Workplace bullying is the repetitive act of mistreating one or more people by perpetrators who are often called bullies at the place of work. Bullying can take the form of verbal abuse or offensive behavior/conduct like humiliation, intimidation, threatening, or work interference. Bullies intend to destroy interpersonal relationships or jeopardize the career of their targets. This essay's objectivity will be to give a review of the Wiedmer article concerning workplace bullying.
In a Workplace Bullying Survey conducted by WBI-Zogby US, the results depicted a prevalence of workplace bullying. Nearly 54n million Americans were victims of workforce bullying. The study also found out that activities related to workplace bullying significantly impact the lives of victims. Targets of bullying claimed that they had suffered stress-related health problems like panic attacks, post-traumatic stress, clinical depression, and debilitating anxiety (Wiedmer, 2011). Besides, the study determined that bullies took advantage of controlling their targets' livelihood, thus leveraging on the same to block transfers or inflict pain.
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Consequently, victims of workplace bullying lost their jobs or quit. Those who leave their jobs were often forced to do so to address their declining sanity and health. The economic impacts of unemployment among victims were prevalent. These people ended up struggling to fend for their families or finding a new job. They consequently lost their insurance cover, resulting in the inability to access health services. Those bullying victims that still had their jobs attributed to the loss of self-esteem, lower productivity, and lack of concentration on workplace bullying.
Employees are not the only losing party in the workplace bullying affair. Organizations also suffer a great deal due to the existence of bullying at the place of work. When talented employees are pushed to resign due to workplace bullying, they are forced to hire and train new personnel, which is a costly affair. When the productivity of an employee undergoing bullying deteriorates, an organization's productivity also deteriorates because of the cumulative productivity gauge (Gordon, 2020). Organizations also face the risk of being booked for legal action by expelled employees who are victims of workplace bullying.
I have witnessed workplace bullying while I was working as an intern at a local bank. Based on the bullying practices highlighted by Wiedmer, I am confident to say that the branch manager consciously undermined the potential, worth, status, and position of the operations manager (Wiedmer, 2011). The branch manager would repetitively attack the operations manager during branch meetings and scold her because of what he perceived as poor performance. He at one time criticized her because of her dress code and hairstyle, which in my opinion, was decent. Since the operations manager had a lower rank than the branch manager, she took everything thrown her way for fear of escalation. Maybe she feared losing her job if she decided to counter the attacks. What was more annoying to me is that the branch manager showed no respect for her. He attacked her before junior employees, thus degrading her authority and status. Junior employees never respected her to her standard. It would be more respectable for the branch manager to summon the operations manager and address it privately.
I also have an elder sister who I lived with before I joined college. She would repetitively tell me that her supervisor was giving her a hard time. The supervisor intentionally marginalized and froze her out (Wiedmer, 2011). Whenever she would air her views during departmental meetings, her supervisor would ignore her opinions or always invalidate them. During breaks, she would be alienated from chit-chats, which showed that the relationship between them was strained and unwelcoming. She developed mental stress and would opt not to take supper on many occasions until she quit on the job.
The process of stopping bullying at the workplace demands policy change, input, time, and a company culture that is intolerant to bullying. When bullying is contained in a workplace, supervisors, and managers can easily manage a civilized workforce. One viable approach that can be used to eliminate bullying at the workplace s through directly addressing suspected bullying. Firstly, employees should be empowered to report any bullying; however, meager it may appear (Wiedmer, 2011). Since bullying works to the detriment of an organization's productivity, it should be treated with utmost urgency to prevent it from escalating to a level where an organization will pay dearly through legal action or cost incurrence. However, victims of workplace bullying should ensure they get in touch with individuals who can hear their grievances and seek an amicable solution. After that, responsible parties should act fast to summon the involved parties and resolve the issue either by punishing the perpetrators or swapping their operation line to reduce contact.
Managers should also come up with a policy that mitigates bullying (Kline, 2016). This policy should entail information legal consequences and disciplinary action against perpetrators, training and counseling, oversight and additional supervision, and relationship building activities. These policies have to be documented in a detailed, accurate, and precise manner to ensure they are viable and effective. A tracking team should also be created to oversee workplace bullying intervention activities and enforce these policies.
In conclusion, workplace bullying is a significant concern for the development of an organization and bullying victims' lives. Organizations may suffer declining growth, increase hiring costs, or face legal action while victims suffer psychologically and economically by either developing health complications or losing their jobs. Workplace bullying is a vice that should be addressed to eliminate the repercussions it causes. Managers can implement policies and directly address the matter. These two approaches are effective in eradicating workplace bullying and maintaining a healthy workforce.
References
Gordon, S. (2020). How Workplace Bullying Negatively Affects the Victim and Profits. Retrieved
3 September 2020, from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-the-effects-of-workplace-bullying-460628
Kline, M. (2016). The Bullying Effect: Costs and Consequences to an Organization | CUPA-HR .
Retrieved 3 September 2020, from https://www.cupahr.org/blog/bullying-effect-costs-consequences-organization/
Wiedmer, T. (2011). Workplace Bullying: Costly and Preventable.
https://www.homeworkforyou.com/static_media/uploadedfiles/Workplace%20bullying%20Article.pdf
