Browbeating in Team: Wellness and Strength Concerns - Research Paper Example

Running Head: Social Psychology Theory and Research Evidence University Name: Literature Review It is common to hear that labour force is the secret behind the success of any given organisation. When workers who are very important in ensuring continuity in a business enterprise are bullied there is certainly a need for concern. Bullying has been a threat to the proper running of any given organisation, the management should therefore intimate a programme towards constituting systems for dealing withy internal and interpersonal conflicts a thing that may greatly benefit the staff and the employer. Research conducted in Britain for the last seven years has portrayed workplace as a salient issue to be addressed. The research findings have illustrated the career damage suffered by the bullied, mental trauma, physical sickness and associated pain. However, some government have embarked on starting anti-bullying legislation, for example, in Scandinavia there is a research funded by the government which creates public awareness on work place bullying thus assisting in curtailing the vice. Researchers are facing methodological problems arising from bullying. The major problem has been defining bullying since there is no agreement as to what adult bullying is all about. The work place has been demonstrating increased opportunities for nerve-racking policies. Bryan (1989) provides five kinds of bullying behaviours. They are: Threat to individual standing i.e. insulting, calling names etc. Destabilisation, which is characterised by failing to give employees specific responsibility. Threat to professional status i.e. falsely accusing worker of lacking professionalism. Overworking employees through giving them unachievable targets and deadlines. Isolating some workers through denying them access to available training opportunities. To put the issue of work place bullying into proper perspective, it is worth to know that ‘in a research relating to work place bullying in England’s NHS community trust 1100 workers returned their postal questionnaires which represented a 70 per cent response rate. Out of this 38 per cent had experienced one to two types of bullying over the previous years while 42 per cent had suffered other forms of bullying. Mostly, managers propagated bullying. Two third of the bullied had tried o take some remedial actions after been bullied but a good number were not satisfied with how their complaints were attended to. The bullied workers recorded very high levels of job induced stress, increased anxiety, low job satisfaction levels and increased intentions to leave their employment.’(Randall, 1997) There are three major theories to research in work place bullying. The first one is individualistic and qualitative in perspective, which is involved in identifying individual roles in reference to susceptibility to bullying and expounding the dynamics of bully-bullied relationship. The second theory is epidemiological and descriptive which is normally based on individual report. Such studies highlights work place bullying rates, actions taken, sex and age difference, the various types of bullying experienced among others. The third approach is based on constructs and theories in organisational psychology and has concentrated on the relationship between the organisation and an individual plus how features of work place climate and the structure of organisation may facilitate the culture of bullying. Discussion Doctors, counsellors and psychotherapists who greatly help in psychological recovery have discovered some trends for some time regarding bullying at the work place. For instance Hoel (1997) qualitative work highlighted attribution theory ‘s prediction where he asserted that over a specified period of time the bullied persons finds themselves not to blame. According to the attribution theory persons have constantly accredited the reasons for a negative actions externally to themselves through blaming the bullying organisation or parties. On the other hand they have been accrediting the reasons for positive occurrences solely on themselves. Over time these has been joined by a proportionate desire for vengeance against the bully at even very unrealistic levels. The findings from attribution theory raises a question on the importance of clinical studies in forming the intervention and prevention stages in the work place since such studies will work with target for a given period of time after they have been bullied. If the processes of attribution are working tem we need to take the applicability of such finding in place while identifying the non bullied following the skewness of the reports. Trauma arising from being bullied may intimate changes in individuals. Conducted studies from schools have shown that target of bullying a quieter compared to those who bully, a complete and appropriate change for an individual to adopt on being bullied, A research conducted recently in the United Kingdom involved surveying workers belonging to the public trade union UNISON. During the research processes 761 individuals returned their postal questionnaire, which had questions on the workers experience relating to bullying behaviours at the work place. The study required those labelling themselves as bullied to provide further information regarding their experience. The study revealed a big difference between the non- targets and the targets in that individuals who labelled themselves as bullied reported more negative behaviours than the non- bullied all of which were subjected at the work place. These applied to the different types of demeanours as well as to the tendency of encountering such behaviours. They also provided a much stronger emotional reaction to their treatment at their place of work. (Unison, 1995) The study revealed that 95 per cent of workers fear to report the acts of bullying a thing that propagates it even more. Consequently 94 per cent agreed that bullies normally go scot-free and continues with their heinous acts of bullying. Failure of significant difference between the non-bullied and the bullied militated against the attribution theory being at work. The study recorded no significance difference between the non-bullied and the bullied regarding various sector or gender, therefore supporting the idea that bullying can happen to any body at any time and place. Over 75 per cent of the bullied at the UNISON study reported suffering associated psychological problems connected to bullying. According to the survey data from the UK. Workers have been leaving their jobs at a high rate of 25 per cent as a result of bullying. The figure is high for any organisation and may result to the organisation incurring unnecessary costs in recruiting workers to replace those who are leaving as a result of bullying as well as training them. These can be used as a very important tool in fighting the rising cases of bullying at the workplace. The study further revealed that most bullies are managers with the whole management system being aware in most cases. Roethlisberger and Dickson (2001) have examined various environments in their incident studies. They realised that individuals who referred themselves as bullied also registered lack of likely hood to control and monitor their own duties, holds conflicting priorities and goals and had constructive leadership deficiency. Lack of constructive leadership may be better addressed only with the bully. However, putting more emphasis on communication skills may as well give some controls. On conflicting goals and priorities intervention measures can include regular updating of formal sessions together with realistic clear induction. After drawing comparison from the non bullied group and the German clinical targets Bass (1997) concluded that social climate is a convoluted factor. The non-bullied had a lower co-operation requirement than the bullied i.e. for the targets of bullying they viewed their work to be closely coupled with that of other people. The research finding further revealed that a bully could easily get away with his or her behaviour. Researchers have a duty to adequately inform the complainant of the corrective actions or a given professional may encounter practices where conflicting responsibilities. Conclusion Bullying emerges as a workplace risk, each employer should therefore employ proper systems that will be effective in the prevention of workplace bullying, sexual and racial harassment, interpersonal conflicts as well as well laid complaint procedures and intensive evaluation and examination of grievances raised. It is no doubt that provision of conducive work atmosphere with proper attention to the workers support structures will greatly assist in safeguarding the staff’s health and welfare issues. Reference Bass, M. (1997): Authoritarianism Or Acquiescence: Journal of Abnormal And Social Psychology 51:616-623 Bryan, J. (1989): Models And Helping: Naturalistic Studies In Aiding Behaviour. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology 6:400-407 Clore, J and Murphy, P. (2002):Interracial Attitudes And Behaviour. Journal of Personality And Social Psychology. 35:107-116 Hoel, H. (1997): Bullying At Work: A Scandinavian Perspective, Institution of Occupational Safety And Health Journal Randall, P. (1997): Adult Bullying: Perpetrators And Victims. London, Routledge Roethlisberger, F. and Dickson, W. (2001): Management and The Worker, Cambridge, Harvard University Press Unison. (1995): Violence At Work: Health Service Staff study. London: Unison Vartia, M. (1996): The Sources of Bullying: Psychological Work Environment and Organisational Climate. London, Cambridge University Press Read More