It s like water torture : Employee and organisational responses to workplace bullying

Size: px
Start display at page:

Download "It s like water torture : Employee and organisational responses to workplace bullying"

Transcription

1 It s like water torture : Employee and organisational responses to workplace bullying Marissa S. Edwards PhD Candidate UQ Business School University of Queensland

2 Overview of presentation Definitions Research Qualitative study How do employees respond? How do organisations respond? Factors underlying responses What about sexual harassment? Thoughts on criminalising bullying Conclusions Contact details

3 Definitions Repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed toward an employee or group of employees that creates a risk to health and safety. (WorkSafe Victoria) [When] one or more individuals, repeatedly over a period of time, are exposed to negative acts conducted by one or more other individuals. In addition, there must exist an imbalance in the powerrelationships between parties. The person confronted has to have difficulties defending himself/herself in this situation. (Einarsen, 2000) The repeated less favourable treatment of a person by another or others in the workplace, which may be considered unreasonable and inappropriate workplace practice. It includes behaviour that intimidates, offends, degrades or humiliates a worker." (Qld Government Dept. of Workplace Health and Safety)

4 Research We know that workplace bullying is Prevalent Depending on the definition used, prevalence ranges from 4 70%. Complex Involves a range of behaviours. Differs from sexual harassment, workplace violence, incivility. Can also be directed upward towards organisational leaders. Damaging to employees and organisations Impacts on physical and psychological health. Costs of turnover, absenteeism, team conflict, lower morale, etc. Legal costs.

5 Qualitative study Semi-structured interviews with 15 employees who had observed or experienced wrongdoing in their organisation. Incidents ranged from discrimination, SH, bullying, stalking, malpractice, patient abuse and manslaughter. Specifically involved 4 targets of bullying, and of these: Two resigned from their organisations without filing a formal complaint. Two had a nervous breakdown and one attempted suicide. Three had received counseling as a direct result of the experience.

6 How do employees respond? Gradual awareness that something was wrong. Process of recognition and labeling emerged over multiple incidents. All reported significant distress, including depression, anxiety, physical complaints, etc. General reluctance to inform supervisors that there was a problem and to file a formal complaint. Why? Targets wanted to deal with the problem themselves. Bully was in a position of power and influence. No complaint channels available. Perception that reporting could affect future career opportunities. Perception that their supervisor and the organisation would not support them in the complaint process.

7 How do organisations respond? All participants were unsatisfied with the response they received from management (if they tried to report). Responses ranged from: Denial Reassurance Aggression Apathy The way that everyone described going through the official grievance process to me was that the organisation won t do anything to help you they won t support either of you basically. They will want to protect themselves and they will want to make it go away but it will probably be drawn out for as long as it takes for one of you to crack.

8 Factors underlying responses Why are employees reluctant to report wrongdoing? A climate of silence can develop in organisations when employees believe that it is dangerous and futile to speak up about problems and concerns (Morrison & Milliken, 2000). Fear and the belief that speaking up will not make a difference can lead employees to remain silent or exit. Why are organisations reluctant to respond appropriately? Peirce, Smolinski and Rosen (1998) used the term deaf ear syndrome to describe how some organisations systematically ignore internal complaints about SH. Why does this happen? Inadequate policies and procedures for complaint management; Managerial rationalization processes; Organizational factors driving inertial tendencies or deafness.

9 What about sexual harassment? Most comprehensive Australian survey conducted by HEROC in SH is a form of unlawful sexual discrimination. 18% of adult workers claimed to have experienced at least one incident of sexual harassment (28% of female workers, 7% of male workers). 87% of employees did something about it (e.g., confronted the harasser, filed a complaint). The majority were very satisfied with how their organisation managed their concerns. Results are encouraging, although organisations need to do more with respect to implementation of policies.

10 Thoughts on criminalising bullying Bullying is an extremely complex behaviour. Which definition would we use? Labeling an event as bullying depends on individual perceptions. Bullying is not always intentional. What would the implications be for all involved? Two key questions: Would criminalising the behaviour make employees more or less likely to speak up? Would this move make organisations more or less likely to respond appropriately to complaints? Difficult to tell without more research!

11 Conclusions Workplace bullying is a prevalent, destructive form of wrongdoing in organisations that deserves greater research attention. We need to know more about why employees choose to report this behaviour, and the motivations underlying managerial decisions to respond appropriately to complaints. Would criminalising bullying help to facilitate greater reporting and better management of concerns and complaints? Ultimately, this should be a major goal, along with improved policies and procedures, support for targets, etc.

12 Contact details and research Online survey about experiences with workplace wrongdoing (bullying, sexual harassment, fraud, theft, etc) to be conducted in September-October Looking for individuals and organisations to participate. Only basic demographic information to be collected so participants will be completely anonymous. If interested, please contact me: