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 ...