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Workplace bullying:

Workplace bullying:. What we know and what we can do about it Dr Paul Naylor p.b.naylor@sheffield.ac.uk School of Health & Related Research ( ScHARR ), University of Sheffield With grateful thanks to Dr Iain Coyne iain.coyne@nottingham.ac.uk

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Workplace bullying:

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  1. Workplace bullying: What we know and what we can do about it Dr Paul Naylor p.b.naylor@sheffield.ac.uk School of Health & Related Research (ScHARR), University of Sheffield With grateful thanks to Dr Iain Coyne iain.coyne@nottingham.ac.uk Institute of Work, Health & Organisations (I-WHO), University of Nottingham

  2. Bullying - terms Bullying UK, some other European countries, Australia, New Zealand, & increasingly the US Mobbing Scandinavia Harassment US, Canada Victimisation US, Canada

  3. Workplace bullying is … threatening professional status (e.g., belittling, humiliation, accusation regarding lack of effort) threatening personal standing (e.g., name-calling, insults, intimidation, ageism/sexism/racism) isolation (e.g., preventing access to opportunities, physical/social isolation, withholding information)

  4. WP bullying is (continued) … • overwork (e.g., undue pressure, impossible deadlines, unnecessary • disruption) • destabilization (e.g., failure to give credit when due, meaningless tasks, • removal of responsibility, repeated reminders of blunders, setting-up to fail)

  5. Media: • Verbally (face-to-face, ‘phone) • In writing: • hard-copy (e.g., memo) • electronically – cyber-bullying (e.g., e-mail, text message)

  6. Bullying: often summed-up as … the persistent abuse of power … BUT can one-off events be considered bullying? … ALSO, what is the distinction between ‘strong management’ & ‘bullying’?

  7. How common is ‘traditional’ bullying? Surveys: • 53% of 1137 part-time students (Rayner, 1997) • 38% of 1100 workers (Quine, 1999) • 10.6% over past 6 months, 1.4% weekly/daily of 5288 workers (Hoel et al, 2001) • 37% of 594 workers given definition (Quine, 2004) • 39% of 512 managers (CMI, 2005)

  8. How common is cyber-bullying? Study 1 9% of 649 UK employees reported receiving abusive e- mail (Baruch, 2005) Study 2 3% of over 1400 online surveyed teachers reported bullying on the Internet 6% by e-mail 2.5% by mobile phone texts 6% by mobile (& other) phone calls (National Association of Schoolmasters & Union of Women Teachers, 2008) Study 3 17% of 379 teachers reported bullying by mobile phone, e-mail or the Internet by managers, co-workers, pupils (Association of Teachers & Lecturers, 2007)

  9. Study of 288 fire-fighters in 36 teams (Coyne et al, 2004): • Self-& peer-reported levels of victimisation & bullying • Each rank ordered 3 team members most preferred working with & self-reported perceptions of team effectiveness • Results: 1. People preferred working with ‘victims’ 2. Bullies were least preferred work mates 3. Bully/targets most isolated group 4. Group cohesion higher but success perceived lower in teams with high levels of victimisation

  10. But measurement problems: • how are victims & non-victims classed? • how is bullying defined, & who by? • claims usually based on uncorroborated self-report (Cowie, Naylor, Rivers, • Smith, & Pereira, 2002) • So, Coyne, Chong, Seigne, & Randall (2003) found: • victims ranged from 4-40% • bullies from 3-19% • depending on whether by self-report, peer-report or both!

  11. What we know about victims … • low in independence, extraversion & mental stability (Coyne et al, 2000) • lose confidence, physically ill, unable to cope (Edelmann & Woodall, 1997) • show high anxiety, depression, job-related stress (Quine, 1999) & PTSD symptoms (e.g., Matthiesen & Einarsen, 2004; Tehrani, 2004) • take sick leave (ATL, 2007) • cyber-bullying may be psychologically more harmful than traditional bullying (Slonje & Smith, 2008) • but know little about their help seeking behaviour (Slonje & Smith, 2008)

  12. What we know about bullies … • Rationale: protect self-esteem - inflated or unstable view of self • Characteristics: violent (Leather et al., 1990), tyrannical (Ashforth, 1994), hostile (Baron & Neuman, 1996), aggressive (Seigne et al., in press), lack emotional/self-control & awareness of impact • Conversely, highly skilled social manipulators (Sutton) • Micro-political behaviour in group/organisation encourages competitiveness, assertiveness, dominance • Been suggested that known bullies appointed to ‘get the job done’

  13. Effects on the organisation • Lower productivity & staff morale (Coyne et al, 2004) • Absenteeism: • Hoel & Cooper (2000) – victims took 7 days more sick leave on average than others • Quine (2001) – 8% taken time-off • Turnover: • Rayner (1997) – 1 in 4 left job due to bullying • Coyne also notes: - risks of litigation & industrial action - costs of finding & training replacement staff

  14. Work climate Human interaction& conditions in organisations Causes of workplace bullying? Change(redundancy/position) Work organisation(Role conflict, strained & stressful, lack of autonomy) Culture & Climate Poor Leadership Conflict is inevitable. Can be win-win but win-lose may lead to bullying culture

  15. What can we do about it?

  16. Thanks Any questions? Contact: p.b.naylor@sheffield.ac.uk

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