Harassment in the Workplace: The Effects of Psychological Harassment and Bullying

Ian MannersSteven Cates

Kaplan University

ABSTRACT

Over the past several decades strides have been made in the fight against discriminatory practices in the workplace. This study examines the definition of what is the process of bullying as a form of harassment in the workplace. An examination of the effects of bullying is conducted to determine the psychological effects it has on the US workforce from a Human Resource Management perspective. This paper examines the bullying from responses of those working in U.S. organizations today. The following hypotheses were tested. H1: Bullying is a form of Harassment in the work environment. H2: Bullying is a form of Harassment defined as Hostile Work Environment. H3: The Psychological Effects of Bullying have not been documented in US Organizations. A sample of 117 respondents responded to a ten question survey via Survey Monkey.com. All three hypotheses were supported. Implications for management were provided.

IntroductionOver the past several decades strides have been made in the fight against discriminatory

practices in the workplace. The passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and title VII in particular has helped to protect the rights of many individuals. In addition, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 have helped to broaden the definition of those in protected groups (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2015).

Harassment is unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. Harassment becomes unlawful where 1) enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, or 2) the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive (EEOC, 2015). 

While discrimination is far from eradicated and there are tens of thousands of new claims filed every year: 93,727 in 2013 and 88,778 in 2014 (EEOC, 2015), there is quite a bit of visibility on what constitutes discrimination and how organizations should address these issues to ensure fair treatment. Harassment is not limited to just discriminatory actions however; workplace bullying is a rising issue with some major implications for employees and employers. A survey of 3,000 people conducted by leadership consultancy, VitalSmarts, found that 96% of respondents had experienced bullying at work, with 62% coming in the form of sabotage work or reputation (Biro, 2014). Furthermore, with approximately 80% of U.S. jobs in the service industry, bullying will become more and more prevalent due to the increased interaction between people at work (Hall & Lewis, 2014, p. 129).

Clearly bullying is important in the harassment conversation and in terms of creating a safe and welcoming work environment. Bullying does have even deeper implications for businesses and managers through the potential cost of bullying can be significant.

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Purpose of the StudyThis study examines the definition of what is the process of bullying as a form of

harassment in the workplace. An examination of the effects of bullying is conducted to determine the psychological effects it has on the US workforce from a Human Resource Management perspective. This paper examines the bullying from responses of those working in U.S. organizations today.

Literature Review

The Potential Cost of BullyingAccording to the Namie and Namie (n.d.), “workplace bullying is repeated, health-

harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators. It is abusive conduct that is: threatening, humiliating, or intimidating, or work interference-sabotage- which prevents work from getting done, or verbal abuse” (Namie & Namie, n.d.). Currently, there aren’t any laws protecting individuals from workplace bullying on either the state or federal level. This is in spite of the fact that cases of bullying are on the rise and employees are less engaged than they have ever been in history. According to USA Today, in a poll conducted in 2011, half the people surveyed admitted to be mistreated at work weekly. This was an increase from figures of similar surveys conducted in 1998 where only 25% of those questioned felt they had been treated rudely (USA Today, 2013).

As there are no laws on the books, the legal ramifications for employers is somewhat minimal at this time. That being said, if the situation is serious enough there is the possibility of an individual filing a claim under hostile work environment or constructive discharge (Society for Human Resource Management, 2015). A bigger risk for employers who allow bullying behavior to continue is the impact it has on overall productivity.

Employers that choose not to take measures to identify and prevent such abuses of power are allowing bullying to occur within their workplaces and may be exposing themselves to some legal risk. In addition to possible legal exposure, allowing such behavior to occur will eventually result in significant costs to the employer due to lowered employee morale, reduced productivity, increased absenteeism and turnover, not to mention possible filings of stress-related disability or workers compensation claims (SHRM, 2015).

There is definitely some significant costs associated with allowing bullying to take place within your organization, but what does this equate to for employers?

Cost Analysis of Bullying Starting with the last effect of bullying listed by the SHRM, workers compensation and

disability is estimated to cost employers $1 billion per week in the United States (CDC, 2015). This estimate includes both the direct costs associated with claims: the actual payments themselves, medical expenses, and legal expenses. Also included is the indirect expenses associated with claims: training replacements, accident investigation, implementation of corrective measures, lost productivity, repairs of damaged equipment & property, lower employee morale, and absenteeism (OSHA, 2015).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, employees that are mistreated at work on average miss significantly more time from work than those who aren’t. The difference is estimated to be approximately two and half days more with individuals who are mistreated which equates out to more than $4 billion per year in absenteeism costs associated with bullying (National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2013).

