Bullying In The Workplace Essay

Bullying in the workplace has always been an issue that has not been given much importance. It is indeed a problem that should be addressed by the concerned personnel because it can result in many health and safety issues, especially when nurses are bullied at their workplace. From the beginning of times, people who are deployed at a senior post to tend to look down upon the students or new people who have just started work. Nursing is also one of the professions in which the fresh graduates or students are bullied to the extent that they feel that they would not be able to face their seniors. They start developing inferiority complex and are unable to perform their job well. When they are taunted by their seniors and preceptors about their lack of knowledge and experience, their confidence is shattered. This implies that when they are handling a case, they are not confident if they are doing the right thing or not. In this tussle, they sometimes do not even perform the task they were really good at and put the health and safety of the patient at stake.

Nurse bullying is not limited to the new nurses being the victims. Bully behavior is a learned process and a choice. A new nurse might observe and embrace the bully behavior in hopes to fit in a little bit more (Rocker, 2008). Cliques may form on nursing floors which are the vehicles for nurse bullying. Cliques help a bully hide and gain support. It seems easier for people to join the group instead of fighting against it (Rocker, 2008). This is why workplace bullying is a growing statistic.

There are many different forms of bullying, such as physically bulling someone is when someone is hit, punched, pushed, or have their personal items stolen and any other kind of physical aggressive behaviour. Verbal bullying is when someone is called names, threatened. Social bullying is when someone is left out, deliberately ignored and has bad things spread about them and made to feel like an outsider, Psychological bullying is when someone is stalked or intimidated.

Workplace bullying not only affects the victim it can affect patient care, the nursing profession, and the nursing facility. Victims can suffer from anxiety, depression, feelings of inadequacy. Nurses are less likely to ask for assistance from other colleagues which could result in patients not receiving adequate care. Absenteeism impacts the nursing facility leading to high turnover rates and nurse burn out. Hiring and orienting new nursing graduates is an added expense to institutions therefore, when a nurse quits their job within the year it can create a financial burden on those institutions.

Unfortunately there is not only bullying in schools, there is bullying in the workplace as well. These are unacceptable behaviors that arise within a workplace situation. Bullying the workplace can take many forms and it’s not easy to always identify. The Fair Work Act 2009 made recent amendments that came into effect in January 2014 to define workplace bullying as occurring when an individual; group of individuals; repeatedly behaves unreasonably towards the worker, group of workers of which the worker is a member; and the behavior creates a risk to health and safety (Le Mire & Owens, 2014). This definition focuses on three main elements of bullying behavior, it is repeated, unreasonable, and creates a risk to health and safety. All three elements must be satisfied in order for bullying at the workplace to be found. Bullying behaviors could be things that are victimizing, humiliating, intimidating or threatening, but it is not limited to just those behaviors.

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

Australia's workplace safety laws is in need of re-examination. According to, "The race without a finishing line: legislative means for confronting bullying in the Australian workplace" (2016, p. 352) Hanley and O'Rourke disclose bullying as a "psychological hazard" in which the victims (employees) health undermines the "successful pursuit of corporate and employee objectives". Workplace bullying exists, and although underrated, Australia's organisations are at risk corroding employees self-confidence and esteem, while also costing Australian industries between A$6 billion and A$36 billion annually (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment (HoR) 2012, 10). However, justice has provided with laws settled under

Bullying among nurses has been a problem that has been around for decades. The background source, “Nurse Bullying: Stand Up and Speak Out” written by Colduvell (2017) provides a lot of explanation and statistics regarding the Nurse Bullying problem. The author Colduvell makes a great point, that Nurse Bullying has been an issue that can be track all the way back to the year 1986. This interesting point in Colduvell’s article helps to show the world that this bullying has been happening for over 32 years and yet instead of decreasing it has increased in the recent years. Another critical information used in the article is that Colduvell (2017) stated, “that approximately 60% of new nurses leave their position within six months due to some form

Regardless of how Americans feel about bullying, it is still a major problem today. It is very evident in the American workplace. According to an article by Cynthia Plonien, she explains that, “In a recent survey conducted by the American Nurses Association involving 3,765 RNs, 50% of the respondents reported that they have been bullied in some way by a peer…”. This means that in the nursing field alone, a large percentage have been bullied by fellow workers. Everyone is affected by this problem, and there must be a focus on reducing it.

Workplace bulling is malicious behavior by a person or group of people that causes others to be uncomfortable, fearful, and sometimes threatened. Ultimately, it affects the person’s ability to be productive. As stated in the article, bullying can take

Among nurses in the healthcare setting, how does administrative bullying affect morale in the workplace?

Heeman, V. (2007). Workplace Bullying: A Distinct, Interpersonal, and Communicative Phenomenon. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Communication Association.

Workplace bullying on the other hand can be defined as an act or verbal behavior that is persistent and continuous, with intent to mentally hurt or isolate a person in the workplace (Ontario Safety Association for Community & Healthcare, 2009). In most cases, bullying may involve negative physical contact or a repeated pattern of behavior that is intended to intimidate, offend, degrade or humiliate a person or group of people (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, 2015).

Pressure / unwitting bullying – working to unlikely time scales as well as providing minimal supplies to finish the given task.

On February 14th 1999, Silvia Braun, a policewoman from Bavaria/Germany did not appear in her office in Munich. Some of her colleagues found the 22-year-old woman later in her car on a service area on a highway – she had shot herself with her own rifle. Braun, an ambitious and determined woman, had no money problems, she did not suffer from any mental illness and she was not in love with someone who did not return her feelings. What was it that had made life unbearable for her? She had been being bullied for almost one year. She felt being humiliated, intimidated and sexually molested by her superior. This case shows how disastrous and dangerous bullying in the workplace can be.