...Workplace Bullying This article starts out describing a case where employees were given a new supervisor who turned the workplace into a “living hell”. The new boss did not curse at workers but would regularly scold them, send out harsh emails, and yell at them. This created such a hostile work environment that cases like these were brought to the attention of the state, who took action. On January 1st, a state law will be taking effect requiring employers in California with 50 or more workers to include lessons on anti-workplace bullying. This will apply when they carry out state-mandated sexual harassment training for supervisors. Workplace Bullying Post Many of us have experienced being bullied at one point in our lives and it’s a serious issue that can cause health problems such as anxiety and depression. This problem is not just in schools, it’s even happening in the workplace. Workplace bullying can come from anyone, your peers or your boss. The article states that the boss would often call out workers with phrases like “I told you,” or “I gave you a direct order.” This shows that the boss views his employees from a Theory X perspective, needing to constantly monitor and pressure their performance to get work done. He may also identify them as having a type B personality, relaxed and not caring about their work. The goal of human relations is to create a win-win situation for both the employer and employee by satisfying...
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...attention to Cupid’s arrows amid the flow charts and balance sheets, they could be in for unexpected surprises. Disastrous love affairs may damage morale and productivity. Some workplace romances can lead to sexual harassment cases, which can carry serious legal – and financial - consequences. Yet few small companies have formal policies on workplace dating and even fewer ban such romances. In large part, that’s because firms believe it’s none of their business if co-workers pair up. It’s understandable why office love connections flourish: People spend much of their lives at work and end up sharing hobbies, personality quirks and intimacies. Dating co-workers seem safer, especially for many women, because they get time to know each other. Moreover, many employees share similar education, interests, attitudes, values, and income levels. And often work projects offer intellectual stimulation and emotional bonding. Far from being harmful, many romances actually improve work performances. They add a dynamism and energy that translates into enhanced morale, communication, creativity and even productivity. Should these relationships evolve into long-term commitments, as often happens, companies will generally benefit from happier and more fulfilled employees. So it appears the key issue isn’t thwarting workplace romances so much as managing them. That has special relevance for small firms, where love affairs can be especially dicey. Many workers there have overlapping responsibilities...
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...A White Paper from the Society for Human Resource Management BULLIES IN THE WORKPLACE: A FOCUS ON THE “ABUSIVE DISRESPECT” OF EMPLOYEES By Teresa A. Daniel “Bullying is the sexual harassment of 20 years ago; everybody knows about it, but nobody wants to admit it”. —Lewis Maltby (Russell, 2001) The purpose of this paper is to review the current research and literature about workplace bullying, to provide information about how organizations can learn to more quickly identify bullies and to suggest ways of dealing with these toxic people so that the corporate culture is not negatively impacted by their behavior. Overview To be successful, organizations must create an atmosphere that inspires both innovation and risk-taking. In an increasingly competitive global economy, such innovation is more important than ever before (Hamel, 2000). However, not only does workplace bullying stifle productivity and innovative practices, but bullies often target the organization’s most talented employees—those individuals who are generally the most threatening to bullies (McCord & Richardson, 2001). As a result, the creativity and productivity of the organization’s most talented human capital is often negatively affected by this type of behavior at work or, worse yet, good employees are driven out of the company altogether. Bullies are often hard to identify because they operate “under cover”—that is, on the surface they appear to be civil and cooperative, while they do ...
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...Workplace Conflict: Critical Thinking and Conflict Resolution Charles Weathersby Columbia Southern University Annotated Bibliography Adkins, B. (2004, 5 28). Conflict could be costing your company more than you know. Fort Worth Business Press, pp. p33-33. This article profiles the norms as far as negatives and positives of workplace conflict then proceeds with a five step strategy for management. The article also suggests ways to deal with unresolved conflict in the workplace. It also discusses the impact on the industry that conflict has in regards to productivity; Positives from the use of an effective conflict management strategy; Assessment of corporate culture. Bowling, D.; Hoffman, D. (2003). Bringing Peace Into the Room: How the Personal Qualities of the Mediator Impact the Process of Conflict Resolution. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Bringing Peace Into the Room discusses how a person’s own personal values assist in them being an effective mediator. This book isn’t focused on the traditional elements but rather the emotional elements. It discusses how the temperament shapes thoughts that influence the decision making process. The authors base their book on the opinions of several professionals in the field of conflict resolution such as practitioners, academics, teachers, and trainers. Every respected professional interviewed had one common denominator on the subject of mediation and that was the interaction between the parties and the mediator's...
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...Jenn Hoffman Human Capital Essay #2 MGT344 Organizational Behavior August 4, 2013 Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to discuss what role conflict plays in the workplace. Conflict can be defined in a few different ways. “Conflict is an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scare resources, and interference from others in achieving their goals” (Definition of Conflict). Conflict is bound to happen, and to occur even in the most stable companies. Conflicts can be both positive and negative influences in a workplace. Constructive conflict creates a productive and safe place. Unresolved conflicts on the other hand, creates a hostile environment leading to a reduction in productivity. Conflict can be divided into multiple categories. Conflicts often occur when there are conflicting choices or people want different things. Changes within an organization can also create conflict. Finding a solution to reach a good solution is how conflicts are resolved. Conflict in the workplace is largely a result of changes. Employees often are required to adjust to new rules, management and locations. Tenure employees may refuse to break old habits and experience difficulties adjusting to new guidelines. All of these changes will create conflict. Being prepared to deal with the conflict is the important part. Change means something familiar is replaced with something new. These changes can cause employees to be emotional...
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...Violence in the Workplace HCA 250 November 24, 2012 Violence in the workplace has become so bad throughout each state and in the world today. Workplace violence has not only cost American employers in dollars but also in cents. The violence has been taking its toll on the employees day to day. There are beyond numerous numbers of nonfatal acts of violence in the workplace. Who would have thought that waking up in the morning and going to work would be so bad and targeted by violence, discrimination and even some retaliation at work? This has become so sad and disturbing. Now-a-days, children cannot even go to school without being bullied or harassed. The article that was chosen is called “Trends in the Workplace Violence in the Remote Area Nursing Workforce”. This is a very informative article that speaks about the types of violence and how it has increased within the last decade. The article has taken some of the present data of violence in the workplace and compared it to the data that was collected about 13 years ago. The setting of this article took place in Australia and was focused on a few hundred nurses whom worked in rural areas throughout Australia, who worked in the health facilities. According to the article it stated that there has been an “increase in all incidents” that were “reported violence in the workplace between 1995 and 2008” (Opie, Lenthall, & Dollard, 2010). Several times of violence that had been reported were either verbal aggression, physical...
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...STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE: CAUSES, EFFECTS AND HOW WE COPE Introduction In a world of constant technological and industrial advancement on a daily basis it seems, one would expect that our lives should be easier than say 30, 40, or 50 years ago. Internet access, computer and other advancements have certainly made our lives easier in some ways, but one thing that hasn’t happened is a decrease in stress. It seems the more we have the more we want, and the more we do not achieve what we want, the more stressed we become, in our personal and professional lives. Employers have always been faced with the challenge of finding the perfect employees, just as individuals are searching for the perfect place of employment. Part of this is not only the potential candidate’s personality, and how they will handle a particular job and its responsibilities; but part of the challenge is provide incentives and benefits that will entice the perfect employees. Stress can be a major factor in any job situation and not only is it an issue of how an individual handles stress, but also how an employer combats stress in the workplace through different protocols or benefits provided to the employees. The focus of this paper will be stress in our workplace environments. Causes There are many causes of stresses (or stressors) in the workplace, no matter what trade, industry or profession one considers. The stressors however will be specific to the job. There can...
