Skip to main content

BULLYING IN THE WORKPLACE

There is growing evidence that despite many organisations claiming to have more employee focused policies, bullying is on the rise within the workplace. For example, a recent study found that 75% of employees had reported that they had either been a target of, or have witnessed, bullying at work. 

Another survey of 2,000 UK based employees on their experiences at work to date found that 23% of the British workforce has been bullied at work, 25% have been made to feel left out by colleagues, and 12% admitted to struggling to make friends where they worked.

As well being defined by persistent offensive, intimidating, humiliating behaviour, workplace bullying can take many forms including regularly undermining someone, unfair treatment or denying someone’s training or promotion opportunities.

As a result, this now increasingly involves the abuse of authority by senior managers, reflecting an autocratic style by some that is increasingly in conflict with the work practices of some of the best organisations in the World.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that there whilst there maybe formal policies and procedures to deal with bullying, senior managers often ignore it because there is a stereotype approach as to what bullying constitutes as it can include  exclusion, isolation, being treated differently, being shouted at, humiliated, excessive monitoring and being ordered to do work without consultation.

The problem has been further complicated in recent years by the emergence of online social networking, which means that bullying is moving from the office onto the internet with serious consequences for organisational policies to deal with this abuse. 

Unfortunately, there seems to be little realisation by those with strategic responsibility for organisations, such as board of directors or trustees, that the main consequence of a bullying culture an inevitable decrease in productivity and a direct impact on the ‘bottom-line’. 

More worryingly for the future of the organisation, good employees will eventually leave whilst those involved who are undertaking the bullying remain.

This will inevitably start the process again as those managers who are the perpetrators of bullying are often motivated by their own personal issues such as lack of self-confidence and envy towards other people's abilities, success and popularity. 

As a result, they constantly deny responsibility for their behaviour and its consequences and are unable or unwilling to recognise the effect of their behaviour on others. 

If nothing is done to address this problem, then it will have a direct effect on the performance of the organisation, negatively affecting its culture and productivity and may, in extreme instances, affect its reputation, especially if legal action is taken.

The problem is that when such bullying becomes institutionalised and results in situation where staff are constantly overloaded, where there is a blame culture amongst colleagues, and where aggressive behaviour is tolerated, there will be serious consequences for the future of that organisation. 

Indeed, there are an increasing number of research studies, which show that rather than increasing performance, overloaded and bullied employees tend to work for organisations where the management style is bureaucratic and reactive, and, inevitably, its overall performance is in decline.

Not surprisingly, such behaviour hits the bottom line of the business with a recent survey by the Health & Safety Executive estimated that 17.9 million working days a year are lost to stress, anxiety and depression at a cost of billions of pounds to UK industry annually.

In contrast, those workers who go the extra mile for their employer, who feel recognised and supported and look forward to going to their place of work every day, are those employed for growing, dynamic companies where the management style is empowering and successful.

With the ‘great resignation’ phenomenon still affecting many organisations after the Covid pandemic, perhaps the simple message for all organisations, is that its employees are its biggest assets, something that some still fail to grasp even in the 21st Century. However, if these assets are affected by issues such as workplace bullying, the result could be lower performance, reduced profits, demotivated employees and, where court cases take place, reputational costs for both the organisation and the managers involved.



Popular posts from this blog

THE CRACHACH

Unlike me, do you consider yourself part of 'the establishment' here in Wales?  As thousands gather for the Eisteddfod in Mold this morning, they will, according to some social commentators, not be participating in the greatest cultural festivals of Europe. Instead, they will merely be bit-part players in one of the annual gatherings of the great and good of Wales.  Unkindly, this set of the movers and shakers in Welsh society is known as 'the crachach' , and constitute a social class all of their own, dominating the educational, cultural and media sectors of Wales and allegedly looking down upon any outsider with new ideas, reinforcing mediocrity and failing to see beyond the limits of their own narrow experience.  They are said to live in a comfort zone that awaits the expected invitation to the next glass of chilled chardonnay and canapés, forgetting that due to their lack of leadership and drive, Wales remains firmly rooted to the bottom of the UK prosperity league ...

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CREATIVE CLASSES

One of my favourite academic books of the last two decades must be the “Rise of the Creative Classes” by Professor Richard Florida.  This was one of the first detailed studies of the growing group of individuals who use their creativity and mental labour to earn a living and not only included those in arts and entertainment, but also people working in science and technology as well as knowledge-based professions such as healthcare, law, business, and finance.  Fast forward to 2022 and Professor Florida has written an updated report on the creative classes although he and his team now identify a different type of individual who is taking full advantage of the growth in digital platforms, social media, and online marketplaces.  Such ‘creators’ are defined as those who use digital technology to make and publish unique creative content, whether in the form of video, film, art, music, design, text, games, or any other media that audiences can access and respond to.  They ...

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRANCHISING

When we talk about start-ups and entrepreneurship, rarely do we discuss the potential of franchising not only as a way of establishing new ventures in the economy but also as a method of growing existing businesses. According to the British Franchising Association, franchising is the granting of a licence by one person (the franchisor) to another (the franchisee), which entitles the franchisee to own and operate their own business under the brand, systems and proven business model of the franchisor. The franchisee also receives initial training and ongoing support, comprising all the elements necessary to establish a previously untrained person in the business. This enables individuals to start their own businesses without having to develop their own ideas and utilising an existing brand and established market. Of course, whilst each franchise business is owned and operated by the franchisee, the franchisor controls the quality and standards of the way in which the business is...