Bullying and Productivity at the Workplace Maxwell Herman New York City College

Bullying and Productivity at the Workplace
Maxwell Herman
New York City College of Technology
Bullying and Productivity at the Workplace
Hypothesis
Employees who get bullied at work exhibit lower self-esteem, productivity , and commitment to their organization’s success as a whole.
Bullying and Productivity at the Workplace
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Modern management recognizes the importance of interpersonal relationships in organizations. It is becoming increasingly clear that highly productive employees thrive in a positive work environment; when the internal work relationships are plagued by conflicts and aggressive behavior, operational results usually suffer. One of the major factors that negatively affect productivity is bullying. Bullying is defined as a repetitive negative behavior that causes distress and makes the person bullied feel inferior. Some examples of bullying include: public humiliation, belittling opinion, insults, preventing equal opportunity, unrealistic workload, and unwanted physical contact. Dawn Jennifer, Helen Cowie,, and Katerina Ananiadou (2003) found that “Bullying can only thrive when it is supported by management structures and policies, thus, it may be that bullied/non-victims perceive negative behavior’s as an unpleasant but normal aspect of the organizational culture and so endure it through fear or resignation. Such a culture would favor those who could survive, and managers and supervisors would be tough towards those who were perceived as weak and dispensable.” (p.495)
Al-Karim Samnani, & Parbudyal Singh (2012) found that bullying in the workplace can happen to anyone. It can occur from supervisor to subordinate or even from subordinate to supervisor. They also found that an employee who is constantly subjected to bullying will have less job satisfaction and will be absent from work more so then others. Perceptions of leadership also play a role in the role of bullying. Some leaders are abusive to their employees while others are too passive and do not do anything to resolve the situation. Management sometimes tend to give up on leadership responsibility when there are situations in which conflict is high.
Bullying and Productivity at the Workplace
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Al-Karim Samnani & Parbudyal Singh (2012) also found that there is a bi-directional relationship between organizational culture and individual characteristics. For example, an organizations culture could influence an individual to bully someone aggressively in the workplace and an aggressive individual can also have influence on an organization and encourage workplace bullying.
A study was completed that looked at the effects of workplace bullying in health care and the meaning of work. Judith MacIntosh, Judith Wuest, Marilyn Merritt Gray,and Marcella Cronkhite (2010) found that “As a result of cumulative damage from WPB, women’s perceptions of and feelings toward work, colleagues, and careers changed. This change manifested as a loss in meaning derived from work.” (p. 1130). Many women also experienced various physiological and psychological changes in their meaning of work. They reported that they enjoyed work less, were less capable of focusing at work, didn’t feel like going to work, and felt ill. Twenty out of twenty-one participants who experienced stress due to workplace bullying also experienced health effects that included: “headaches, gastrointestinal disorders, sleep disturbances, exhaustion, weight changes, decreased libido, hair loss, exacerbations of chronic illness, hypertension, panic attacks, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and suicidal ideations. The duration of exposure to workplace bullying and the severity of its impact on meaning on work influenced the severity of symptoms.” (p.1130) “Conflict in values arising from such work situations resulted in decreased motivation for client care, withdrawal from work, and diminished investment in the workplace.” (p.1131). Judith MacIntosh, Judith Wuest, Marilyn Merritt Gray,and Marcella Cronkhite also found that women no longer had the same drive and that their personal and professional lives lost quality.
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Judith MacIntosh, Judith Wuest, Marilyn Merritt Gray,and Marcella Cronkhite also discovered that the effects of workplace bullying diminish overtime but it may take years to fully recover. (p.1137). Stale Einarsen (2004) reported that “victims of bullying generally report lowered wellbeing and lowered job satisfaction, as well as a number of stress symptoms including low self-esteem, sleep problems, anxiety, concentration difficulties, chronic fatigue, anger, depression and various somatic problems” (p.128). They also found that “2,215 employees working in seven different occupational sectors, 21 per cent of the respondents reported lowered job satisfaction due to bullying at work, and 27 per cent claimed that bullying reduced productivity in their department” (p.136). Another finding was that a loss of creativity and initiative were developed when faced with bullying. A reduction in commitment, motivation, satisfaction, performance, and productivity was found when the victim was faced with bullying. (p.150).
Employees who get bullied at work exhibit lower self-esteem, productivity, and commitment to their organization’s success as a whole. Bullying has a clear negative effect inside and out of the workplace. Productivity is reduced meanwhile illnesses get introduced. Employee’s perform worse, feel worse, and ultimately shouldn’t have to suffer. Victims look at personal growth as an outcome of bullying. After experiencing much hardship, an individual can learn many things about who they are and what they should and shouldn’t tolerate in their lives.
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References
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