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For individuals who are bullied at work there is also the possibility of dealing with presenteeism costs. This occurs when employees continue to show up for work even though they are completely disengaged due to the treatment they have been receiving. One way to estimate this cost is to take all of the affected employees in the organization, add up all of their hours, and then cut that number in half. That is the amount of time considered lost in productivity for bullied individuals (Workplace Bullying Institute, 2014).

In many instances, bullied individuals will leave the company for an opportunity to escape the abuse they have been subjected to. When workers leave, there are a slew of costs that come with that transition. You have: the loss of productivity while the vacancy is open, the cost of recruiting new talent, time spent meeting and interviewing candidates, time and costs associated with training replacement employees, etc. There is a simple estimate to use when calculating these costs; take the departing employees salary and multiple it by 1.5 times (WBI, 2014).

The costs of bullying are staggering and seem to be multiplying exponentially with every instance they are allowed to exist. Employers need to eliminate these issues and the costs associated with them if they want to remain strong organizations in terms of both fiscal forecasts and desirable places to work. In order to identify bullying in the workplace, administration should be aware of the different types of bullying behavior.

What Kinds of Bullying Exists?While it may be easier to identify the actions of someone in a position of power towards

direct reports, it isn’t something that takes place exclusively in that kind of relationship. Bullying can take place between co-workers, direct reports and their superiors, or between individuals from different departments. Bullying can be broken down into four main groups of abusers: the screaming mimi, the constant critic, the two-headed snake, and the gatekeeper (Namie, 2011).

The screaming mimi prefers to harass individuals in a very public fashion. By showing their power and authority publicly, they wish to control the emotional environment of the office not just for their targets but also for other individuals within the department or group. The goal is to create a paralysis of the workforce and take complete control. This kind of bully is the rarest, but also the easiest to identify (Namie, 2011).

The constant critic works behind closed doors where there is the most plausible deniability available. They look to create a situation where it boils down to a he said/ she said scenario. The most common way this bully operates is through the misuse of performance appraisals. The ultimate goal of the constant critic is to actually take over the psyche of the target (Namie, 2011).

The two-headed snake demonstrates very passive aggressive behavior and tactics. They are most commonly characterized by backstabbing and perpetuating rumors about their targets. The goal of this kind of bully is to damage or control the reputation of those they single out. They wish to keep individuals from being able to succeed where they are now and potentially wherever they move to in the future (Namie, 2011).

Finally, the gatekeeper is a person that is in a position of control when it comes to information distribution. They use this power to release information in a very selective way. They can also withhold important information to put others into a bad situation. The primary tactic of these individuals is to control deadlines and make them unrealistic or to withhold interaction between employees that might be able to offer beneficial insights (Namie, 2011).

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As we continue into the age of technology, we are more and more reliant on new forms of communication. As a result, the way we interact at the office has also changed drastically over the past fifteen years and there is no signs of that slowing down anytime soon. We have discussed what characteristics to look for in bullies inside the office, but how does this translate in the new landscape of social media and cyber bullying?

Cyber Bullying in the WorkplaceThe message can be delivered via e-mail, message board, or text message just the same as

it would be in person. Actually, this makes bullying even easier in a few of real ways. To begin with, people now have virtually 24 hour access to one another, so there is never truly a time when bullies can’t be operating. Secondly, it can be much easier for someone to deny intent and context of the interaction without witnesses. Lastly, individuals can tend to become even more empowered with the sense of anonymity they feel when detached from the actual interaction through social media. Regardless of the way the message is delivered, the purpose remains the same. “Whatever shape the message takes, a cyberbully hides behind a computer with an intent to injure the receiver. And the computer attack has the same effect as face-to-face bullying: to snub, badger, browbeat, or intimidate” (Gannett, 2013).

Once more, cyberbullying is trending upward in the workplace. As a survey conducted by the University of Sheffield and Nottingham University shows, 8 out of 10 people have experienced cyberbullying at work within the last 6 months and 14-20 percent of people feel they have been a victim at least once per week (Cyberbullying in the workplace, 2013). According to Borstorff, Graham, and Marker (2007), E-harassment has evolved into one of the most prevalent types of harassment in the workplace (p. 49).

Now that we have examined why workplace bullying is important, the costs associated with it, and the different kinds of harassment involved, let’s explore potential ways to deal with the issue and stop it from happening in first place.

Research Question and HypothesesBased on the review of the literature the following Research Question is offered.

How Does Bullying Affect the Psychological Harassment of Employees in the Workplace?Given this Research Question the following hypotheses are proposed.H1: Bullying is a form of Harassment in the work environmentH2: Bullying is a form of Harassment defined as Hostile Work Environment.H3: The Psychological Effects of Bullying have not been documented in US Organizations.

MethodologyThe questions in this research design were examined by the collection of data using a

survey instrument. The questions were used to determine the sample population perception of bullying in their respective organizations. A survey questionnaire was placed on Survey Monkey and asked people to participate in this study. A total of 117 persons complete responses were collected and analyzed.

The research design utilized a survey inquiry approach to examine the relationship of employees and the level of harassment in the form of bullying found in the workplace.

These three hypotheses were tested by collecting data using a survey technique. The collected data was analyzed to assess if there was support for the hypotheses or they were rejected.

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Data was summarized based on each Question and coded mathematically to determine real values of each response.

Analysis was done on the collected responses to each question to address the support of lack of support for each hypothesis.

The survey questionnaire can be found in Appendix I. The survey questions and sample population responses can be found in Appendix II.

Sanple DemogtaphicsThe following represents the demographics of the sample used in this research. The total

sample size is n=117.

Gender: Age: RaceMales 27 18-24 2 American Indian/Inuit 1Females 87 25-34 23 Asian 3

35-44 61 Black 1045-54 14 Hispanic 555-64 14 White 9665-74 2 Multiple 1

FindingsSurvey Question One asks respondents if they work in an organization where people

bully other employees. The response of 67 of the 117 of the sample indicated they work in an organization where bullying exists now. This represents 57% of the sample. There were 38 who felt they worked in an environment where bullying did not exist which represented 32% of the sample. Bullying is present at an almost double rate in the organizations sampled in this question. This high rate indicates bullying would appear to be a common occurrence in then organizations samples in this research.

Survey Question Two asks respondents if they have been subjected to bullying at work. The response of 60 of the 117 of the sample indicated they had been victims of bullying in the workplace. This represents 51% of the sample population compared to 34 respondents who had no experienced in bullying personally which accounts for 29% of the respondents. This indicates that a large number of people are possibly being harassed in the workplace and bullying would appear to be a common form of harassment.

Survey Question Three asks respondents if fellow employees who have bullied others have received disciplinary action by the organization. Surprisingly, only 20 respondents (17%) indicated the organization had taken corrective and punitive steps to address the bullying taking place in these organizations. Seventy-One (71) respondents indicated they had not experienced any disciplinary action in their organizations which represents 61% of the total respondents.

Survey Question Four asks respondents if employees who have bullied others have been terminated for their behaviors by the organization. Respondents indicated 11 (9%) had experienced severe discipline. Eighty-Two (70%) indicated they had not experienced any terminations for this type of harassment. This indicates that most respondents have not experienced any major issues in their organizations with bullying to the extent it became a terminal issue for employees.

Survey Question Five asks respondents if employees who have been bullied have left the organization due to their treatment. Respondents indicated that 78 (66.7%) of them have either

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experienced leaving their employment or were aware of fellow employees who had left their employers due to bullying. Only 10 responded this had not been the experience they had but there was a very high neutrality response of 29 responses (24.7%). This could possibly be a response where they were unsure of divulging the truth of job abandonment due to bullying by a fellow employee or manager.

Survey Question Six asks respondents if they have specifically left a job due to being bullied. Thirty-Two (27.3%) responded they had left a job due to bullying behaviors towards them. Interesting is the fact that 78 (66.7%) said they had not experiencing leaving a job due to bullying. This is the exact opposite response of the previous question where the respondents may have known of someone else experiencing bullying and leaving the organization other than themselves.

Survey Question Seven asks respondents if Bullying is a form of harassment including Hostile Work Environment. One Hundred and Fifteen respondents (98.3%) indicated this type of behavior was a form of discrimination under the 1964 Civil Rights Act and under the governance of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This provides confirmation that employees are aware of what constitutes harassment under the Law.

Survey Question Eight asks respondents if Bullying is a form of Psychological Harassment. One Hundred and Fifteen (98.3%) of the One Hundred and Seventeen respondents responded favorably to this Question. This confirms the respondents in this sample understood the difference in physical and physiological harassment and the effects of those differences.