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...Workplace bullying case study Problem definition: Workplace bullying, is the tendency of individuals or groups to use persistent aggressive or unreasonable behavior against a co-worker or subordinate. Workplace bullying can include such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse and humiliation. It can come in different forms and shapes. • Unwarranted or invalid criticism • Blame without factual justification • Being treated differently than the rest of your work group • Being sworn at • Exclusion or social isolation • Being shouted at or being humiliated • Excessive monitoring or micro-managing • Being given work unrealistic deadline Justification for problem definition: Workplace bullies often operate within the established rules and policies of their organization and their society - Hence they follow the procedure. Bullying in the workplace is in the majority of cases reported as having been perpetrated by management - the impact is usually critical to both the individuals and the business. * Employees physical and mental health problems: * High stress; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) * Financial problems due to absence * Reduced self-esteem * Sleep and digestive disturbances * Increased depression/self-blame * Family tension and stress * Impact on Organizations: Each of the individual consequences listed above can be very costly for the organization. Costs of bullying generally...
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...management and employers to understand in this case there is no equality between the sexes. Stress at work is becoming serious, Tyson (2006), it is estimated that each year 9.1 million workdays are lost due to stress. There is growing evidence that not only can stress cause cardiovascular disease, it can cause anxiety disorder, social isolation, and burn out among other issues. According to the website National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, (NIOSH): Gender-specific work stress factors, such as sex discrimination and balancing work and family demands, may have an effect on women workers above and beyond the impact of general job stressors such as job overload and skill under- utilization. Workplaces that actively discourage sexual discrimination and harassment, and promote family-friendly policies, appear to foster worker loyalty and...
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...The Toxic Workplace Organizational Behaviour Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the inter-relationship of incivility and toxicity, how bullies are able to become toxic managers, and how they are allowed to develop in a toxic organization. We also analyze the development of organizational pain and how toxin handlers deal it with. Finally, we hope to assess if there is any validity to claims that ‘Generation Z’ is responsible for the recent prevalence of workplace toxicity. What is a toxic workplace? Overview of Toxicity: “Violence, aggression, bullying, tyranny, harassment, deviance, and injustice …” (Cortina 2001), the ‘magnificent seven’ anti-socialites comprising Workplace Toxicity. A relatively new field of study, the idea of workplace toxicity develops from the impact of bullying, and the emotional consequences it has on the organization. There has been surging interest over the past two decades on the cause and effect of bullying in the workplace (Rayner, 2002); and an ever-growing number of studies, since Leymann in 1990, would suggest that interest in this field may be attributed to the increase of disgruntled employees and employee violence which became prevalent in 1986 (the USPS incident in Edmond, Oklahoma). “There are three inevitable results of toxic workplaces: Poor Performance, Severe Health Issues, and the Loss of Talented Employees. “(Amy Scholten) A toxic workplace can be essentially summed up as any organization...
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...everyone is going to get along on a daily basis. There’s going to be conflicts in every environment especially in the workplace. Conflict is a typical phenomenon of people’s relationship in workplace. Conflict is a fact of life. Conflict is hard to define because every situation is different in every different workplace. Conflict is a job not easily handled, and it can be really destructive if not properly taken care of. The Webster’s Dictionary (2001) defines conflict as a battle; clash; or a disagreement of ideas, or interests. In order to resolve the conflict you must do whatever is best in the specific situation. Conflict is a problem that is tough for employees and managers to face. One of the most common specific sources of interpersonal conflict in the workplace is different perceptions among different individuals about their respective work responsibilities and areas of authority. (Blair, 2003) Workplace conflict can be caused by improper communication skills, difference in values or opinions, lack of fairness between race, gender, age, sex, class, education, and ability, different work environment, different cultures and limitations on resources. “Conflict in the workplace occurs when two or more people disagree over issues of organizational substance and / or experience some emotional antagonism with one another.” (Wood et al., 2003, p. 597) Workplace conflict is a conflict that can be caused by many factors. It can cause a great deal of stress for all those involved...
