19workplace bullying and harassment, dr. prathap tharyan
TRANSCRIPT
NRSICON’15
Workplace Bullying
Prathap Tharyan MD, MRCPsych
Professor of Psychiatry
Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
NRSICON’15
Bullying and Harassment
• Bullying:
• “persistent, offensive, abusive, intimidating, malicious or
insulting behaviour, abuse of power or unfair penal
sanctions, which makes the recipient feel upset, threatened,
humiliated or vulnerable, which undermines their self-
confidence and which may cause them to suffer stress” [Lyons R, Tivey H, Ball C. Bullying at work: how to tackle it. A guide for MSF representatives
and members. London: MSF, 1995]
• Defined in terms of its effect on the recipient not the intention of the
bully.
• There must be a negative effect on the victim
• Persistent
• Need not only be face to face
NRSICON’15
Harassment
• “Unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected
characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating
an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile,
degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that
individual.”
• The relevant protected characteristics are age, disability, gender
reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation
[Equality Act 2010 , UK]
• Sexual harassment:
• Any gesture, behaviour, words or advances that are sexual in
nature
[Vishaka guidelines, Supreme Court of India]
NRSICON’15
Discrimination
• Discrimination occurs when someone is treated less
favourably than others because they have a particular
characteristic or belong to a particular group of people.
• For example, it would be discriminatory not to hire or
promote a woman because she is pregnant or may become
pregnant.
• It is possible for a person to be bullied, sexually harassed and
discriminated against at the same time
• Workplace conflict
• Differences of opinion and disagreements are generally not
considered to be workplace bullying.
• Conflict that is not managed may escalate to the point where it
meets the definition of workplace bullying.
NRSICON’15
Types of bullying in the workplace
• Threat to professional status • belittling opinion, public professional humiliation, accusation of lack of effort;
• Threat to personal standing • name calling, insults, teasing;
• Isolation • preventing access to opportunities such as training, withholding information;
• Overwork • undue pressure to produce work, impossible deadlines, unnecessary disruptions;
• De-stabilization • failure to give credit when due, meaningless tasks, removal of responsibility,
shifting of goal posts.
Rayner C, Hoel H. A summary review of literature relating to workplace bullying. J
Comm Appl Soc Psychol 1997;7:18191.
NRSICON’15
Direction of effect
• Downward
• Superior to junior
• Lateral
• Colleagues
• Upward
• Junior to superior
• Workplace bullying can also be directed at or
perpetrated by other people at the workplace
such as clients, patients, students, customers and
members of the public.
NRSICON’15
What is not considered bullying or harassment
• Examples of reasonable management action include but are
not limited to:
• setting reasonable performance goals, standards and deadlines
• rostering and allocating working hours where the requirements are
reasonable
• transferring a worker for operational reasons
• deciding not to select a worker for promotion where a reasonable
process is followed
• informing a worker about unsatisfactory work performance in an
honest, fair and constructive way
• informing a worker about inappropriate behaviour in an objective and
confidential way
• implementing organisational changes or restructuring
• taking disciplinary action, including suspension or terminating
employment
NRSICON’15
How common is workplace bullying
Results:
• 1100 employees returned questionnaires –a response rate of 70%.
• 421 (38%) employees reported experiencing one or more types of
bullying in the previous year.
• 460 (42%) had witnessed the bullying of others.
• When bullying occurred it was most likely to be by a manager.
• Two thirds of the victims of bullying had tried to take action when the
bullying occurred, but most were dissatisfied with the outcome.
NRSICON’15
How common is workplace bullying
• Overall, 220 of the 594 junior doctors (37%) identified themselves as
having been bullied in the past year, though 486 (84%) had in fact
experienced one or more of the bullying behaviours described on the
bullying scale
• 407 (69%) had witnessed the bullying of others.
• Black and Asian doctors were more likely to report being bullied than
white doctors (78 (45%) v 139 (34%); relative risk 1.59 (95% confidence
interval 1.11 to 2.28)
• Women were more likely to report being bullied than men (43% (126)
v 32% (92); relative risk 1.61 (1.14 to 2.26)
• Reports of bullying did not vary by job grade or age.
NRSICON’15
Mental Health Consequences
• The cross-sectional data (65 effect sizes, N = 115.783) showed positive
associations between workplace bullying and symptoms of depression (r =
.28, 95% CI = .23–.34), anxiety (r = .34, 95% CI = .29–.40) and stress-
related psychological complaints (r = .37, 95% CI = .30–.44).
• Pooling the literature that investigated longitudinal relationships (26 effect
sizes, N = 54.450) showed that workplace bullying was related to mental
health complaints over time (r = 0.21, 95% CI = 0.13–0.21).
• Baseline mental health problems were associated with subsequent
exposure to workplace bullying (r = 0.18, 95% CI = 0.10–0.27; 11 effect
sizes, N = 27.028).
NRSICON’15
Impacts of workplace bullying
• Workplace bullying can be harmful to the person
experiencing it and to those who witness it.