Survey Question Nine asks respondents if Bullying is not legal under the law. The responses provided to this question were much different than the previous two questions. Only 53 respondents believed bullying was unlawful while 30 were unsure and 33 felt the behavior of bullying did not come under the jurisdiction of the Law. The possibility exists the respondents did not understand the term not legal versus the popular but incorrect word illegal. If the respondents understood the term then the responses are opposite of earlier responses similar questions on the legality of bullying.

Survey Question Ten asks respondents if their organization provides training against this type of harassment. Thirty-Six respondents indicated their organizations provided training on bullying and its negative effects both legally and ethically while Sixty-Two respondents indicated their organizations provided no training on bullying as a form of harassment in the workplace. This high level of lack of training on bullying is disturbing and could be a root cause as to why bullying exists in so many organizations today.

The three hypotheses were tested to determine if there was support for each.

H1: Bullying is a form of Harassment in the work environment was tested using Questions 1,2,3,4, 5, 6, 9, and 10. Respondents to Questions 1 and 2 indicated the majority supported the belief that bullying exists in the workplace and is a current issue. The majority of respondents to Questions 3 and 4 indicated that their company did not address the issue of bullying with any form of corrective actions or terminations for this illegal behavior. Respondents to Question 5 indicated they knew fellow workers who left the organization due to bullying which would suggest the organizations are not addressing this behavior and the employee is forced to leave their organization due to a lack of protections from this harassment. In Question 6 very few respondents however had left the organization themselves due to being bullied. This is in contradiction to the responses given in Question 2 where the majority of respondents indicated they had been bullied. The result of this could be that respondents may have been bullied but not

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to the extent it caused them to leave their jobs or they may not be in a position to leave and accept the bullying as a part of the job relationship at the time of the response. In response to Question 9 respondents provided a mixed response to the illegality of bullying. This could mean employees are not aware of what the Law encompasses and therefore ae not aware of their rights to protection. Given the responses as a whole there is support for this hypothesis.

H2: Bullying is a form of Harassment defined as Hostile Work Environment was tested using Question 7. Respondents to this Question overwhelmingly stated they knew that bullying was a form of harassment. Therefore this hypothesis is supported.

H3: The Psychological Effects of Bullying have not been documented in US Organizations was tested using Question 8. Respondents indicated that 98% of them believed that bullying is a psychological form of harassment. Therefore this hypothesis is supported.

Limitations of the StudyThis research used a Survey that comes from the research but needs to be scrutinized

using chromback alpha testing to determine the validity and reliability of the instruments and the questions contained in the survey itself.

A convenience sample was selected for this research and more random sampling would improve the potential for a more valid sampling and higher levels of confidence the results reported are representative of the total population.

The demographics were heavily skewed towards Caucasians. A more diverse sampling would provide clarity of how bullying may affect employers across gender differences.

The sample consisted of 117 respondents. This is close to being a representative sampling but greater numbers of respondents would improve the confidence level of the results.

Implications for Managers

How do you Protect Your Employees and Business?It is your responsibility as an employer to maintain a safe and harassment free

environment for your employees (Keeling, Quigley, & Roberts, 2006, p. 620). This can be easier said than done when it comes to the potentially covert actions of workplace bullies. If bullying isn’t addressed from the outset however; the behavior will continue to get worse. “The bully's behavior is left unaddressed, and if a bully's behavior remains unchallenged over a long period of time, it becomes a normative behavioral pattern. When finally confronted with their behavior, the bully may initially perceive themselves as a victim” (Keeling, et al., 2006, p. 620).

Failing to react properly to acts of bullying is one of the leading causes for its continued existence and growth within the workplace (Hall & Lewis, 2014, p. 130). Companies need to provide thorough and well communicated policies on bullying and harassment to their employees. These policies should include the use of social media and lay out specific penalties and repercussions for violating these policies (Hall & Lewis, 2014, p. 135). Managers also need to take regular temperature checks of their employees and the workplace.

In order to properly identify when bullying exists or if there are issues with horizontal violence, managers need to be able to recognize the signs. According to Bartholomew (2014), poor employee satisfaction scores, high turnover, increased absenteeism, cliques, and dueling shifts can all be signs of harassment that leaders need to look out for (Brunt, 2015, p. 12).

