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Bullying in the Workplace
By Matt Doll, Ph.D
Workplace bullying is not a new phenomenon. It is, however, one that has only recently been the focus of scientific study. In 1996, the seminal article for workplace bullying was written by Heinz Leymann. While Europe is ahead of the U.S. in dealing directly with this problem, its impact on workers and businesses in the US is significant, needlessly touching many lives directly and indirectly. In fact, according to a national survey by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (2000), 33% of workers have been verbally abused at work. What is It? C. Rayner believes the key is to see bullying as a kind of human rights issue. “It’s about dignity at work,” says Rayner. “We need to say that we’re going to treat everyone decently. Period.” However, what does “everyone” consider “decently”? Though definitions vary, L. Keashly, PhD suggests that Bullying Behaviors are:
What it is Not Incivility or rudeness is not bullying, because it rarely triggers stress in recipients. While the behavior may be offensive and undignified, it reflects the socialization of the one doing it. It is not bullying until the bully does something to the target. While 12% of the recipients of rudeness felt compelled to leave their jobs; 82% of bullied targets had to leave their job to get it to stop (C. Pearson; Namie). Direct Impact on Business Businesses are directly affected in several ways including:
Each of the above directly affects the bottom line. For example, one study found that 40% of bullied individuals quit. This represents the preventable loss of 21.6 million workers (based on prevalence rates found for bullying in the U.S., reported by the Bullying Institute). Considering that most of the victims continued to be bullied for extended periods of time, these figures do not reflect “thin-skinned” or inferior workers. Bad Health for Organizations Bullied employees may become less willing or able to work as hard or as efficiently. Many bullied employees end up quitting or are fired. In addition, employees who witness bullying sometimes experience similar health or stress problems or loss of faith in the company. When employees remain in bullying situations, their increasing levels of anger & distress can spur disability. Dr. Einarsen’s research suggests that bullying-related stress is a leading cause of employee absence and is more detrimental to health than overwork, long hours or even being unemployed. Anxiety & cardiovascular disease are driving increased health-care costs—again, hurting employers’ bottom lines needlessly. Bully Culture According to Dr. Ferris’s article entitled “Toughen up,” published in the British Journal of Guidance and Counseling (2004), some companies normalize bullying by indicating that it is acceptable—either by implicitly allowing managers to join in the bullying or by failing to intervene. Some companies mislabel bullying as personality conflicts, holding both parties responsible, causing the bullied worker to endure unfair scrutiny. Most workplace cultures fail to grasp bullying’s psychological and physical effects. In addition, the length of the latency period between bullying and corrective response plays a key role in how much harm both the organization and the victim experience. Reasons Organizations Should Care Avoiding lawsuits, decreasing employee sick-day use, and reducing turnover should be reasons enough for organizations to care about this issue. “We are seeing a trend where there is a shortage of qualified professionals,” says Dr. Kelloway. “Companies are competing for talent, and people recognize they can go elsewhere instead of tolerating behavior they may have tolerated in the past.” What Individuals Can Do Research has learned a few common themes in the “Targets” success in stopping the bullying. According to Davenport, Schwartz and Elliot, the bullying was stopped when the targets did the following:
Targets also sought support and documented in detail:
What Employers Can Do
References The Bully at Work by Dr. Namie (2000) For Additional Help With Bullying in the Workplace contact Dr. Matthew Doll, Ph.D. at: mdoll@dollandassociates.com Upcoming Events Attention: All Summer think marriage classes FREE! Go to www.thinkmarriage.org for more information Family Wellness: Couples Edition |
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