This essay offers a practical tip in the human resources area within good governance. It begins the monthly series on strengthening governance in private companies, non-profit organizations, and public institutions.
The chief executive officer (CEO) of a large corporation takes pleasure in threatening all of his employees to increase sales. He accosts his sales agents to “push, push, push, until they succumb!” Everyone has so much fear that they keep to themselves like hermits in their cubicles. A few individuals begin to show signs of distress. The CEO doesn’t care. He knows he can fire those souls and hire newbies to feed his hunger for endless growth.
In a team meeting, colleagues discuss a work-related topic. They share their experiences. Suddenly, one person raises his arm, points to the wall, and shouts an off-color remark. The entire room goes silent, stopping the conversation like hailstones hitting the window. The supervisor doesn’t say a word, appearing unfazed by the outburst as if it were a natural occurrence. The abradant colleague is known by everyone to create friction among the team from time to time.
Do these two fictitious personalities sound familiar? Did you encounter a similar situation? If yes, how did you feel? Did you feel demoralized?
The actions portrayed in the above examples can be described as workplace bullying, especially if the acts persist over time causing stress and emotional harm on others. Such acts are not illegal, but they are, nevertheless, disruptive in carrying out business. Insults, verbal abuse, and other unruly behaviors stop the flow of work. Some employees may find it difficult to complete assigned tasks. Left unchecked and unaddressed, unruly behaviors could affect the performance of the team. One’s work and the work of others will suffer as a consequence of what may seem like innocent conduct at the time but are in fact vicious or underhanded tactics.
Is there anything that can be done to stop unruly and outrageous behavior? Should a person fight back, remain silent, or quit her job?
Bullying and a closely related issue of harassment are growing concerns that can have detrimental effects on the well-being of workers. The academic literature shows that these types of negative behaviors have increased over the past few decades. Depending on the parties involved and the circumstances of the cases, studies indicate that the proportion of affected workers can vary from a low percentage to a large share of the workforce. One study that surveyed 17,524 U.S. workers across the private and public sectors reported 8.1% being harassed in the past 12 months and found that “workplace harassment [is] associated with significantly higher rates of serious mental illnesses, disrupted sleep patterns, and psychosocial distress symptoms.”[1] Another sample of the American workforce showed bullying to have a direct relationship with stress but an indirect one with mental health.[2] In other words, workers’ mental health decreases as bullying increases.
Workplace bullying can manifest itself in varied forms, which make it difficult to prosecute aggressive behavior. Behaviors of this sort can span a wide spectrum from physical assault to verbal abuse to emotional and psychological manipulation. The aggression can be non-sexual or sexual in nature and perpetrated by either sex. Both women and men can be a bully. And between the bully and the bullied is a power dynamic of one person trying to assert control over another person.
A framework has been proposed that examines all forms of aggression along a continuum, so that an investigator can evaluate relevant actions that led to the violent outburst and related consequences that followed after the incident. Berlingieri described how this framework can explain bullying in the context of organizational and social processes, changing the study of bullying from understanding why it happened to how it occurred.[3] Aggressive behavior doesn’t just erupt by chance but is a collection of interrelated issues that preceded the eruption.
The RAND Corporation has a model that evaluates whether a person has a propensity to engage in aggressive behaviors. Does the person have a preference for committing such an act? The individual “may have some degree of positive (or accepting) attitudes about the behavior and may have beliefs that rationalize or even glorify it.”[4] Such a person has a perverse idea to think, in his mind, that bullying or harassment is somehow a good thing to act out. This insight is instructive in getting to the root of the problem. Aggressive interpersonal behavior is a psychological problem.
By understanding a person’s preferences for certain types of behavior, Matthews and Farris explained how aggressive behavior can be reduced or even continued by the influence of peers and leaders. An individual’s propensity to engage in a particular act can be inhibited by disapproval of his peers or it can be stimulated by observing others in carrying out the deed.[5] Leadership and peer groups can set a good example by demonstrating positive attitudes and socially acceptable norms to combat aggressive behavior. Exhibiting the opposite by leaders and peers would perpetuate aggression.
Studying how positive interpersonal behaviors can counteract negative ones is an area of research in the literature. Lutgen-Sandvik and her team tested several hypotheses to evaluate how treating people with respect, soliciting feedback from others, and instituting virtues in an organization (the positive side) are related to bullying and bullying’s effects (the negative side) on the workforce. A key finding is that negative actions have a stronger influence over positive ones; moreover, positive outcomes would diminish as bullying continues.[6] This is not to say that positive interpersonal and organizational values contribute nothing. The study suggests that positive behaviors can strengthen mental health, which in turn can alleviate stress. Instituting positive attitudes and values brings benefits to the workforce.
Creating a positive atmosphere is a step in the right direction. But that still doesn’t address the root cause. There will be victims who would want to seek redress for a bully’s persistent acts. Are there legal remedies to help those who were violated?
