MANAGEMENT BULLIES

Management Bullies

Abstract

Workplace bullying is a problem and is an important organizational and social concern. This study examined workplace bullying and its effect on job satisfaction and productivity. The research showed how bullying behavior affects a target's ability to perform their jobs, which can impact the morale of employees and the financial performances of an organization. Workplace bullying is difficult to identify and contain because the harassment usually takes place covertly, many times out of sight of supervisors and coworkers. The central findings of this study (a) showed the frequency of workplace bullying, (b) examined the specific types of mistreatment and negative acts experienced by targets, (c) determined physical and mental stress associated with bullying, and (d) revealed a relationship between workplace bullying and its effect on job satisfaction and productivity. The data in this study found that 75% of participants reported witnessing mistreatment of coworkers sometime throughout their careers, 47% have been bullied during their career, and 27% admitted to being a target of a bully in the last 12 months. This study also examined the most frequent negative acts by workplace bullies as reported by the participants. Although the sample is limited, findings suggest that employees perceive their organizational environment to be filled with abusive bosses, coworkers and negative acts that should be cause for concern. This study not only examined the effects of a toxic work environment; the study is also one of the first studies to research the positive effects of bullying and given the criteria for bullying (intentionally malicious, persistent and consistent, and meant to gain control), asked if a participant might recognize bullying traits in themselves.

Table of Contents

Abstractii

Introduction5

Background study6

Problem Statement7

Hypothesis7

Research questions7

Literature Review8

Overall view8

What is bullying?9

Bullying and harassment - Risk factors9

Importance of justice10

Understanding the context of workplace health management as it relates to workplace bullying11

Effect of work place bulling on employees12

Key risk factors influencing culture14

Organisation14

Processes15

People16

Other16

Work Cover's actions to address bullying and harassment allegations16

Internal actions taken to address bullying and harassment16

Previous and current bullying and harassment investigations17

Current and planned actions to address culture at Work Cover17

Current and planned actions to address culture at Work Cover19

Methodology21

Sample21

Desired Outcomes21

Approach - Survey22

Employee engagement survey22

Interviews24

Analysis of transcripts and coding of interview data25

Survey measures26

Culture Survey of Employees27

Respectful Behaviour Survey27

Reliability27

Validity28

Discussion and analysis30

Health consequences30

Perceptions of organizational justice30

Career consequences32

Conclusions and Recommendations33

Future Research34

Appendix39

Management Bullies: The effect on employees

Introduction

Despite more than a decade of research that has led to better intervention through risk assessment, prevention and improved management, workplace bullying continues to be an occupational health and safety problem in many organizations. The research is unanimous in reporting the devastating health effects workplace bullying has on targets and bystanders and the negative financial implications for organizations. However, research on workplace bullying to date has relied on self-reports from victims and bystanders, and ignored the contributions of other stakeholders such as the alleged perpetrator. This has been identified as a significant gap in bullying research. Most workplace bullying research has relied on standardized self-administered questionnaires and large population samples. However, a number of researchers have argued the ...