Workplace Bullying In Academia: A Canadian Study

This paper examines the results of a workplace bully survey sent to faculty, instructors and librarians at a mid-sized Canadian university in 2005. The potential sources of workplace bullying by colleagues, administrators and students are examined. The survey determined that workplace bullying is of particular concern for employees that are newly hired or untenured. The systemic nature of this phenomenon and the spillover effect from one job domain to another are identified. The findings indicate costs for the university linked to workplace bullying. Costs include increased employee turnover, changed perception of the university by employees and reduced employee engagement.     

Measuring the Extent of Impact from Occupational Violence and Bullying on Traumatised Workers

Across the industrialised world, there is evidence that both the incidence and the severity of occupational violence and bullying are increasingly being reported over time. While there have been few substantive scientific studies in Australia, all the available evidence shows a similar increasing level of risk. It has long been assumed that those who suffer a physical assault during the course of violent events are more likely to be emotionally traumatised by the experience than are those who are merely threatened or bullied at work. However, there are no substantive data published to date. In this paper the authors aim to elucidate and quantify the extent of emotional injury/stress suffered as a result of different forms of occupational violence, based on empirical data collected during face-to-face interviewing of 800 Australian workers employed in the tertiary education, health and long-haul transport industry sectors. The authors conclude that the impact from more covert forms of occupational violence (such as bullying) can, in many instances, at least equal the emotional trauma following assaults on-the-job.     

Workplace bullying and absenteeism: The mediating roles of poor health and work engagement

Workplace bullying is a major problem that affects the well‐being and productivity of employees. Some previous studies have found that workplace bullying is associated with absenteeism, which is a major contributor to lost workplace productivity. However, a comprehensive understanding of how different workplace bullying experiences are associated with absenteeism is currently lacking. In particular no previous studies have examined potential mediators of these relationships. The present article aimed to provide new insights into the relationship between workplace bullying and absenteeism. In a 12‐month prospective study of 500 Australian employees, we identified 5 distinct subtypes of workplace bullying experiences using a person‐centred approach. These bullying subtypes were found to be associated with absenteeism via health impairment and lower work engagement. The findings can be used to inform HR strategies to prevent and manage workplace bullying.     

Smoking in the Workplace: Balancing Smoker and Nonsmoker Rights

The tobacco industry presents an interesting American dilemma. While warning against the use of tobacco and striving for a smokeless society the U.S. government subsidizes the growth of tobacco. The economic impact of smoking is, on balance, negative for users, nonusers and society. The federal government does not legislate the use of tobacco but most states and many municipalities have smoking laws. Although such laws vary they normally attempt to protect the rights of both smokers and nonsmokers. Workplace smoking policies also vary but generally focus on applicable laws, health research findings, employee preferences, involvement in policy determination, formalization and communication, and smoking cessation programs.     

Coping with Workplace Ostracism: The Roles of Ingratiation and Political Skill in Employee Psychological Distress

The study reported here examined the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee psychological distress (i.e. job tension, emotional exhaustion, and depressed mood at work) by focusing on the joint moderating effects of ingratiation and political skill. Data from a two‐wave survey of 215 employees in two oil and gas firms in China indicated that as predicted, workplace ostracism was positively related to psychological distress. Moreover, the findings showed that when employee political skill was high, ingratiation neutralized the relationship between workplace ostracism and psychological distress, but when it was low, ingratiation exacerbated the relationship.     

Workplace bullying and employee outcomes: a moderated mediated model

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between workplace bullying and employee outcomes in a healthcare setting. Drawing on HR process theory, we investigate the mediating role of the perceived effectiveness of implementation of anti-bullying practices on employee outcomes and whether targeted line manager training was a moderator of that relationship. Our multi-level analysis (utilising responses from 1507 employees within 47 hospitals with matched HR Director interviews), finds that the relationship between workplace bullying and employee outcomes is partially mediated by employees’ perceived effective implementation of intended anti-bully practices. The mediated relationship is moderated by targeted line manager training in anti-bullying practices. The mediated moderation model illustrates that it is effective implementation of anti-bullying practices enhanced by targeted training that is required to reduce bullying probabilities and their associated negative employee outcomes. The paper contributes to resource based view of the firm, HR process and human capital theories. The implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Revision of the workplace bullying checklist: the importance of human resource management's role in defining and addressing workplace bullying

Human resource professionals (HRPs) in the US are important actors in workplace bullying (WB) situations. Most WB research currently focuses on the target but fails to include the individual most often left to interpret and respond to complaints of bullying – the HRP. We argue that because HRPs must work to identify, understand and deal with victims and bullies; HR should have a voice in assessing WB. The difficulties HRPs report in effectively responding to employee complaints of WB have been attributed to a number of factors, including conflicts among multiple HR roles in the organisation, a paucity of specific organisational policies and guidelines for dealing with bullying, and ambiguous definitions and criteria for behaviour to be considered bullying. The impetus for the study reported here was the need to clarify the definition of bullying incorporating the HR perspective, determine what behaviours and criteria are seen as bullying by HRPs. Scale use and limitations are discussed as well as theoretical and practical implications.     