Morris compared recent efforts to pass legislation in numerous states against the practice of existing tort law. Morris explained how intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) tort is more effective and flexible over a new law in that IIED tort can handle a wide range of cases of aggression and by contrast a statute could encourage frivolous claims and undermine protections against discrimination.[7] A growing body of IIED case law shows that a court would accept a workplace bullying case when extreme and outrageous behavior has persisted over a period of time and has demonstrated an intent to cause harm. Aggressive behavior is narrowly defined to refer to an act that is extreme and outrageous.
An act committed one time at random would not be allowed in a court of law. Only under certain circumstances where a single instance is egregious and malicious (such as in wrongful termination or a false accusation) would a single instance of bullying be allowed. The action by the perpetrator must be so bad to cause irreparable harm to the victim.
To summarize what can be done to deal with bullying in the workplace: a lawsuit may be pursued in cases where an extreme behavior has caused significant harm. Legal action, however, may be expensive and can take time to resolve. It would sustain tensions in the employer-employee relationship, ending in a permanent breakup.
Organizational policies such as zero tolerance or a complaint process may be implemented. But an internal policy has limitations. A policy prescription might not be followed if leaders don’t enforce it or employees perceive it as ineffective or a waste of time. Leadership needs to construct an anti-bullying policy that effectively addresses specific egregious behaviors and puts in place meaningful sanctions that unequivocally tell perpetrators that their abnormal acts are not acceptable.
An organization may establish a culture that reinforces virtues and certain positive values such as dignity, respect, and cooperation. Exhibiting these values throughout the organization (from the CEO down to the cleaner) provides a buttress to protect everyone against individual aggression. A bully may think twice about acting on his impulse when he knows that everyone would not accept such behavior. A positive environment might keep aggression at bay and in check.
However, a positive organizational culture by itself is not enough, as research indicates that continued bullying will diminish positivity’s effects. An organizational policy is necessary to stop aggressive behavior when it happens. Implementing a well-crafted policy coupled with positive values will cover all the bases to keep staff motivated and productive, on one hand, while preventing recurrences of abuse and violence, on the other.
Organizations have ways to deal with bullying and outrageous behavior in the workplace. It does not have to drag on for weeks or months to a point where it harms workers and affects performance. Workplace bullying can be managed. And the bully can be controlled.
Evidence for Practice
Positive attitudes and virtues may diminish in currency in the face of incessant bullying.
An effective anti-bullying policy must be precise in what particular types of aggressive behavior are socially unacceptable. This is dependent on organizational culture, because organizations will have differences in opinion in how aggression is interpreted in each organization.
A civil action case may be brought to hold a bully and potentially his employer liable for damages.
Next Steps for Leaders
Reexamine your human resources policy or personnel handbook. Do you have specific behaviors and acts identified as prohibited? What disciplinary actions do you take to handle the prohibited acts? Are supervisors trained on promptly identifying and addressing inappropriate behaviors?
Review your grievance and complaint procedures and recent cases in the past 12 months. Were complaints resolved to the satisfaction of parties involved? Do you see any patterns or common issues arising from the complaints? Are employees aware of the procedures to know that they can submit their grievances confidentially? Your complaint procedures may need to change based on your review.
Conduct an internal survey to ask your employees for their opinion on what they value. This will allow you to identify attitudes, values, and beliefs shared by your employees. It could further lead to identifying specific behaviors that most people would find unacceptable. Results of the internal survey will inform how you’ll define your organizational policy.
Consider developing a code of ethics for all employees to follow. This will contribute to establishing professionalism in your organization.
Open for Discussion
Have you witnessed or experienced bullying at work? How did your organization respond? When was the last time you discussed workplace culture and employee well-being in your meetings? Feel free to submit your answers in the comment section. If you’re not comfortable sharing your experiences, you can talk to a specialist at Peaceful Governance Institute (PGI) in private; click this link to call the PGI hotline support.
Notes
1. Jagdish Khubchandani and James H. Price, (2015) “Workplace Harassment and Morbidity Among U.S. Adults: Results from the National Health Interview Survey,” Journal of Community Health 40(3): 557, 559.
2. Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik, Jacqueline N. Hood, and Ryan P. Jacobson, (2016) “The Impact of Positive Organizational Phenomena and Workplace Bullying on Individual Outcomes,” Journal of Managerial Issues 28(1/2): 44.
3. Adriana Berlingieri, (2015) “Workplace Bullying: Exploring an Emerging Framework,” Work, Employment & Society 29(2): 346–350.
4. Miriam Matthews and Coreen Farris, (2022) “Harmful Interpersonal Behaviors in the Department of the Air Force: Informing Prevention and Response,” RAND Corporation: 5.
5. Matthews: 6.
6. Lutgen-Sandvik: 44–45.
7. Sarah E. Morris, (2016) “Tackling Workplace Bullying in Tort: Emerging Extreme and Outrageous Conduct Test Averts Need for Statutory Solution,” ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law 31(2): 268–293.