Workplace Bullying: Costly and Preventable

Abstract

Workplace bullying is a pervasive practice by malicious individuals who seek power, control, domination, and subjugation. In businesses or schools, such bullying is an inefficient way of working that is both costly and preventable. Senior management and executives are ultimately responsible for creating and sustaining bully free workplaces. Workplace bullies can be stopped if employees and employers work together to establish and enforce appropriate workplace policies and practices. This article presents information about workplace bullying, including its prevalence, targeted individuals, bullying behaviors, employer practices, and steps to prevent bullying. In the end, leadership and an environment of respect provide the ultimate formula for stopping workplace bullying. Bullying occurs between and among people in all venues - in the home, community, and workplace. It is a pervasive, targeted, and planned effort that can be overtly obvious or can fly under the radar and is conducted by practiced and malicious individuals who seek power, control, domination, and subjugation. The impacts of such actions - in terms of finances, emotions, health, morale, and overall productivity - are destructive, and the ramifications are limitless (Mattice, 2009), Because no one is immune from the potential of being subjected to bullying in the workplace, this topic merits further review and analysis (Van Dusen, 2008). To combat workplace bullying, often referred to as psychological harassment or violence (Workplace Bullying Institute [WBI], 2007), employers must have a full range of policies in place and means available to them to create and maintain a healthy workplace culture and climate. Although they are not generally for-profit endeavors, schools and school systems are purposeful businesses that share the same concerns and have the same responsibility to ensure that each employee works in a respectful environment and is not subjected to workplace bullies. Workplace Bullying According to the Workforce Bullying Institute (WBI), workplace bullying is the repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators that takes one or more of the following forms: verbal abuse; offensive conduct/behaviors (including nonverbal) which are threatening, humiliating, or intimidating; and work interference - sabotage - which prevents work from getting done, (Definition of Workplace Bullying, para, 1) Bullies seek to induce harm, jeopardize one's career and job, and destroy interpersonal relationships. The behaviors of bullies harm people and ravage profits. Prevalence of Workplace Bullying Thirty-seven percent of U,S, workforce members report being bullied at work; this amounts to an estimated 54 million Americans, which translates to nearly the entire population of the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah (Namie, 2007), These statistics are based on the August 2007 responses of 7,740 participants in the online WBI-Zogby U,S, Workplace Bullying Survey; the respondents comprised a sample representative of all American adults. The WBI-Zogby survey is the largest scientific study of bullying in the United States, Other key and depressing findings of the 2007 study included the following: * Most bullies are bosses (72%); * 60% of bullies are men; * 57% of targets are women; * Bullying is four times more prevalent than illegal forms of harassment; * 62% of employers ignore or worsen the problem; * 45% of targets suffer stress-related health problems; * 40% of bullied individuals never tell their employers; and * only 3% of bullied people file lawsuits, (WBI, Key Findings, para, 2) These workplace bullying activities resulted in the targets reporting stress-related health problems such as debilitating anxiety, panic attacks, clinical depression, and even posttraumatic stress (WBI). …