Bullying, Avoidance Behavior and Conflicts at Work
The purpose of this essay is to examine how the incidence of bullying in the workplace can have a negative impact on conflict resolution issues due to avoidance reactions by the victims.
The theory background is based on a research conducted by Djurkovic, McCormack, & Casimir (2005), which related workplace bullying and victims' reactions, divided in three possible categories: assertiveness, avoidance, and seeking formal help. According to the results of this research, the avoidance reaction was the most common revealed (p. 451). Also Ayoko, Callan & Härtel (2003) related bullying and conflict events in the workplace as well as interpersonal relationship problems, their intensity, frequency and duration in the organizational environment. The outcomes of this research were also analyzed by showing that bullying can promote counterproductive behaviors as consequence of “frustration, aggression and humiliation” (p. 285). Another study that supports that idea was written by Vega & Comer (2005) which suggests that “most frequently victims of bullying are unassertive, conflict avoidant, and make little effort to be part of the group” (p. 106).
The essay is divided in 3 steps. In the step 1, there is an explanation about the definition of workplace bullying. Then in the step 2, one can find a brief description of the consequences and the impacts that this practice promotes within the organizations. Finally, the step 3 explore the research which connects theory with experimentation, based by the proposal that the avoidance of conflict events have a close relationship with bullying behaviors in the workplace.
At this point, the essay exposes a different perspective of the issue which s...
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...xt, it is mandatory to promote an organizational culture of respect in the workplace through a bullying policy in order to avoid the idea that “it might be interpreted that the organization accepts it” (Salin, 2003, p. 13).
Conclusion
Workplace bullying is a reality within the organizations and may cause relationship conflicts. As a result of that, avoidance behavior of the victims is a common problem that impacts also in the productivity of the firm. In order to prevent the occurrence of bullying, it is mandatory for the human resources managers to cultivate a policy based in principles such as respect and politeness among the employees. Furthermore, it is suggested that other researches focus on the role of the organizational communication and extra activities, as gym, yoga, and others to help to combat the incidence of bullying in the workplace in a holistic way.
‘Department for education advice preventing and tackling bullying (2013) ‘, advices that all the educational settings must prevent and respond to bullying.
Workplace bullying is defined as any as any type of repetitive abuse in which the victim of the bullying behaviour suffers verbal abuse, threats, humiliating or intimidating behaviours, or behaviours that interfere with his or her job performance and are meant to place at risk the health and safety of the victim (Murray, 2009). Bullying can take many forms, some blatant, others more subtle. Researchers ha...
Workplace bullying is an issue at my current place of employment. It pertains specifically to my experiences and observations of a staff member who feels the need to demoralize and abuse her co-workers and patients. Her harsh mannerisms, including aggressiveness and manipulation had a negative impact on many staff
Downplaying bullying, saying things like “He was just joking around”, and “Don’t take things so seriously” can have serious repercussions. Some people are more fragile than others and react to this type of treatment with anger or violence. On the other hand, there are managers who rule with an iron hand and sometimes this pressure can cause an employee to crack.
This is a summary of a journal article titled “Workplace Bullies: Why they are successful and what can be done about it?” published in the Organizational Development Journal. The authors of the article are Mr. Karl Olive, and Dr. Joseph Cangemi, (Karl, and Joseph). Karl and Joseph examined the aspect of workplace bullying that has currently reached an all-time high. Randall (1997) defines workplace bullying as “aggressive behaviors that are intended to inflict psychological angst or even physical harm to others in the workplace.”(Randall, P. 1997). The question answered in this article is why do
Seagriff, B. L. (2010). Keep Your Lunch Money: Alleviating Workplace Bullying with Mediation. Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, 25(2), 575-602. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Database (AN: 51613327)
Some researchers have postulated that in order to help alleviate the issues surrounding bullying, it would be ideal to target those indirectly involved. In other words, friends or classmates who may witness any form of bullying should be encouraged to intervene, specifically, these “bystanders” should “understand that saying something about what [they] see isn’t always tattling” (Cloud, 2012). In an article written by, Slide and Johnson (2014) an ideal anti-bullying policy is one which id personalized, such that it includes what the children and young people of the school feel is bullying behavior, and also emphasizes that it is the responsibility of everyone “the whole school community” to report any instance of bullying to an appropriate adult or educator (Slide and Johnson,
Workplace bullying is a widespread issue in which people need to be educated on in order to put an end to it. Its causes are complex and multi-faceted and yet preventable. Workplace bullying puts unnecessary strain on the employees It is the employer and organizations responsibility to provide a bully free environment for their employees. Employees should have the right to feel safe in their work environment and be free from workplace bullying. Employers need to be held accountable and have a plan in place to protect the employees from this type of violence. Unfortunately that is not always the case, in some instances the employer is the one doing the bullying. Workplace bullying carries many definitions in which will be discussed in greater detail further within this paper. To better understand and help prevent workplace bullying one must have a clear understanding of the causes as well as what can be done to both stop and prevent bullying. This paper is intended to provide a broad array of information in order to provoke more interest into this serious issue.
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.
In the analysis, the essential problem of the bullying behavior cycle in today’s society is the leaders of irresponsible power. The companies number one employment policy is to respect one another dignity and pride, yet many bosses are the first and main ones to neglect it in supervising the employees. They are also the primary influences of the bullying behavior who favor workers they can identify themselves with. Who would not want to be favored by their boss and have a sense of job security? Where are the Chief Executive Officers (CEO’s) in all this mess? However, since employees are awarded for the bullying behavior, they feel a sense of righteousness and their children model the mentality. No wonder the school’s bullies are furious when they are punished for their behavior.
...of rule-setting against bullying should be implemented not only on an individual level, but on a classroom and school-level as well. "The school," says Dan Olweus, "has a responsibility to stop bullying behavior and create a safe learning environment for all students." He suggests a curriculum that constantly monitors abusive behavior, promotes kindness, acceptance of differences and educates teachers, school staff, parents and children alike about bullying and response strategies.
A bully will never cease from intimidating others; he or she enters the work place and continue to terrorize colleagues with his or her disruptive and hurtful behavior. Almost everyone has succumbed to bullying in his or her life, whether in the role as an innocent target, horrible aggressor, or tacit bystander. Thus, recently social media seems to express utter disdain with bullies terrifying innocuous classmates in schools, but many organizations overlook workplace bullying and underestimate its power since it is not a punishable offense. Consequently, almost 14 million American adults succumb to bullying daily, and millions more experience the mortifying consequences of witnessing the maltreatment (Namie 2011). Therefore, this brief research
behaviour in bullying situations. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 28(3), 246-258. Retrieved from Education Research Complete.
In spite of the specific behavior, bullying can bring a very bad effect on workplace. It can lower employee’s morale and reduce the productivity because of absenteeism. (2014, Mar 15) Form the study by Korkmaz and Cemaloglu (2010), they indicates that absenteeism can be traced to bullying. Form the other study, the study of working bullying and sickness absence in hospital staff by Kivimaki, Elovainio & Vahtera (2000) which base on 647male and 4981 female hospital emoloyees, it also show that victims of bullying have 1.2 times higher sickness absence that the rest of the stuff, which mean workplace bulling relates to the increase in absenteeism. From the study by Devonish (2014), he collected the self-reported absence data from survey...
What is workplace bullying? According to the Workplace Bullying Institute “ 35 per cent of the U.S workforce repor...