Addressing Workplace Bullying: A Comprehensive Approach

Worth & Squelch (2015) define workplace bullying as, “the situation in which a person persistently is on the receiving end of negative actions from one or several others in a situation where the person exposed to the negative treatment has difficulties defending himself or herself against these actions” (p. 1017). Although we all may face many challenges in our lives every day; no one should ever have to experience this type of behavior from another employee. Workplace bullying is a very serious matter and should not be taken lightly, so organizations need to be able to recognize all forms of bullying, train employees on the consequences against workplace bullying, and have effective policies in place that will help prevent this type of behavior.

“It is Tuesday morning and Mary is sitting at her desk, when she overhears a co-worker talking about her to other employees. This situation bothered Mary because the person that was talking about her she called a friend. Mary let the matter go however, later that day returning to her disk from lunch she notices in big bold letters “MARY IS A LOSER”. Co-workers begun to laugh a few even bumped into her well walking past. Just before it was time to go home she heard the same co-worker from earlier lie and tell other co-workers Mary would talk about them behind their

There are people in today’s society that have this attitude that if it does not concern them they will overlook the situation and this is not the kind of attitude we need when it comes to helping others. It is not okay to play with people’s lives, they work hard to get where they are for some to come and try to take it all away. Dzurec, Kennison, & Albataineh (2014) state, “In places of work, bullying ensues as an ongoing communication process (Einarsen et al., 2011; Zapf, 1999), typically involving bullies and their targeted victims in series of uncomfortable, primarily interpersonal encounters that extend over periods of 6 months or more (Baillien & DeWitte, 2009; Baillien, Neyens, DeWitte, & DeCuyper, 2009; Salin, 2003)” (p.282).

The next process that will help employees identify workplace bullying is training them on the consequences behind this kind of behavior. Training employees to the seriousness of bullying within the workplace will definitely open their eyes to any situation that may seem like bullying if it should arise. The training should be mandatory for all employees and quizzes should be given every day to make sure they are paying attention and fully understand it is a serious matter. Nevertheless, within, the training course employees must be notified of the consequence they face if found guilty of bullying another