Workplace Bullying : What We Know, Who Is to Blame, and What Can We Do?

by Rayner, Charlotte; Hoel, Helge; Cooper, Cary L.

• ISBN13: 9780415240628
• ISBN10: 041524062X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: CRC

Summary

Workplace bullying is an area that has attracted significant press attention throughout the last decade. A variety of well publicized surveys have revealed that this is an issue endemic in working life in Britain; and, at a conservative estimate, over half the working population can expect to experience bullying at work (either directly by being bullied, or through witnessing it) at some stage in their careers. This is now seen to be a disturbing event, with something like a fifth of witnesses and a quarter of direct targets leaving their organizations. This serious damage to individuals has been accorded little direct research in Britain, although it has resulted in court cases brought under health and safety and equal opportunities legislation. The recognition of the problem and the emergence of court cases, have both served to focus employers on the need to deal with the issue. The recent strike vote at Ford in Dagenham, asking the employer to enforce existing anti-harassment policies, highlights the fact that having paper policies is not enough. Workplace Bullying is derived from the largest survey ever carried out on workplace bullying, supported by the CBI, TUC, Federation of Small Businesses, IPD, and the HSE among others. This study covered 5,500 people, but the book goes beyond it to explore all the issues associated with what is becoming a major issue in organizations.

Table of Contents

List of figures	ix
List of tables	x
Foreword	xi
Introduction	1	(18)
Waves of awareness around the world	2	(2)
Why now?	4	(4)
What is bullying at work?	8	(8)
What comes next?	16	(3)
The targets of bullying	19	(24)
Studying workplace bullying	19	(3)
Is there really a problem?	22	(1)
Asking if people have been bullied	23	(2)
Identifying high-risk groups	25	(2)
Bullying as a drawn-out affair	27	(5)
Being bullied in groups	32	(1)
What do targets do when faced with bullying?	33	(3)
Measuring bullying	36	(1)
What bullying behaviours are reported?	37	(3)
Re-estimating the numbers: how many are actually bullied?	40	(3)
Outcomes of bullying	43	(20)
Costs to the individual	43	(8)
Behavioural implications of bullying	51	(3)
Bullying affects the organisation	54	(5)
Who pays for the effects of bullying at work?	59	(1)
Costs to society	60	(3)
Who bullies?	63	(22)
Defining a `bully'	64	(1)
What do bullies do?	65	(3)
A problem with the data	68	(3)
Other sources o f data regarding bullies	71	(8)
Stereotyping	79	(1)
Trying to crack the complexity	80	(1)
Direct attempts to study negative behaviours at work	80	(2)
Implications for the organisation	82	(3)
Bullying and corporate culture	85	(16)
Corporate culture defined	86	(1)
The culture web	87	(10)
Putting the web together	97	(1)
One culture or many subcultures?	98	(1)
Do organisations bully?	98	(2)
Labelling the paradigm	100	(1)
What causes bullying: the instigators	101	(20)
Using examples	101	(2)
Instigators at the individual level	103	(4)
Instigators at the dyadic level	107	(3)
Instigators at the group level	110	(2)
Instigators at the organisational level	112	(3)
Combining the factors together	115	(1)
A pressure situation	116	(1)
At the level o f society	117	(3)
Dealing with complexity	120	(1)
What is bullying?	121	(14)
Is there one definition for bullying at work?	121	(2)
What is `bullying' at the interpersonal level?	123	(5)
Bullying at the workgroup level	128	(3)
Bullying at the organisational level	131	(2)
Further levels of analysis	133	(1)
Summary	134	(1)
Who is to blame?	135	(10)
At the individual level	136	(5)
At the group level	141	(1)
At the level of the organisation	141	(1)
Summary	142	(3)
What can individuals do?	145	(18)
Deciding whether or not you are being bullied	145	(2)
If you are being bullied	147	(2)
Using informal methods to get help	149	(4)
Using formal methods to get help	153	(2)
Leaving the organisation	155	(1)
Going to the law	155	(1)
Getting back to `normal'	156	(1)
Witnessing bullying	156	(3)
Whistle-blowing	159	(1)
If you are accused of bullying	159	(2)
What we can all do	161	(2)
What can organisations do?	163	(22)
Policy and procedures	164	(12)
Beyond policies: tackling bullying in other ways	176	(1)
Tackling endemic bullying in your organisation	176	(4)
Monitoring	180	(2)
Tackling `pockets' of bullying	182	(1)
Prevention of bullying	183	(1)
And finally...	183	(2)
Future developments	185	(8)
Diversity	186	(1)
Hands up, bullies	186	(1)
Organisations that bully	187	(2)
The ripple effect	189	(2)
The nature and prevalence of bullying at work	191	(1)
How are we trying to understand bullying at work?	191	(1)
Moving forward	192	(1)
Appendix 1 Sampling for surveys	193	(2)
Appendix 2 Negative behaviours at work	195	(2)
Appendix 3 Useful contacts	197	(2)
References	199	(8)
Index	207