MPOB Term Paper Done

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Section: A67B1



S.No Topic Page No. Remarks

01. Introduction to Topic 2

02. Workplace Bullying 2-3

03. Things not under Bullying 3

04. People acting as Bullying 3-4

05 I f B ll i 4 6



Introduction to the Topic

In today’s scenario one of the most important things which requires attention and concern for all the

employees of the organization is the workplace bullying. The impact of workplace bullying over the

employees lead to significant risk to the health, safety and wellbeing of individual and the same

could also lead to serious psychological injuries.

Compensating the workers for psychological injuries is the most expensive type of claim theorganization has to face. In order to safeguard oneself from paying such a huge amount of

compensation claim the organization should make efforts to establish such policies, procedures and

strategies which will prove to be beneficial for the organization as well as which will prevent the

psychological injuries of the employees such as mental stress.

Workplace Bullying

Workplace bullying can be defined as “ repeated, unreasonable behavior directed towards a person or

group of persons at a workplace, which creates a risk to health and safety.”



• Assigning meaningless tasks or sometimes unfair assignments

•

Treating unfairly in concern to the duty rosters, workplace entitlements like leave, trainingetc

• Carrying out initiation pranks or nasty jokes

• Displaying offensive materials

• Deliberately withholding resources, information which are necessary for effective work

performance

Risk to health and safety leads to risk to the emotional, mental or physical health of the targeted

employee.

Following are not Workplace Bullying

Single Incident

If any incident has happened in the organization for the first time against anyone, it won’t be termed

as bullying. Although such incidents might lead to stress, harmful impact over targeted employee

i l i id h ld b i f b ll i i h k l hi h h b k



Workplace bullying could be in upward direction, parallel or downward.

•

Upward Direction: When bullying takes place through managers, supervisors etc.• Downward Direction: When bullying takes place towards subordinates.

• Parallel Direction: This kind of bullying could be seen in the employees at peer positions

which are generally known as colleagues.

Impact of Bullying on OrganizationsThe presence of bullying at the workplace could exist because of Workplace Culture and

Environment. It could also take place because of the poor management skills of the mangers and at

the same time lack of supportive leadership could also be the cause of bullying. The level of

bullying behavior always reflects overall quality of the organization’s people management

practices. The organizations basically are required to target four major areas of people management practices so as to reduce the incidence of bullying which includes:

• Quality and frequency of the performance feedback

• Levels of supportive leadership

• Building an engaging work team environment through involvement of employees in the

d i i ki d



Unsatisfactory workplace relationships and poor workplace communication might encourage

environmental or cultural impacts where bullying is more likely to occur and tolerate.Work Systems:

System factors also influence bullying such as lack of appropriate policies and procedures, high rate

and intensity of work, staff shortage, work arrangements like isolated work groups, lack of

inexperienced or skilled labor, role conflict, poorly defined jobs and high level of uncertainty

regarding job requirements contribute or support bullying behavior.

While Workplace Bullying is a Human Resource Issue so definitely it is an OHS issue because of

the fact that it has a potential threat to health and safety of the employees. Workplace bullying has a

potential to harm individuals at par. Individuals’ reaction will vary differently under specific

circumstances. Reactions of the individuals may include:

• Distress, anxiety and panic attacks or sometimes sleep disturbance

• Impaired concentration or inability to make decisions

• Loss of self esteem and confidence, a sense of isolation or withdrawal from the workplace

• Physical illness, including digestive problems, skin conditions, headaches and

musculoskeletal disorders



• Worry that reporting bullying may reflect badly on them and affect their career prospects

• Aren’t sure how to deal with the problem or who to report it to

• Believe no-one will act on the problem

• Fear retribution from the bully

Bullying’ impact over organizational Costs

Bullying has a direct or indirect impact over organizational Costs. Some of such costs are as follow:• High level of absenteeism which results in loss of productivity

• High level of staff turnover which is associated with recruitment and training costs

• Breakdown of teams and work relationships which lead to reduction in the efficiency,

productivity and increment in the errors

• Poor public image of the organization• Costs incurred on meditation. Counseling and support given to the targeted employee

• Focus of the involved staff and the targeted staff are always diverted from the main goal for

which they are being hired in the organization

• Costs which are associated with the compensation claims and litigation are always higher



Step 1: Get the Organization Involved:The very first step of any organization should be to create such an atmosphere at the workplace

where bullying could not be tolerated at all. And if in any case it occurs, it is recognized and strict

actions should be pondered upon. Thus the first step to prevent bullying requires commitments and

involvement of the organization.

Senior Management Commitment:

The involvement of senior management towards preventing bullying is the required at par for

successful prevention of such act. Senior management could exhibit commitment through:

• Actively endorsing bullying policy

• Making it strictly clear that bullying will be not tolerated at all in the organization

•

Ensuring that complaints regarding bullying will be taken seriously and strict action will betaken which might result in terminating the bullies from the organization.

• Modeling positive behavior of respect and courtesy

• Consulting with staff at all levels wisely and timely

Effective Communication through Consultation:

O f h i bj i f h OHS A i “ f i l i l i hi



provide proper guidelines on how this could be controlled and what will be the steps one can follow

to report against bullying.

Promote Awareness:

The organization should make usage of variety of strategies to promote awareness of bullying

amongst the employees and employer through providing trainings and information sessions, staff

meetings, staff bullets, intranet informal discussion groups etc. Infact the awareness regarding the

bullying could also be given at the time of recruitment or promotion of the employees, or during

induction session. Emphasis should be levied on:

Unacceptability of bullying

Management are committed to bullying free environment

Incidents of bullying behavior should be reported

Step 2: Develop Policy and Procedure:

The organization should ensure that the policy on bullying is updated, developed and reviewed in

consultation with the employees. The contents being involved in the bullying are made known to all

the staff.

Complaint Handling



• Complaints are treated seriously and complaint handlers respond promptly

• Complaints are investigated impartially

• Confidentiality is maintained

• Support and advice are provided to all persons involved, as required

• A range of available resolution options are available and utilized appropriately including

mediation, counseling, apologies, removal of the perpetrator, written warnings or other disciplinary action

• External professional services are used when needed to aid in the investigation and

resolution of bullying allegations

Step 3: Inform, Instruct or Train:Mixture of information, instruction and training is required to reduce the risk of bullying in the

workplace. As bullying is also linked with role conflicts and uncertainty it is important that

employees understand their specific roles and should have appropriate skills in order to perform

their jobs effectively and efficiently. Information regarding how to comply with related policies and

d d b ll h k h h d l h



• Issues raises through health and Safety Committees

•

Workers’ Compensation ClaimsFollowing are the Indirect Sources for retrieving information:

• Pattern of Absence of the employees, turnover and various other human resource data

• Increased levels of unhealthy conflicts which leads to deterioration of work relationships

• Requests for transfers out of area

• Deterioration in work performance of the employees• Utilization of harassments contact officers

• Workplace grievances and complaints

• Employees’ isolation and withdrawal

Organization should also consider whether the circumstances will lead to increment in the risk

for bullying behavior through following ways:

• Significant organizational changes like restructuring or technological changes

• Poor workforce communication

• High rate and intensity of work

• Staff shortage or lack of experience and skill amongst the employees



• Addressing the workplace factors that are risk factors contributing to the potential for

bullyingStrategies may involve an organization-wide response or target symptoms in a specific area,

however where multiple risk factors are identified an organization-wide response is more likely to

be appropriate. Consider addressing bullying as part of a wider psychological injury prevention

program

• Minimizing the impact of bullying on employees by encouraging early reporting and

prompt responses

Initiatives of this type are known as “early intervention” initiatives as they aim to recognize a

situation and intervene at an early stage to prevent the situation from escalating to the point where a

person develops a serious illness or injury

Control strategies to address bullying risk factors include but are not limited to the following:

Leadership initiatives

• Actively promoting a supportive leadership culture that will not accept bullying and which

encourages and acts on reports of such behavior



• applying quality control to the performance management system

• developing a conflict management process and training staff members in conflict resolution

• providing additional employee training, e.g. on workplace diversity and tolerance

• using the Health and Safety Executive’s Management Standard on ‘relationships’ as a better

practice guide to the states to be achieved

Other organizational initiatives• Re-designing and clearly designing jobs

• Reviewing resource availability, staffing levels or excessive working hours

• Improving the availability of flexible working arrangements

• Building consultation into change management procedures and practices to ensure staff at all

levels are consulted prior to and during organizational change

Early intervention strategies to help minimize the impact of bullying include but are not

limited to:

• Providing and promoting easily accessible mechanisms for reporting of complaints



This step involves monitoring and reviewing the process of implementation of bullying prevention

measures. The main objective of this step is to ensure that interventions are successfully carried out

and issues and difficulties are addressed properly. Monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of

the interventions through a number of outcomes which includes following:

• Patterns of sick leave taken before and after the measure has been initiated, staff turnover,

injury reports and worker’s compensation data

•

Progress against agreed targets and performance indicators that are in relation to the strategygoals

• Monitoring the feedbacks from the sources such as surveys, exit interviews and from

employees who have experienced bullying

• Organizational performance and employee satisfaction surveys

Motivate the employees through providing prices and appreciation wards for reporting against the bullying as employees must be willing to report the incidents so as to help the evaluator to evaluate

correctly.

