologically. To better understand how this type of behavior is harmful, we can definitely address the impacts that it can cause on both parties. (the employee and the company) From the perspective of the employee A low self-esteem. The health impacts may be: psychosomatic disorders (including nervousness, headaches, and insomnia), depression, symptoms of post-traumatic stress and anxiety problems. The majority of victims are in treatment with a doctor or therapist. Concerning in the workplace, it is important to make sure that employees are healthy. It appears that higher rate of non-attendance and suicidal thoughts can be two reasons to consider.
“Mental suffering: depression, aggressiveness toward his peers, self-denigration, tension” A decreased job satisfaction (Dormann & Zapf, 1999; Einarsen & Mikkelsen, 2003) which leads to a higher desire to quit its job. From the perspective of the company. Working in the safe company is necessary. However a failure to do so can definitely affect the reputation of the company. As a result, it shows a lack of professionalism. The possibility of getting sued is not to be excluded. There can also be a possibility to face legal charges (paying fees to the victim for the damages) that can be high especially if the company did not try to solve the issue after many complaints.
After everything being said, it is needed to make recommendations to lower the risk of being bullied in the workplace. To do so, the corporation should take specific prevention measures such as providing conferences and workshops (inform staff and draw attention to bullying). The selection of the supervisors, staff in the corporation is vital. They should learn methods and techniques to manage conflicts: resolve conflicts of one positive way represents an added value for the company in general and for the employees in particular. Before any contract, it would be more significant if the employer wrote down a commitment form against bullying that the employee will sign prior to the offer.
In instance, ensuring procedures if someone is subject of this type of behavior should be a must. Concerning the victim or the people who is subject to workplace bullying, alerting managers immediately is required. Do not wait. In conclusion, bullying is a serious issue that is more and more present in the workplace. It is mandatory that we all take the initiative to address the problem around us, and to prevent further destruction to the people that we love. As someone who has been a victim of bullying in the workplace, I believe that if I had such information, I would have done better to deal with it.
