The Impact of Workplace Bullying

 Workplace bullying can be defined as the persistent pattern that involved the mistreatment of employees, and it tends to result in either emotional or physical distress or harm. Workplace bullying involves nonverbal, verbal, physical, and psychological humiliation and abuse. The main reason why workplace bullying is persistent is that unlike other forms of bullying like high school bullying, this type of bullying occurs within the legally established policies, regulations of an organization (Hollenbeck, Noe, & Gerhart, 2018). Generally, workplace bullying often happens when an individual in authority uses their power to lord it over their juniors. Nevertheless, it can occur among peers. In her article titled Workplace Bullying: Costly and Preventable, Terry L Wiedmer does an in-depth discussion of what workplace bullying, the cost it has on an organization, and the measures that can be taken to prevent it from happening.

Review of the article 

Wiedmer gives a detailed discussion of workplace bullying and its adverse effect on an organization. She starts by stating that an organization that has a section of its employees being bullied cannot attain its bottom line, as these employees usually are not motivated to do their jobs (Wiedme, 2010). This makes it hard for these employees to meet their goals and objectives. She states that an organization, through its HR department, should ensure that they develop a policy that has zero tolerance for any form of bullying. She says that this can be attained by recruiting good mannered employees as well as developing an employee manual that prohibits bullying (Wiedme, 2010). The forms of punishment to be meted on any bully should be well stipulated in the employee handbook.   

Individual reflection on workplace bullying 

I have worked in several, and I have been unfortunate to witness workplace bullying. In one incident, a middle-level manager saw a new employee, and he decided to bully the new employee for no reason at all. The manager called the new employee in his office and gave some tasks he knew well the employee would not be in a position to accomplish before being trained on how to do the jobs (Kirwan, 2016). The employee was not able to achieve the task, and the manager started scolding and shouting at her at how unskilled, she was and that he did not see the reason as to why she had been hired in the first place. Wiedmer discusses this type of bullying in her article. Giving tasks that are above the competency level of an employee is psychological bullying, while the shouting and berating was emotional abuse. These abuses are meant to make the victim feel unworthy of being employed in them, and this is what leads to depressions, high employee turnover, and even suicides. 

 The business organization should use several techniques to help create a positive environment that is devoid of bullying. They should first come up with training programs that can help all employees understand workplace bullying and the negative impacts it has on the victims, the perpetrators, and the organization in general (Kirwan, 2016). This is very important as it will ensure that all employees know what is expected of them and that they understand the consequences of bullying others at their workstations. The organization should also try to work with all the employees to ensure that they create a positive environment where each employee can thrive by performing their jobs efficiently. This can only happen in an environment that is free from any bullying. 

References

Hollenbeck, J. R., Noe, R. A., & Gerhart, B. A. (2018). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. McGraw-Hill Education.

Kirwan, C. (2016). Improving learning transfer: A guide to getting more out of what you put into

your training. Routledge.

Wiedme, T (2010). Workplace Bullying: Costly and Preventable. Retrieved on the 14^th June 2019 from https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-2257395091/workplace-bullying-costly-and-preventable