After all evaluations, surveys, reviews been conducted, measures to improve the interventions

should be created to update the methods used to prevent bullying.



CONCLUSION

Workplace bullying is both real and widespread. The stress it places on its victims violates basichuman dignity, and its cost to an organization can be tremendous. Fortunately, tolerance for it is

declining as academics release new statistics about its human and monetary costs.

It is impossible to prevent bullying completely, but it can be actively discouraged through conflict

management, organizational policies and education. Part of what encourages bullies is the reward it

sometimes receives. Management styles described as “tough,” “no nonsense,” and “hard as nails”are applauded in boardrooms and are often code words for a bully boss. The bully to be recognizes

and masters these techniques to become a full-fledged bully

It is an unfortunate reality that the victim is often the one who is fired and not the bully. An almost

equal number leave the organization. The best defense a bullying victim has is an organization that

actually cares about the welfare of its staff.



REFERENCES

i. www.comcare.gov.auii. www.migre.me/oQ5

iii. www.stopbullyingsa.com.au

iv. http://www.sangrea.net/bully/policy.php .

v. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3442331.stm

vi. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5292/is_20080825/ai_n28118867 .

http://www.comcare.gov.au/

http://www.migre.me/oQ5

http://www.stopbullyingsa.com.au/

http://www.sangrea.net/bully/policy.php

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3442331.stm

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5292/is_20080825/ai_n28118867

http://www.comcare.gov.au/

http://www.migre.me/oQ5

http://www.stopbullyingsa.com.au/

http://www.sangrea.net/bully/policy.php

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3442331.stm

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5292/is_20080825/ai_n28118867





Before you start

Get the organization involved and secure senior management commitment. Promote awareness

through training/info sessions, staff meetings,

staff bulletins, intranet, informal discussion

groups etc. Emphasize:

• Bullying is unacceptable.• Management commitment to a bullying-free

environment.

• Incidents of bullying behavior should be

reported.

Develop a policy and procedures relating to

bullying, including how complaints of bullying

will be handled.

Inform, instruct and train all persons within

organization in policy, responsibilities, reporting



and work systems.

Step 2: Assess The Risk

Systematically assess the risk of potential harm

to employee health and safety. Analyze

information from step 1 to determine the

specific behaviors and circumstances that may

result in incidents of workplace bullying, assess

the level of risk by considering the likelihood

and consequences of bullying incidents and

identify the priority areas for action.

Step 3: Control the Risk

In consultation with employees, health and

safety representatives and management develop

and implement strategies to minimize and

control the risks relating to workplace bullying.Strategies may involve an organization-wide

response or target symptoms in a specific area,

however where multiple risk factors are

identified an organization-wide response that





A good policy should clearly outline the issue and provide the framework for how the organization

will deal with it.

A written policy should:

• Define bullying/and give examples of bullying behaviors

• Clarify what behaviors are not bullying

• Reflect the organization’s commitment to positive working relationships

• Make clear that bullying and harassment will not be tolerated and may constitute a breach of

anti-discrimination legislation, OHS legislation and the APS Code of Conduct

• Outline strategies to promote a culture free from bullying and harassment

•

Include senior management endorsement• State the possible consequences of engaging in bullying behavior

• Outline responsibilities of employees, supervisors, managers and the head of the

organization

•







Framework of Workplace Bullying

Individual characteristics of the victim:Demographic factors and social circumstancesPersonality and personal history

Cultural and Socio- Economic Factors

Organizational Action:Tolerance/intolerance, social supportRetaliation/retribution policy enforcement

Organizationalfactorsinhibitingaggressive

behavior

Individual social,contextualantecedents of aggressive

behavior

Effects on theOrganization

Effects on theIndividual

Immediate behavioralreactions byvictimsEmotionalBehavioral

Bullying behavior perceived by thevictims

Bullying behavior exhibited by the

perpetrator

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Bullying Risk Indicator

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MPOB Term Paper Done