The Preventing and Mitigating Workplace Bullying Paper

Introduction

Bullying is a leading workplace stressor that is perpetrated by malicious individuals who seek control, power, subjugation, and domination over others. According to Workforce Bullying Institute (WBI), bullying refers to the repeated mistreatment of targeted persons by one or more people and it may take the forms of verbal abuse, nonverbal abuse such as offensive behavior, threats, humiliation, interference, and intimidation which prevent people from fully accomplishing their tasks. To address bullying in the workplace, there is a need to invest time and resources into policy changes. The paper focuses on the prevention and mitigation of workplace bullying by addressing the persistent intimidation of new employees. It creates a memo that addresses the bullying incident in an organization and selects communication technologies for communicating the policy.

Part 1: The Memo

To: Everyone

From: The Human Resource Manager

Date: September 9, 2021

Subject: The Prevention and Mitigation of Workplace Bullying in the Organization

I write to share the problem of bullying in the form of persistent intimidation of new employees and its implications for the organization. I also offer some insights on how to address, mitigate and prevent this form of bullying.

Workplace bullying remains a pervasive practice that is very costly to any organization and it is a risk to employees’ health and safety. Gillen et al., (2017) note that it is the major cause of extended periods of leave and inability to effectively perform assigned tasks all of which negatively affect any organization’s activities. According to Wiedmer (2010), 37% of workforce members in the United States report bullying, a figure that translates to an estimated 54 million Americans. The findings of the study also show that 62% of employers tend to ignore the issue thus worsening the problem which leads to health-related complications such as clinical depression, panic attacks, and traumatic stress.

The organization currently has an increase in the number of new employees most of whom join immediately after graduation. However, the organization has not witnessed a corresponding increase in the number of new employees who qualify for retention after their probation. Because of the increase in people that apply to work with this organization, we assume that they have a conducive working environment that would necessitate their retention. The reality is that most of them have been victims of persistent intimidation, a situation that derails their productivity thus costing the organization some very talented individuals. This is a problem that warrants exploration.

The management has for a long time assumed that there is a positive workplace culture in the organization but the recent discovery reveals that there is a need for stronger leadership and communication. I suggest the application of organization-level, individual-level, and multilevel interventions to deal with the issue. For instance, is important to set clear boundaries on acceptable and unacceptable behavior in the workplace and encourage bullying awareness among all employees. There is a need to equip new employees with sufficient resources to effectively do their jobs and encourage a system of positive feedback that does not involve micromanagement. I also suggest the need to enhance the process of investigating bullying allegations through intensive training for everyone in the organization. More importantly, there is a need to appreciate the negative relationship between bullying, an employee’s health, and the organization’s productivity so that there is an increased commitment to addressing the issue (Anjum et al., 2019). An organizational training program could utilize these to address the negative effects of persistent intimidation of new employees.

We will discuss this at length in the next meeting.

Part 2: Analysis of Communication Technology

The three communication technologies that can be used to communicate the policy include E-mail, group forums, and conferencing technology. Although emails have been used since the 1970s, their continued relevance in the workplace today makes it an appropriate choice to communicate the policy. Group forums are a form of communication technology that allows people to post questions and answers around a given topic thus allowing other people to respond to the topic. Conferencing technologies use live video and enable people to communicate across long distances. Given the elusive nature of the issue of bullying, it is important to encourage collaboration through engagements and open communication on the policy to ensure that it is effectively addressed, mitigated, and prevented in the organization. As a result, the three selected communication technologies will not only communicate the policy but also encourage members of the organization to provide feedback and their opinions on how to address the issue.

One of the benefits of using emails in communicating the policy is that they are delivered fast and they can be sent and received from any computer and any location. The other benefit is that emails can be sent to several people and thus it would offer a convenient means of communicating the policy. However, one major limitation of email as communication technology is that there are no guarantees that everyone will read the email and thus it may present a major setback when it comes to policy implementation.

One of the benefits of group forums is that they create a discussion environment and thus encourage people’s engagement with the policy. Through this, there is an opportunity to educate people on a given issue and thus it would make it easy for them to understand the policy. Group forums are also an excellent way to build relationships and encourage communication with employees. Through this, they will be more willing to talk openly about the issues they face.

Conferencing technology saves time and resources since it encourages efficient communication and thus it would allow for easy communication of the policy. Since it also offers face-to-face conversations, it offers a sense of community and thus it would reinforce the need to address the underlying bullying issue. However, one main limitation of conferencing technology is that it has a high initial cost and thus it would be an expensive task for the organization.

Conclusion

The paper focused on the prevention and mitigation of workplace bullying by addressing the persistent intimidation of new employees. It created a memo that addressed the bullying incident in an organization and how the issue can be addressed, mitigated, and prevented and selected emails, group forums, and conferencing technology as communication technologies for communicating the policy. It also established the need for an organizational training program to address the negative impacts of bullying in the workplace. It maintains that given the prevalence of bullying incidents in the workplace, there is a need to put in place practices that protect potential targets from bullying. Employers have a moral, legal and social responsibility to protect their employees from bullying. They need to be aware of bullying practices and effectively engage with relevant stakeholders to safeguard the rights of their employees.

References

Anjum, A., Muazzam, A., Manzoor, F., Visvizi, A., Pollock, G., & Nawaz, R. (2019). Measuring the scale and scope of workplace bullying: An alternative workplace bullying scale. Sustainability, 11(17), 4634.

Gillen, P. A., Sinclair, M., Kernohan, W. G., Begley, C. M., & Luyben, A. G. (2017). Interventions for prevention of bullying in the workplace. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (1). Retrieved from https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD009778.pub2/full

Wiedmer, T. L. (2010). Workplace bullying: Costly and preventable. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 77(2).