Perceptions of Workplace Spirituality among Professionals and Executives

As a new century begins, it is becoming increasingly clear that workers are experiencing a fundamental change of business world values, a change of paradigms as radical as the Age of Information. Corporate America and its employees are responding to a call for a deeper sense of purpose, a more significant sense of faith, and a renewed commitment to spirituality. This paper reports research that focuses on the relationship among the 3 key stakeholders in this new emphasis on spirituality: individual, organization, and work unit. Significant correlations were found to exist among 3 factors of spirituality and among 11 variables that were submeasures of the factors.     

Employee Awareness of Workplace Violence Policies and Perceptions for Addressing Perpetrators at Colleges and Universities

Most of the research on workplace violence has focused on workplace violence incidents and the development of models to predict and address the phenomenon. The assumption that all organizations are essentially similar in nature underlies this research. However, colleges and universities differ from for-profit businesses. Little, if any, research has been conducted to determine employees’ awareness of workplace violence policies and employee perceptions of potential perpetrators and how to address perpetrators which is necessary for increasing such policies’ effectiveness. The present study examines the awareness of employees at a large, public university in the Midwestern United States concerning WPV. Respondents indicate which sources they perceive to be likely perpetrators of workplace violence, and the actions that organization should take if WPV occurs. Based on this information, steps to increase employee awareness of workplace violence policies in colleges and universities are suggested.     

简析新形势下校园欺凌行为的特征、成因和对策

校园欺凌指以直接或间接的方式故意伤害他人的行为,本文通过对近年来对校园欺凌行为的研究和访谈调查。主要从校园欺凌行为的定义、特征、产生的原因以及合理的解决策略等四个角度对此进行探讨。有利于引导学生健康成长和学校的管理。     

Effects of workplace bullying on work engagement and health: the mediating role of job insecurity

This study examined the effects of exposure to workplace bullying on work engagement and health problems. It is one of the few studies to treat job insecurity as an explanatory factor of the bullying–outcome relationship. Specifically, we perceive that job insecurity unfolds through an interpersonal process in which negative experiences, such as bullying, make employees feel less valuable in their workplace. By analyzing the data from employees in Korea using the latent factor approach, the tested mediation model explained that exposure to workplace bullying decreased the work engagement of employees and increased their health problems because of their high level of perceived job insecurity. The relationship between bullying and engagement would not be established without the job insecurity variable, thereby suggesting its indirect effect. Given the partial mediating effect of health problems, job insecurity is identified as an additional underlying mechanism that explains why bullying increases health problems. This finding does not contradict the widespread arguments on the health-impairing effect of workplace bullying. This study contributes to the literature and business practices by identifying an important underlying mechanism that helps us understand the association between exposure to workplace bullying and key work outcomes.     

Workplace values and beliefs: an empirical study of ideology,high commitment management and unionisation

This study is unique in that it examines both managers' and workers' values and beliefs about employment relationships. It found that managers consider the employment relationship in their own workplaces unitarist rather than pluralist, but have mixed ideologies when considering society as a whole. Workers are strongly pluralist when considering society as a whole, but their workplace ideology is somewhat unitarist. A modest union impact on workers' perspectives is found, but little evidence to suggest union's effect commitment to the employing organization. Workers' commitment is to personal careers first and the organization second, while managers put the organization ahead of personal careers. Correlations exist between unitary views of the employment relationship, increased High Commitment Management (HCM) practices, and high levels of commitment. The purpose and contribution of this study is that it reports an assessment of the relation between workplace attitudes and beliefs and the efficacy and influence of management and union initiatives designed to impact them.     

Workplace Bullying: Application of Novak’s (1998) Learning Theory and Implications for Training

This paper applies Novak’s (1998) theory of learning to the problem of workplace bullying. Novak’s theory offers an understanding of how actions of bullying and responses to bullying can be seen as deriving from individualized conceptualizations of workplace bullying by those involved. Further, Novak’s theory suggests that training involving Ausubel’s concept of meaningful learning (Ausubel Educational Theory 11(1): 15–25, 1961; Ausubel et al. 1978) which attends to learners’ pre-existing knowledge and allows for new meaning to be constructed regarding workplace bullying can lead to new actions related to workplace bullying. Ideally, these new actions can involve both a reduction in workplace bullying prevalence, and responses to workplace bullying which recognize and are informed by the negative consequences of this workplace dynamic.     