• The effects will vary depending on individual
characteristics as well as the specific situation and may
include one or more of the following:
• distress, anxiety, panic attacks or sleep disturbance
• physical illness for example muscular tension, headaches and
digestive problems
• reduced work performance
• loss of self-esteem and feelings of isolation
• deteriorating relationships with colleagues, family and friends
• depression
• thoughts of suicide.
NRSICON’15
Impacts of workplace bullying
• Workplace bullying can also have a negative impact on
the work environment, damage the reputation of a
business and can lead to:
• high staff turnover and associated recruitment and training costs
• low morale and motivation
• increased absenteeism
• lost productivity
• disruption to work when complex complaints are being
investigated
• costly workers’ compensation claims or legal action
NRSICON’15
Impacts of workplace bullying
• Staff who had been bullied had
• significantly lower levels of job satisfaction (mean 10.5
(SD 2.7) v 12.2 (2.3), P < 0.001)
• higher levels of job induced stress (mean 22.5 (SD
6.1) v 16.9 (5.8), P < 0.001),
• depression (8% (33) v 1% (7), P < 0.001),
• anxiety (30% (125) v 9% (60), P < 0.001),
• and intention to leave the job (8.5 (2.9) v 7.0 (2.7), P
< 0.001).
• Support at work seemed to protect people from some
of the damaging effects of bullying.
BMJ 1999;318:228–32
NRSICON’15
Contributory factors
• Organizational environment
• leadership styles – autocratic behaviour that is strict and directive and
does not allow workers to be involved in decision making
• behaviour where little or no guidance is provided to workers or
responsibilities are inappropriately and informally delegated to
subordinates
• Lack of guidelines
• Lack of feedback
• Work related stressors
• high job demands, limited job control, organisational change, role
conflict and ambiguity, job insecurity, an acceptance of unreasonable
workplace behaviours or lack of behavioural standards, unreasonable
expectations of clients or customers
• Type of job
• Prior mental health
NRSICON’15
Contributory factors
• Systems of work
• lack of resources, lack of training, poorly designed rostering,
unreasonable performance measures or timeframes
• Work relationships
• poor communication, low levels of support or work group hostility
• Workforce characteristics
• casual workers
• young workers
• new workers
• apprentices/trainees
• injured workers and workers on return to work plans
• piece workers
• workers in a minority group because of ethnicity, religion, disability,
gender or sexual preferences.
NRSICON’15
Dealing with bullying
• Is the behaviour bullying or not?
• Does the situation warrant measures to minimise the
risk of ongoing harm?.
• Do I have a clear understanding of the issues?
• Do I need additional information or assistance?
• Can the matter be safely resolved between the parties
or at a team level?
• Should the matter be progressed to an investigation?
Depending on the severity or complexity
NRSICON’15
Management
• Duties of different employees and employer
• Early identification of unreasonable behaviour and
situations likely to increase the risk of workplace
bullying
• Implementing control measures to manage the
risks, and
• Monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the
control measures
NRSICON’15
Controlling risks
• Implement a workplace bullying policy
• a stand-alone policy or incorporated into a broader code of conduct
or work health and safety policy.
• developed in consultation with workers and should include:
• a statement that the organisation is committed to preventing
workplace bullying as part of providing a safe and healthy work
environment
• the standard of behaviour expected from workers and others in the
workplace
• how and where to report incidents of unreasonable behaviour
• the process for responding to reports
• the consequences for not complying with the policy
• the process for managing vexatious reports.
NRSICON’15
Controlling risks
• Design safe systems
• Clearly define jobs and seek regular feedback from workers about
their role and responsibilities.
• Provide workers with the resources, information and training they
need to carry out their tasks safely and effectively.
• Review and monitor workloads and staffing levels.
• Develop and maintain effective communication throughout
workplace change including restructuring or downsizing.
NRSICON’15
Controlling risks
• Workplace environment
• Promote positive leadership styles by providing training for managers
and supervisors on: communicating effectively and engaging workers
in decision-making
• providing constructive feedback both formally and informally
• effectively managing workloads
• people and performance management.
• Mentor and support new and poor performing managers and
workers.
• Facilitate teamwork and co-operation.
• Ensure supervisors act in a timely manner on unreasonable
behaviour they see or become aware of.
NRSICON’15
Controlling risks
• Dealing with external parties
• Where there is a risk of workplace bullying by other people,
for example clients, patients:
• communicate the expected standard of behaviour through a code of
conduct or in contracts and agreements
• empower workers to refuse or suspend service if other people fail
to comply with the expected standard of behaviour
• provide support to workers who are exposed to unreasonable
behaviour
• implement control measures to eliminate or minimise the risk of
workplace violence
NRSICON’15
Controlling risks
• Encourage reporting of events
• Disseminate polices
• Use events as learning points
• Training : Induction training for workers should include
information on:
• the standards of behaviour expected in the workplace including the
use of social media if relevant
• how workplace bullying should be reported and how such reports
are managed
• where to go for more information and assistance