Bullying Occurs at Many Stages of Life
Bullying occurs at many stages of life, including while a person is at work, at home, and elsewhere. Additionally, it might be obvious to everyone or it might be happening covertly (Wiedmer, 2010). It's crucial to remember that bullying can have a beneficial or negative impact on a person's finances, productivity, emotions, morale, and health. Particularly when it comes to bullying at work, nobody is safe. When this happens, the company's or business's operations become ineffective, necessitating the need for management to take remedial action. The primary reason for this is because bullying is costly but at the same time preventable. Hence, the only way of curbing workplace bullying is through ensuring all the workers deliver their roles and duties as a team.
Prevalence of Workplace Bullying
A significant number of employees in the United States have at one time experienced this unwanted act. In particular, most of the perpetrators are male bosses estimated at 72 percent while their targets are mostly female workers (Wiedmer, 2010). For this reason, the effects of workplace bullying are far-reaching as there are campaigns around the globe pushing for gender equality in the job places. On the other hand, bullying can take place among employees of the same gender. Therefore, the targets are mostly the brightest and the most skilled than the perpetrators. Following the blocked transfers and the resulting pain, the targets end up quitting their jobs. The reasons brought forth include deteriorating sanity, discharge without a cause, and leaving to address a medical reason. Thus, in a move to escape bullies, individuals choose to become unemployed.
Personal Experiences of Bullying
At one point I served as a sales dispatcher and it was during this period that I got first-hand experience of bullying. The primary reason I became a target was because I was not ready to become a fraud as were my colleagues. The fear that I would expose their dirty linen led to my poor treatment at the workplace and eventually the employee in-charge of the sales department had to dismiss me. Therefore, it becomes apparent that honesty and having a higher moral standard than the rest of the workers makes one a target of bullying. Besides, the whistle-blowers are individuals who are not vulnerable to bullying and are comfortable when it comes to reporting matters that can affect the overall productivity of the company or business (Wiedmer, 2010). Having a prosocial orientation and being non-confrontational means, one is ready and willing to offer assistance but then they end up being victims of bullying.
In another instance, I was among the best performing employees in a field study. However, I constantly received health-harming mistreatment through assignments to lowly-sanitized places. It became clear that all this was happening to me to jeopardize my performance which would ultimately lead to dismissal. Besides, the employee in-charge wanted to discourage me and further yield bad interrelationships with my other workmates. For this reason, bullies tend to pose their targets on those workers they believe are performing well and look like a threat in the near future. Therefore, in a move to sabotage their appreciation by the managers and bosses, they place them in unfavorable conditions to tarnish their outcomes (Wiedmer, 2010). Workers who refuse to become subservient also become victims of bullying as they look promising as independent employees in the future.
Techniques to Address Workplace Bullying
Curbing bullying in job places necessitates that companies should come up with a culture that discourages the act, input from the employees, and some policy changes. For this reason, those at the helm of the management can produce a labor force that can not only handle bullying but also discourage it (Olive & Cangemi, 2015). Concerning the policy changes, the regulations put in place will identify the violators and try to put an end to the undesirable act. Hence, the workers get a conducing environment that is safe allowing them to become productive. It is important to note that bullying ultimately leads to increased healthcare costs, low morale, and a high employee turnover within the company. Implementing the appropriate policy changes will lead to reduced operating costs.
Receiving input from the workers concerning instances of bullying will assist in addressing the cases. It is important to note that there is a tremendous gap that exists between the understanding of employers and employees when it comes to bullying. Therefore, to bridge this gap, the managers should encourage reporting of cases of bullying in a timely manner to assist in identifying the suspects (Olive & Cangemi, 2015). Thus, this will come a long way in establishing trust among the workers and make them understand that the management is willing and able to prevent any arising cases of bullying. Moreover, the response of the employer regarding previous instances reported will encourage more others to come out and report. The manner of receiving input may vary depending on the institution structure where employees can either report to the human resource officer or the relevant department head.
References
Wiedmer, T. (2010). Workplace bullying: Costly and preventable. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 77(2), 35-41.
Olive, K., & Cangemi, J. (2015). Workplace Bullies Why they are successful and what can be done about it?. Organization Development Journal, 33(2), 19.
