Workplace bullying is a topic that many people do not want to address. Organizations often do not want to address the problem (and might actually create an atmosphere where bullying is condoned if the organization believes that bullying behaviors lead to increased productivity and profits). Even targets often want to just ignore the bullying behaviors because they do not want to be viewed as victims or as being weak. In this presentation we address workplace bullying - it is our hope that a better awareness of workplace bullying will be a step to decreasing these behaviors in one's organization. Join us for more at www.wvucommmooc.org!

1. BULLYING IN THE WORKPLACE
Alan K. Goodboy and Matthew M. Martin

2. “Bullying at work means harassing, offending, socially excluding
someone or negatively affecting someone’s work tasks. In order for
the label bullying (or mobbing) to be applied to a particular
activity, interaction or process it has to occur repeatedly and regularly
(e.g., weekly) and over a period of time (e.g., about six months).
Bullying is an escalate process in the course of which the person
confronted ends up in an inferior position and become the target of
systematic negative social acts”
(Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf, & Cooper, 2003, p. 15)

3. Another definition of workplace bullying
“Workplace bullying is a toxic combination of unrelenting
emotional abuse, social ostracism, interactional terrorizing, and
other destructive communication that erode organizational health
and damages employee well-being”
(Lutgen-Sandvik & Tracy, 2012, p. 5).

4. Questions to consider when classifying behavior as Bullying:
• Frequency – the negative behaviors must happen regularly (e.g., 2 times
a week)
• Persistence – the negative behaviors must take place over time (e.g., six
months or more)
• Escalation – do the negative behaviors increase in their intensity
• Hostility - the negative behaviors must be intentionally targeted to harm
the other individual (physically, mentally, or organizationally)
• Power Imbalance – there is a perceived power differential between the
parties above (this does not have to be status in the organization)

5. BULLYING CAN TAKE PLACE
IN THE FOLLOWING RELATIONSHIPS:
Supervisor-Subordinate
Subordinate-Supervisor
Customer/Client-Employee
Co-Worker-Co-Worker

6. Neither the Bully or the Target are viewed Positively
Bullies are viewed as narcissistic dictators, two-faced actors, and as
devil figures
Targets are viewed as vulnerable
children, slaves, prisoners, animals, heartbroken lovers
(Tracy, Lutgen-Sandvik, & Alberts, 2006)

7. Who is more likely to be a bully?
• Males
• People with high stress jobs
• People who have been on the receiving end of bullying
• People with job insecurity
• People who have supervisors who are bullies
• People who work in an culture where bullying is rewarded
• People who lack interpersonal skills

8. Organizational Level Antecedents of Bullying
• Leadership and Management Styles (supervisors who are too
authoritarian could use bullying behaviors while supervisors who
are too passive might not intervene when bullying takes place
under their watch)
• Organizational Climate (some organizations tend to be more
negative, competitive, and abusive – bullying behaviors are
common in healthcare and hospitality professions)

9. • Organizational Policies – (the clearer organizational policies are
about what is considered bullying and the consequences of
bullying, the less likely bullying takes place in the workplace)
• Organizational Situational Factors – (organizational
restructuring, job insecurity, boring tasks, and high levels of
competitiveness have all been linked to an increase in bullying
behaviors)
(Samnani & Singh, 2012)

10. Other explanations for bullying in the workplace :
Disagreements people display bullying behaviors in order to “win”
Authoritative people use bullying behaviors as an abuse of power
Displaced people bully a target due to overall stress in the
workplace
Discriminatory people bully someone because that person is different
Organizational people demonstrate bullying behavior because they
are oppressed and exploited
(Lutgen-Sandvik, Namie, & Namie, 2009)

11. Negative Acts Questionnaire – Revised is a 22-item measure that is
frequently used to look at Workplace Bullying and Destructive
Behaviors in the Workplace.
Purposely, none of the items reference bullying or harassment.
The NAQ-R covers three types of bullying: work-related, person-
related, and physical intimidation.

12. Sample Work-Related Items:
• Being exposed to an unimaginable workload
• Someone withholding information which affects your performance
• Having your opinions ignored
• Excessive monitoring of your work

13. Sample Person-Related Items:
• Being humiliated or ridiculed in connection with your work
• Spreading of gossip and rumours about you
• Being ignored or excluded
• Being ignored or facing a hostile reaction when you approach
• Being the subject of excessive teasing and sarcasm

14. Sample Physically Intimidating items:
• Being shouted at or being the target of spontaneous anger
• Intimidating behaviors such as finger-pointing, invasion of
personal space, shoving, blocking your way
• Threats of violence or physical abuse or actual abuse

15. Einarsen, Hoel, & Notelaers (2009) found that all three types of
negative behaviors, work-related, person-related, and physically
intimidating were positively related to stress workload and stress with
colleagues and negatively related to organizational
climate, organizational satisfaction, and organizational commitment.

16. CYBERBULLYING
“Cyberbullying techniques use modern communication technology to
send derogatory or threatening messages directly to the victim or
indirectly to others, to forward personal and confidential
communication or images of the victim for others to see, and to
publicly post denigrating message”
(Privitera & Campbell, 2009).

17. • Cyberbullying is less common than bullying
• 50% of people have been cyberbullied at one time; 10% of people
have been cyberbullied regularly
• For children, cyberbullying often substitutes for face-to-face
bullying, but in the workplace, cyberbullying mostly coincides
with face-to-face bullying

18. ANTI-BULLYING POLICIES
• Bullying behaviors need to be specifically identified
• Policies must be posted and available to all (public)
• Zero tolerance (rules must be enforced in a timely manner)
• Need commitment from the top levels of an organization
• Training about Bullying and it impact

19. • Repeat offenders need to face increased consequences
• No punishment or retribution for filing a charge of bullying
• Social support for targets
• Human Resource departments need to not protect bullies who are
advantageous to the organization

20. Bullying is not an individual problem
in the workplace; bullying is an
organizational problem.
(Lutgen-Sandvik & Tracy, 2011)

21. REFERENCES
Cowan, R. L. (2012). It’s complicated: Defining workplace bullying from the human resource
professional’s perspective. Management Communication Quarterly, 26, 377-403.
Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., & Notelaers, G. (2009). Measuring exposure to bullying and harassment at
work: Validity, factor structure and psychometric properties of the Negative Acts Questionnaire-
Revised. Work & Stress, 23, 24-44.
Hauge, L. J., Skogstad, A., & Einarsen, S. (2009). Individual and situation predictors of workplace
bullying: Why do perpetrators engage in the bullying of others? Work & Stress, 23, 349-358.
Lutgen-Sandvik, P., & Fletcher, C. V. (2013). Conflict motivations and tactics of
targets, bystanders, and bullies: A thrice-told tale of workplace bullying. In J. G. Oetzel & S.
Ting-Toomey (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of conflict communication: Integrating
theory, research, & practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Lutgen-Sandvik, P., Namie, G., & Namie, R. (2009). Workplace bullying:
Causes, consequences, and corrections. In P. Lutgen-Sandvik & B. D. Sypher (Eds.), Destructive
organizational communication: Processes, consequences, and constructive ways of
organizing (pp. 27-52). New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis.

22. Lutgen-Sandvik, P., & Tracy, S. J. (2012). Answering five key questions about workplace
bullying; How communication scholarship provides thought leadership for transforming abuse
at work. Management Communication Quarterly, 26, 3-47.
Privitera, C., & Campbell, M. A. (2009). Cyberbullying: The new face of workplace bullying?
Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 12, 395-400.
Samnani, A., & Singh, P. (2012). 20 years of workplace bullying research: A review of the
antecedents and consequences of bullying in the workplace. Aggression and Violent
Behavior, 17, 581-589.
Spector, P. E., & Fox, S. (2005). The Stressor-Emotion Model of counterproductive work
behavior. In S. Fox & P. E. Spector (Eds.), Counterproductive behavior: Investigations of actors
and targets (pp. 151-174). Washington, D.C.: APA.
Tracy, S. J., Lutgen-Sandvik, P., & Alberts, J. K. (2006). Nightmares, demons, and slaves:
Exploring the painful metaphors of workplace bullying. Management Communication
Quarterly, 20, 148-185.