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Managers also have a great opportunity to curb these behaviors by the kind of culture they encourage in the workplace. “To deal with HV, managers need to decrease negativity, gossip, and a culture of blame by maintaining zero tolerance for any communication that is unhealthy, disrespectful or spoken to people other than the person(s) directly involved” (Brunt, 2015, p. 12).

A real potential short coming for anti-bullying policies lies in the way complaints are received and addressed by supervisors when they occur. It can be common for managers to avoid dealing with issues of conflict because they are uncomfortable and difficult to decipher. Managers can also fear being implicated in the complaint themselves and attempt to convince the targeted employee from making any complaint. This lack of implementation of the policy can ultimately leave employees feeling unsupported and allow the situation to become worse (Woodrow & Guest, 2014, p. 48).

It is clear that a strong policy needs to be in place to be successful with minimizing the exposure to workplace bullying, but it also is apparent that a policy alone will not correct the issue. HRM leaders will need to implement proper support systems to ensure the success of these policies.

There are at least three strategies available to organizations to tackle the challenge of workplace bullying in the absence of specific legislation: (a) specific organizational antibullying and fair policies, (b) training, and (c) the design and implementation of conflict management and ADR programs and systems (Fox & Stallworth, 2009, p. 228).

We have already discussed what a sound policy should look and feel like. One key component missing in many organizations is the effective training of leadership and employees. Individuals need to be able to identify what bullying behavior looks like and recognize it in themselves. Both managers and employees also need to be trained in how to address bullies and their targets when they witness this activity. If there is truly going to be a zero tolerance policy, then all members of the team need to feel comfortable and empowered to stop bullying activity when they see it. Mock scenarios and role plays would go a long way to help in accomplishing this.

Conflict management and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has been successfully utilized to find cost effective and simple solutions to many workplace problems (Fox & Stallworth, 2009, p. 226). Fox and Stallworth (2009) go onto say that adopting a conflict management system makes sense in four major ways: it is significantly cheaper than the costs associated with potential damages awarded and legal costs, it helps alleviate some of the psychological consequences suffered by the target employee, many times bullying is linked to other protected minority groups, and it is 70% more likely that the targeted employee leaves while the bully remains with the organization (p. 227).

In order for an ADR system to be viewed as fair and legitimate by employees, there is considerable work to be done before implementing (Fox & Stallworth, 2009, p.228). Determining who the workplace neutrals are going to be or if the use of external neutrals are necessary is essential. There also has to be careful measures taken to ensure that all groups are properly represented (Fox & Stallworth, 2009, p. 228).

Conclusion Workplace bullying is a real problem in organizations across the country, and the

world for that matter. There is yet to be any legislation passed on a state or federal level to protect employees from the detriments of bullying or to guide employers on how to deal with it. If left unchecked, bullying can cost an organization substantially in a number of ways. With the changing nature of the U.S. economy and the increase in service industry positions, bullying is

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becoming an even bigger issue than it has been in the past. That increase has been compounded by the rise of social media, the constant availability of everyone, and the potential to remain anonymous.

Companies seeking to eliminate the negative culture and loss in productivity need to establish a strong anti-bullying policy. There also needs to be meaningful training provided to leaders and employees alike to help them understand what bullying looks like and how to deal with situations appropriately when they arise. Finally, organizations should develop an ADR system to show their employees they want a legitimate and fair process and to avoid the potential legal costs of claims in the future.

REFERENCES

Brio, M. (2014, July, 27). The real-world implications of workplace and cyber bullying. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2014/07/27/the-real-world-implications-of-workplace-and-cyberbullying/

Brunt, B. (2015). Breaking the cycle of horizontal violence. Ohio Nurses Review, 8(3), 12-15 4p.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013, October, 26). Workplace mistreatment and sickness absenteeism from work: results from the 2010 national health interview survey. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24166763

Cyberbullying in the workplace. (2013, May, 13). Retrieved from http://www.northeastern.edu/securenu/cyberbullying-in-the-workplace/

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). Charge statistics fy 1997 through fy 2014. Retrieved from http://eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/charges.cfm

Fox, S., & Stallworth, L. E. (2009). Building a framework for two internal organizational approaches to resolving and preventing workplace bullying: alternative dispute resolution and training. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice And Research, 61(3), 220-241. doi:10.1037/a0016637

Gannett, A. (2013, June, 8). At work: cyberbullies graduate to the workplace. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/kay/2013/06/08/at-work-office-cyberbullies/2398671/

Hall, R., & Lewis, S. (2014). Managing workplace bullying and social media policy: implications for employee engagement. Academy Of Business Research Journal, 1128-138.

Keeling, J., Quigley, J., & Roberts, T. (2006). Bullying in the workplace: what it is and how to deal with it. British Journal Of Midwifery, 14(10), 616-621 4p.

Lebowitz, S. (2013, October, 8). What’s behind a rise in workplace bullying? Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2013/10/08/hostile-workplace-less-productive/2945833/

Namie, G. (2012, September, 20). The four workplace bully types [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvPqSn-W7QY

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Namie, G. and Namie, R. (n.d.). The wbi definition of workplace bullying. Retrieved from http://www.workplacebullying.org/individuals/problem/definition/

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). Business case for safety and health. Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/dcsp/products/topics/businesscase/costs.html

Piotrowski, C. (2012). From workplace bullying to cyberbullying: the enigma of e-harassment in modern organizations.Organization Development Journal, 30(4), 44-53.

Society for Human Resource Management. (2012, December, 3). Harassment: bullying: what to consider when there is workplace bullying. Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/templatestools/hrqa/pages/yellinganddegrading.aspx

Van Dusen, A. (2008, March, 24). Ten signs you’re being bullied at work. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/22/health-bullying-office-forbeslife-cx_avd_0324health.html

Woodrow, C., & Guest, D. E. (2014). When good hr gets bad results: exploring the challenge of hr implementation in the case of workplace bullying. Human Resource Management Journal, 24(1), 38-56. doi:10.1111/1748-8583.12021

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APPENDIX I

SURVEY USED IN THIS STUDY

This Survey is an attempt to collect your impressions on the subject of bullying and harassment in the work environment. Please read each of the following questions carefully. Please circle that number that most closely reflects your actual response to that question. Please be honest with your responses. These responses will be held confidential and will not identify you in any way. Thank you for responding to these questions. You will note your responses can be from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. If you have no opinion please circle the number “3” or N for Neutral.

1. I work in an organization where we have people who bully other employeesSD D N A SA

1 2 3 4 5

2. I have been subjected to being bullied at workSD D N A SA

1 2 3 4 5

3. Employees who have bullied others have received disciplinary action form their behaviors

SD D N A SA

1 2 3 4 5

4. Employees who have bullied others have been terminated for this behaviorSD D N A SA

1 2 3 4 5

5. Employees who have been bullied have left the organization due to this treatmentSD D N A SA

1 2 3 4 5

6. I have left a job due to being bulliedSD D N A SA

1 2 3 4 5

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7. Bullying is a form of Harassment including Hostile Work EnvironmentSD D N A SA

1 2 3 4 5

8. Bullying is a form of Psychological HarassmentSD D N A SA

1 2 3 4 5

9. Bullying is not legal under the LawSD D N A SA

1 2 3 4 5

10. My organization provides training against this type of harassment.

Here is some information about myself:

I am

Male___ Female___

I am

White_____Black_____Asian____Hispanic_____Oriental_____Other_____

I am between

20-25_____ 26-30_____31-35_____36-40_____41-45_____46-50_____51-55_____

56-60_____61-65_____66-70

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APPENDIX IISURVEY RESULTS

Question

# Strongly Disagree Responses

# Disagree Responses

# Neutral Responses

# Agree Responses

# Strongly Agree Responses

I work in an organization where people bully other employees. 21 17 12 52 15

I have been subjected to bullying at work. 21 23 13 43 17

Employees who have bullied others have received disciplinary action. 22 49 25 16 4

Employees who have bullied others have been terminated for their behaviors. 35 47 24 7 4

Employees who have been bullied have left the organization due to their treatment. 2 8 29 53 25

I have left a job due to being bullied. 41 37 7 24 8

Bullying is a form of harassment including Hostile Work Environment. 2 0 0 40 75

Bullying is a form of Psychological Harassment 1 0 1 39 76

Bullying is not legal under the law. 9 24 30 34 19

My organization provides training against this type of harassment. 24 38 18 27 9

Gender# of Respondents

Males 27

Females 87

Total Respondents 114

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Race/ Ethnicity# of Respondents

American Indian or Alaskan Native 1

Asian/ Pacific Islander 3

Black or African American 10

Hispanic 5

White Caucasian 96

Multiple ethnicity 1

Total Respondents 116

Age Group# of Respondents

18 to 24 2

25 to 34 23

35 to 44 61

45 to 54 14

55 to 64 14

65 to 74 2

75 or older 0

Total Respondents 116

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