The prevalence of bullying, harassment and abuse at workplaces is undeniable, to say the least. Bullying at the workplace involves repeated harassment of individual employees by colleagues over a prolonged period of time where the victim is unable to defend himself or herself. At an individual level, workplace bullying and harassment may result into behavioral, psychological, or psychosomatic effects which consequently led to increased absenteeism, chronic diseases and eventual resignation or dismissal (Claybourn, 2011). However, bullying and abuse affects employee engagement and job performance.
Engaged employees are committed and work diligently to achieve the objectives of a company. They are a valuable asset to any organization and deserve to be protected. However, the presence of bullies, abusers, and harassers in the organization has a negative effect on employee engagement (Samnani et al., 2014). Bullies in the organization create strained employee relations which lead to friction, tension, drama, and hostilities among employees (Pilch & Turska, 2015). On the other hand, non-engaged employees are most likely to become bullies and abusers because they do not take their work seriously and will always look for an opportunity to interfere with the work of others. The relationship between engaged employees and bullying is inversely proportional in that the more engaged employees are the less there are incidences of bullying, harassment, and abuse. The opposite is true ( Richardson , 2016).
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According to Cummings and Rowe (2011), the emotional strain and anxiety created by workplace bullying, harassment, and abuse not only affects the well-being of the targets nut also that of other employees. Employees who feel bullied, harassed, or abused are more likely to become stressed, loose work creativity, or miss work on health grounds (Oladapo & Banks, 2016). However, there is also a high likelihood that such targets may also try to hit back and in so doing also become bullies and abusers.
A manager can impact this issue through employee engagement by reprimanding identified bullies at the workplace. Giorgi et al. (2015) posit that failure to reprimand abusers might lead to loss of employee engagement which might have a disastrous effect on the organization due to absenteeism, resignations, low morale, and decreased productivity. The manager needs to actively listen to the victims and build trust with them to prevent loss of employee engagement (Liefooghe & Davey, 2010). The bully should be identified and the destructive habit eradicated as fast as possible (Stouten et al., 2010). Failure will only lead to loss of trust and morale which will heavily impact on employee engagement at the workplace.
For instance, in a healthcare facility situation, there are incidences where patients harass staff. This scenario is will definitely affect the morale and engagement of the staff if no corrective measure is undertaken. The staff will feel unvalued and unappreciated and this will make him or her loose her zeal and enthusiasm for the job (Parker, 2014). In such a situation the manager or administrator needs to handle the patient in an appropriate manner and let him or her know that such a behavior is not entertained in the facility (Rai & Agarwal, 2017). The targeted staff should also be informed of the decision taken on the abusive patient so as to maintain his or her engagement to her job.
In conclusion, there is an inverse relationship between employee engagement and bullying, harassment or abuse at the workplace. This means that the higher the level of employee engagement at the workplace, the lower the rate of bullying, harassment, and abuse. A good manager needs to maintain higher levels of employee engagement by dealing with bullying and harassment decisively when it shows up at the workplace.
References
Claybourn, M. (2011). Relationships between Moral Disengagement, Work Characteristics and Workplace Harassment . Journal of Business Ethics, 100, 2, 283-301.
Cummings, L. & Rowe, M. (2011). Concerns about Bullying at Work as Heard by Organizational Ombudsmen. Perspectives on Work, 14 , 1, 15-18.
Giorgi, G., Leon-Perez, J, & Arenas, A. (2015). Are Bullying Behaviors Tolerated in Some Cultures? Evidence for a Curvilinear Relationship between Workplace Bullying and Job Satisfaction among Italian Workers. Journal of Business Ethics, 131, 1, 227-237.
Liefooghe, A. & Davey, K. (2010).The Language and Organization of Bullying at Work Administrative Theory & Praxis, 32, 1, 71-95.
Oladapo, V., & Banks, L. T. (2013). Management bullies: The effect on employees. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 4, 4, 107-120.
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Pilch, I. & Turska, E. (2015).Relationships between Machiavellianism, Organizational Culture, and Workplace Bullying: Emotional Abuse from the Target's and the Perpetrator's Perspective . Journal of Business Ethics, 128, 1, 83-93.
Rai, A., & Agarwal, U. A. (2017). Linking workplace bullying and work engagement: The mediating role of psychological contract violation. South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management, 4, 1, 42-71.
Richardson, R., Hall, R. & Joiner, S. (2016). Workplace bullying in the United States: An analysis of state court cases. Cogent Business & Management, 3.
Samnani, A., Salamon, S. & Singh, P. (2014). Negative Affect and Counterproductive Workplace Behavior: The Moderating Role of Moral Disengagement and Gender. Journal of Business Ethics, 119, 2, 235-244.
Stouten, J., Baillien, E., Van den Broeck, A., Camps, J., De Witte, H. & Euwema, M. (2010). Discouraging Bullying: The Role of Ethical Leadership and its Effects on the Work Environment . Journal of Business Ethics, 95, 1.