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...Bullying in the workplace Workplace bullying is any form of abuse; physical, verbal, psychological or social that is inflicted upon an individual by an employer, employee or group (Australian Human Rights Commission 2011). Methods of bullying include repetitive inappropriate comments (i.e. about one’s background, appearance, gender, culture, sexuality) sexual harassment, intimidation, exclusion, physical assault and threats. In particular instances such as stalking, assault and threats, bullying becomes a criminal offence. It is a common issue considered to be a silent epidemic (McAvoy and Murtagh 2003) as victims feel intimidated or hopeless thus preventing incident reporting. Statistics show that approximately one in three employees are bullied with the highest prevalence in the education department, healthcare industry and government positions (Fields-Gregor 2013). The workplace bullying institute observed that there is a greater occurrence amongst women being victims, estimating 58% of the workplace whilst it was approximated that 68% of males are found to be “bullies” (Farmer 2011). There are a variety of factors influencing workplace bullying. According to the interagency round table on workplace bullying these factors include power, self-esteem, difference, perceived threat, organizational culture, organisational factors and working arrangements. Characteristics of a workplace that maybe more susceptible to workplace bullying include industries with unstructured...
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...Workplace Safety Article: Avoiding Corporate Complacency Every day in the United States on the average, 15 workers lose their lives as a result of injuries or illnesses related to their work - that's over 5700 people. These people leave behind families, friends, and co-workers. The single most common cause is complacency - an attitude that "it won't happen to me." Complacency Kills The Entire Organization Too often individuals and companies become complacent when it comes to safety. Managers are satisfied with mediocre safety performance and do not work to improve the environment by raising safety awareness and eliminating the potential for injury. Employees are content and are not attentive to their work environments. They become convinced that management is not concerned about safety. They begin to think they are not responsible for their own safety. Over time, the entire organization gives little meaningful attention to safety. The result is that employees begin to get in a hurry and take shortcuts on the job. They are more focused on production and getting the job done than getting it done safely. That attitude becomes an organizational norm. Near misses go unreported. No one wants to take the time to fill out forms and employees don't understand the connection between sharing information and eliminating injuries. Managers do not pay attention to reports, so they become unimportant. The number of injuries increases and they become more severe. Everyone becomes...
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...Stress Management in the Workplace What I Learned about Stress Management and How to Manage the Stress in the Workplace Jonathon Redone MGT 301 – CL01 Theodore Finney April 24, 2010 It is three o’clock on a Friday, and it will be three-day weekend and you plan on going to a vacation resort with your family when your supervisor comes into your office and tells you that they have an emergency project and that you and your team need to come in over the weekend and work on this project that is due first thing when the weekend is over. As the supervisor, it is your job to take that news to your team and tell them that information. Obviously this will cause stress on you, your family, and team. It will cause stress on your family because this was a planned tripped and they were looking forward to going on the trip. It will cause stress on your team because this is a last minute notice and your team may have plans for the three-day weekend. It will cause stress for you because you have to tell the bad news to your family and your team. Hopefully that stress will not over take you and cause any hardship on your physical and mental being. People spend a lot of time at work, whether it is to do the normal day-to-day work, overtime, or just spending some extra time just to catch up. The time that is spent at work is not normally care-free or easy, but can cause some work anxiety which in turn can cause stress. Stress can be mentally or emotionally disruptive or upsetting...
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...Managing Workplace Conflicts The author of this article, Annemarie Franczyk, believes that the expectation to do more with less these days could be fostering a breeding ground of workplace conflict. Managers need to be increasingly aware of clashes between workers before the problems disrupt workflow and productivity. (Franczyk, A., 2010) Annemarie and her panel made suggestions for how to best mitigate the risks associated with workplace conflict. I chose to review this article about workplace conflicts, because I am currently in management at my job and I believe this article will help me get involved more with fellow co-workers and also help me see the things that are going on within the store that are not verbally communicated to me. This article will also help me address issues and help develop solutions to issues. The main point that is made in this article is that people lose sight of the organization’s goals while fighting for their personal goals. And there are four strategies for mitigating the damaging effects of workplace conflicts which are: (1) Recognize it and step in, (2) Meet without emotion, (3) Real solutions, and (4) Use the EAP (Employee-Assistance Program). (Franczyk, A., 2010) 1. Recognize it and step in: Managers shouldn’t avoid situations and wait for employees to do something drastic, like resigning, they should set in and help to resolve issues for them instead of letting them try to solve them for themselves. They...
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