Bullying in the Workplace
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.
Unfortunately, the vast
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Even worse for those affected by bullying is social isolation. Nobody talks to you, nobody will warn you if the boss comes around to check whether the employees do their work correctly and if you enter a crowded room a terrible silence cuts all conversations immediately. A colleague of yours may constantly defame you among all colleagues and spread (untrue) gossip about your private life in the company. You did not know that your children are gay and your partner has several love affairs? Now you know.
Bullies might not always be aware of the severe consequences of their actions but this cannot condone the sorrow and pain they inflict upon the victims. Bullying often evokes psychosomatic illnesses. Victims complain about headache, heart diseases, dizziness, nausea and sleep disorder. Bullying becomes the dominating part of their whole life; they cannot do anything without thinking of the horror of the next workday. Weakened as they are, victims become an even easier target for people who want to harm them. It is a vicious circle, hard to break out for those terrorized by bullying. Many of them think of committing suicide as the last way out.
There is no doubt that taking one's life is the worst possible solution. But how should you react if you become the victim of bullying?
One has to be aware that those who are bullied often cannot be blamed. In contrast to the common opinion weakness, self-consciousness and incompetence at work do not
Bullying is found in the workplace as well. Types of workplace bullying can include: threat to professional status, threat to personal standing, isolation, overwork, and destabilisation. Questionnaires were sent to 1,580 National Health Service community trust employees and 1,100 completed surveys were recorded. Out of these, 294 employees (27%) reported being destabilised and 255 (23%) reported being isolated in the workplace (Quine 230). Destabilisation in the workplace often entails giving an employee meaningless tasks or not giving them the credit for what they have done. Withholding training or special opportunities away from an employee are types of isolationism. While being destabilised and isolated are both passive acts, they are forms of bullying. Even though bullying is considered a childish act, it occurs in adulthood, and that is
Bullying can produce and maintain a poisonous work environment. Nurses who bully can wear down the job satisfaction of their co workers which can result in a loss of productivity and increased absences in the workplace (Stokowski, 2010). Victims of bullying often have a feeling of impending doom and dread when they think about their upcoming work days. Each time the bullying reoccurs, the victims usually
Bullying and harassment within the workplace can be attributed to a myriad of factors. The work
Bullying influences everyone within an organization, not just those people who are being targeted. It also impacts the families and friend of those being bullied. People who witness bullying are also affected by this behavior. The idea of bullying has been an international matter of concern for the past 20 years. When bullying was first identified, it was called as “mobbing” by Heinz Leymann (1996).
The article provide five table illustrations. Table one is about the demographic characteristic of the targets of the workplace bullies. The table displays the characteristics of social workers ranging by age, gender, and demographic. Table two is about organizational settings and roles of targets. The table displayed supervisors, colleagues, subordinates, and clients were all identified as bullies. It showed that women were more than twice as likely (67%) to be identified as bullies as were men (33%). Table three is about the most troubling bullying behaviors. It showed that verbally and covertly hostile actions were the most troubling bullying behaviors in the workplace. In addition, being treated with disrespect and having work de-valued as the hardest aspects of being bullied at the workplace. Table four was the summary characteristics of bullies. The study showed the characteristic were either passive or assertive by the Coping Scale. The passive behavior had a ranging score of 24 and assertive was of 60. The median and mean scores were 42.5, and a multiple modal score. Table five was the classification of responses to coping scale as passive or assertive
Bullying which is the intentional act to inflict harm, threaten or abuse of others, can range in many ways. Kathryn Hawkins on the article the Office Bully, outlines various issues of this concept. Kathryn states that sometimes people become overconfidence that they left bullies in their past lives maybe high school, but later found out the bullies have ultimately become their bosses. Secondly, bullying may occur when bullies wants to dominate and gain back their powers if they feel endangered. So they tend to overcome their fear by threatening others. Also Kathryn articulates that even the conditions of the workplace can cause bullies to abuse their targets and workplace bully can be difficult to deal with. Although Kathryn has suggested some solutions about these issues, the claim presented does not put up with the issues, rather an encouragement.
Bullying is happening all over the world and it is a huge problem. According to www.bullyingstatistics.org, victims of bullying are between 2 to 9 times more likely to commit or consider suicide. If bullying is stopped or lowered around the world, the suicide levels would drop as well. Telling about bullies can help others going through it.
This paper compares three studies on workplace bullying. The studies were conducted because workplace bullying is an epidemic that needs to be addressed and it needs to be understood to help future organizations prevent workplace bullying.
Bullying is an undesirable, antagonistic conduct among not only school aged children but also adults. People who are bullied may have serious and long-term problems. Bullying has become more prominent throughout the years, increasing the suicide rate in the U.S. to 24.5% since 2003. (Hey U.G.L.Y, 2006) This results in approximately 160,000 individuals stay home from school or work each day because they are afraid or feel threatened by bullies. (Hey U.G.L.Y, 2006) Approximately 4,400 lives are lost each year due to bullying. (Hey U.G.L.Y, 2006) A nationwide survey was done throughout public schools and private schools in 2014 to find out how many students actually considered suicide due to bullying. (Hey U.G.L.Y, 2006) 15% of students reported
Bullying causes suicide. There is a firm link between suicide and bullying, as stated by many reports on bullying-related suicides in the United States and many other countries. “Children who are bullied as well as those who bully others are more likely to contemplate or attempt suicide” (Strickland 1). The National Center for Educational Statistics, in 2009, said nearly 1 in 3 students between the ages of 12 and 18 reported being bullied in school. “Bullycide,” is a term that is increasingly finding its way into the educational lexicon as a result of several teen suicides that were attributed at least in part to bullying.
Bullying is the cause of many suicides and deaths (Home n. pag). In McCormack’s article, he explains how many students are bullied each day and harassed to the point where they question their own self-esteem. They are no longer
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
Bullying in the workplace is the topic that Heeman has addressed and evaluated with the aid of research from additional authors. Communication plays a major role in bullying when brought into the workplace and it can continue for extensive lengths of time if not managed and handled properly. The roles of bullying are included in Heeman’s report which are the bully, the target, and the bystander. The costs on the workplace can be threatening to the staffing, productivity and the overall work environment. Percentages and research are presented proving the amount of bullying that actually takes place in the workplace. Ways to combat the bullying are introduced into the report to include understanding and taking action to stop and prevent the bullying from continuing. Heeman concludes his report by mentioning that researchers need to focus their attention on finding solutions and ways to intercept bullying to lower the statistics and ratios.
Many people do not realize how serious bullying has become. If you look at statistics suicides due to bullying have increased over just a few short years. This has become a very big problem for not only the victim but the bully as well as it affect both of them. School bullying is mentally destructive to not only the victims, but bullies because of the harmful words, harassment, and physical violence involved as well as the consequences for the bully.
Bullying, in its many forms, is becoming an extremely hazardous problem that many individuals endure. Bullies torment others because they themselves have insecurities, have been bullied themselves, or have a mental illness that brings out the worst in them. Nevertheless, bullying can physically and emotionally destroy the victim, whether it is by physical abuse, cyber bullying, or verbal abuse.