Workplace contextual supports for LGBT employees: A review,meta‐analysis,and agenda for future research

The past decade has witnessed a rise in the visibility of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. This has resulted in some organizational researchers focusing their attention on workplace issues facing LGBT employees. While empirical research has been appropriately focused on examining the impact of workplace factors on the work lives of LGBT individuals, no research has examined these empirical relationships cumulatively. The purpose of this study was to conduct a comprehensive review and meta‐analysis of the outcomes associated with three workplace contextual supports (formal LGBT policies and practices, LGBT‐supportive climate, and supportive workplace relationships) and to compare the relative influence of these workplace supports on outcomes. Outcomes were grouped into four categories: (a) work attitudes, (b) psychological strain, (c) disclosure, and (d) perceived discrimination. Results show that supportive workplace relationships were more strongly related to work attitudes and strain, whereas LGBT supportive climate was more strongly related to disclosure and perceived discrimination compared to the other supports. Our findings also revealed a number of insights concerning the measurement, research design, and sample characteristics of the studies in the present review. Based on these results, we offer an agenda for future research.     

育龄妇女职场性权益保护的研讨

当前,职场性骚扰问题已经受到各界的普遍关注,保护职场育龄妇女性权益势在必行。本文从理论与法律上对性骚扰进行了分析,最后提出了育龄妇女在职场面对性骚扰时应采取的对策与证据。     

A purposeful approach for implementing preventive measures among European teaching professionals: bullying,deteriorated organizational factors and the mediating role of job dissatisfaction in poor health perception

Abstract

This research aims at examining how workplace bullying, a collection of predominant organizational factors and job dissatisfaction may both directly and indirectly influence the emergence of negative health perception among teaching professionals in occupational settings. The method utilized for testing the research hypotheses is based on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), which enables the simultaneous assessment of construct measurement and the estimation of hypothesized relationships. A sample population of 2328 European educators has been employed to reach research objectives. Results suggest that negative health perception escalates when there is a direct conditioned correlation between this factor and either bullying or certain working conditions, while indirect effects are unveiled when dissatisfaction is added to the research framework as mediating construct. From a theoretical perspective, this work contributes to human resource management research on the subject of detection and prevention of those underlying organizational constituents that might potentially undermine occupational health. From a utilitarian perspective, the findings of this research encapsulate promising implications not only for teaching professionals but also for educational institutions that pursue the continual improvement of health and performance in their educators through human resource management.     

Rethinking Love at the Office: Antecedents and Consequences of Coworker Evaluations of Workplace Romances

Researchers have pointed out a wide variety of organizational effects attributable to workplace romances, concluding that the impact of such romances on the workgroup can range from positive to negative. To date, however, little research has attempted to pinpoint the elements leading to this divergence. We suggest that coworker evaluation of a romance or anticipatory injustice may play a key role in influencing the positive or negative impact of the relationship on the workgroup at large. Our model proposes that three separate mechanisms (procedural fairness, intragroup cognitive dissonance, and normative adjustment), each corresponding to a different domain of evaluation, may mediate the apparent relationship between coworker evaluation of a romance and various aspects of group performance. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

How and when workplace ostracism influences task performance: Through the lens of conservation of resource theory

Drawing upon the conservation of resource (COR) theory, this study examines how workplace ostracism negatively affects task performance by reducing workers' physical strength and emotional energy; it also captures the moderating role of spousal support in the relationship between ostracism, physical strength, and emotional energy. Using matched data from 117 supervisors and 523 of their immediate employees, results indicated that workplace ostracism negatively related to physical strength and emotional energy, which, in turn, decreased task performance. Additionally, spousal support mitigated the harmful impact of workplace ostracism on individual emotional energy, whereas its buffering effect on physical strength was not significant. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The Relationship of the Degree of Exposure to a Technological Disaster and Emotional Response: A Structural Model Approach

The aim of this study was to analyze type and intensity of psychopathological response (depression and post-traumatic stress disorder) in a population sample from Guadalajara, Mexico, in an area affected by a series of gas explosions in 1992. The study comprised a series of interviews conducted three months after the event. Three groups were formed: subjects directly exposed to the explosions; those affected by the explosions but not directly exposed to them; and a control group. We devised a model, defining that the depressive level is affected by the socioeconomic level and the attributional style; being affected by the exposition degree to the disaster. This question was evaluated as using the structural models technique. The results indicate a close relationship between the variables defined and confirm the action of degree of exposure to the disaster. In fact, a reasonable fit for the model was only obtained in the direct exposure group; the fit was poor in the other two groups, in which results were largely similar. We conclude that the intensity of exposure to the event has a fundamental bearing on victims' psychopathological response, and on the development of posttraumatic stress disorder.     

Bad bosses and self-verification: The moderating role of core self-evaluations with trust in workplace management

Who responds most strongly to supervisor social undermining? Building on self-verification theory (Swann, 1983, 1987), we theorize that employees with positive views of the self (i.e., higher core self-evaluations [CSEs]) who also maintain higher trust in workplace management are more likely to experience heightened stress and turnover intentions when undermined. We argue that this subset of employees (high CSE, high trust) are more likely to feel misunderstood when undermined by their supervisor and that this lack of self-verification partially explains their stronger responses to supervisor undermining. We find initial support for the first part of our model in a study of 259 healthcare workers in the United States and replicate and extend our findings in the second study of 330 employees in the United Kingdom. Our results suggest that the employees Human Resources often wishes to attract and retain—employees with high CSE and high trust in workplace management—react most strongly to supervisor social undermining.