Stress awareness week Bullying and harassment in the workplace

1. Stress awareness weekBullying and harassment in the workplace Dr Joan Harvey

2. Bullying Reported to be on the rise in many places Aggressive behaviour arising from the deliberate intent to cause physical or psychological distress to others Note that this includes: Deliberate Intent to harm Certainty that it will reach the target Here, will use the word bully to describe the perpetrator, victim for the recipient

3. Terms used Bullying is not a good word for this, as commonly associated with childhood, where victims may be told To stand up for themselves Not to take any nonsense Harassment [preferred by some HR depts] is not a good word either If we use it instead, we will lose some of the more physical intimidatory aspects Physical bullying does happen, So whilst neither term is good, if we are stuck with them, then we need both terms to be used together, not one or the other.

4. Bullybusters [and others] suggest these types: Verbal Name calling Threats Patronising Physical Dominant posture, pushing, sexual harassment Indirect Ignoring, leaving you out, social exclusion Spreading rumours Telling others to stop liking the person ‘the bad eyes’ such as glaring Technological Internet abuse Chat rooms, instant messenger etc Text messages; ‘happy slapping’ Silent or abusive phone calls

5. Anger, bullying and harassment • Affective anger • Is usually provoked by some behaviour of others • Instrumental anger • No emotion, calculated • May involve establishing power over others

6. Types of bullies include: • Provocative victims • May have been victims themselves • Easily upset, cannot handle conflict • Poor social adjustment • Cognitive errors, attributions of hostility • Tend to breed children who then do the same • Proactive aggressors • Unprovoked • Rewarded by their bullying

7. Reinforcement of bullying • Bullying behaviour gets reinforced • Watching pain • Getting something of value e.g. pleasure derived from control • Approval of an audience • Bullies mutually supportive of each other • Bully-victim relationship is special, in that it has a ‘dynamic’ • As each makes a change, so the other compensates • Bully gets the lions share of the reinforcement • Victim just trying to survive as well as possible • Imbalance of power used to abuse victims, whose consequent behaviour reinforces their bullying

8. Reinforcement of bullying • Variable reinforcement schedules yield the most enduring effects • Whilst the bully may change their behaviour, the victim finds this harder to do • Bullies do not target victims randomly

9. Sexual harassment • Increases in potency when advances are rejected • May be condoned by managers, if the bully is ‘worth’ more to the organisation than the victim

10. At work….. • When the bullying is premeditated, which it ofen is, bullies are actually often well known in the workplace, even if not reported. Often when in charge, they • Overcontrol • Make demands • Show contempt • Use repeated verbal abuse • Exploit others to meet own needs • If convinced of own dominance, will make snide remarks or use easily manipulated others as mouthpieces • Ridicule arguments or ideas of others • Question the victims adequacy, competence, commitment • Cannot tolerate humiliation themselves but use it against others

11. From the organisational point of view, bullies • Will not last long if their behaviour is found out to be counterproductive; these are likely to be the too-aggressive ones • Are tolerated, even promoted, whilst they serve the organisations purpose; these are likely to be intelligent and perceived to be making a contribution • Mostly, organisations do not get rid of bullies for any moral reasons, they do it because the bully is economically dysfunctional

12. Development of a Bully Profile • Poor social adjustment, may be socially isolated • Poor self-esteem • Difficulties in anger management • Stressed • May be disaffected with the workplace • From real or perceived injustices • History of this type of behaviour from childhood • Needs for power and control • Aggression and other externalising behaviours

13. Development of a Victim Profile • May also derive from childhood: harder to identify victims-to-be as passive, shy, timid, withdrawn children may not be seen as ‘risk variables’ • Poor interpersonal problem-solving as young children, sometimes over-reliant on adults rather than engaging peers • As children, frequently complaining of somatic symptoms • Low assertiveness against would-be dominance • Low self-esteem or self-concept • Internalising behaviours • Tense and anxious

14. Sequence of events at work • Victim enters into a protective frame of mind; this stifles initiative and innovation • Victim has lower self esteem, cannot prevent being bullied, feels anger at the organisation for not protecting them, loss of career prospects and enjoyment at work • All these bring downthe victims work standards • This can lad to the bully being seen to be doing well, and competent, and likely to be promoted for this, thus reinforcing their behaviour • Whereas the victim is seen as incompetent • The bully has a reinforced sense of superiority and this erodes any feelings they had for their subordinates, so they never actually recognise their own bullying behaviour

15. The psychological contract • The psychological contract is about the ‘unwritten’ contract, and concerns expectations, of equity, fairness and justice in management, promotions, rewards, etc • From the victims point of view, this is broken when they are bullied • Not only being badly treated • But no protection • Organisation may even disregard or even support it

16. So what can improve things? Personal harassment policy and procedures Supported and publicly endorsed by all senior management Deal with cases overtly, take formal complaints through the procedures, discipline the bully/harasser and this must be seen to be done Get away from the notion [often reported] that will be discriminated against or punshed in some way if take a formal complaint.

17. Individual strategies • Assertiveness • E.g. handling criticism • Active listening and reflection • Persuasion skills • Giving and receiving fedback • NVCs

18. Individual strategies • Confronting the bullies • Understand why confrontation can work • Choosing time and place • Specifying behaviour, not labels • Maintain simplicity • Describing consequences • Reinforce the message • Provide alternatives • Gaining support • Talk to HR • Talk to Bully’s own manager • Take careful records- time, place, witnesses if any etc.

19. Strategies for employers: a healthy workplace • Better R&S of people with interpersonal skills and transformational management styles • Training managers and supervisors • Awareness-raising as a means of prevention • Seeking and using employee suggestions • Conflict resolution • Encouraging speaking up, caring and communicating • Strong, enforced, policies • Employee Assistance Programmes [EAPs], strongly supported

20. Some sources of info • Randall, P (2004) Adult Bullying: perpetrators and victims. 2nd ed London: Routledge • Workplace bullying institute • http://www.workplacebullying.org/individuals/problem/being-bullied/ • HSE: advice for organisations, line managers, individual employees • http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/furtheradvice/bullyingharassment.htm • NHS: bullying of children, at work etc • http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Bullying/Pages/Bullyinghome.aspx

21. Thank you for listening Dr Joan Harvey Joan.Harvey@ncl.ac.uk