Bullying – a serious workplace issue

Bullying is usually seen as acts or verbal comments that could ‘mentally’ hurt or isolate a person in the workplace. Sometimes, bullying can involve negative physical contact as well. Bullying usually involves repeated incidents or a pattern of behaviour that is intended to intimidate, offend, degrade or humiliate a particular person or group of people. It has also been described as the assertion of power through aggression.

While bullying is a form of aggression, the actions can be both obvious and subtle. Bullying may take its form in the image of the following actions and repeated incidents:

• Spreading malicious rumours, gossip, or innuendo that is not true.
• Social exclusion of a person or group.
• Physically abusing or threatening abuse.
• Removing areas of responsibilities without cause.
• Constantly changing work guidelines.
• Establishing impossible deadlines that will set up the individual to fail.
• Withholding necessary information or purposefully giving the wrong information.
• Making jokes that are ‘obviously offensive’ by spoken word or e-mail.
• Intruding on a person’s privacy by pestering, spying or stalking.
• Assigning unreasonable duties or workload which is unfavorable to one person in a way that creates unnecessary pressure.
• Under work – creating a feeling of uselessness.
• Criticizing a person persistently.
• Belittling a person’s opinions.
• Undeserved punishment.
• Blocking applications for training, leave or promotion.
• Tampering with a person’s personal belongings or work equipment.

Bullying in a long run can cause devastating effects on the people who suffer this evil. It is a shame for the organization and creates an unhealthy environment in the workplace. Here are some of the effects bullying places on the evil trodden and the workplace itself:

• It gives rise to negative feelings and emotions in an individual. These feelings may include shock, anxiety, anger, frustration and helplessness.
• There is also an increased sense of vulnerability developed in the individual. He loses his courage and confidence due to which his performance in the workplace deteriorates.
• The individual is not able to concentrate upon his work as the repeated tortures start to stumble his mind.
• Various psychological effects are also seen like irritation, dejection, loss of appetite and insomnia.
• All in all the morale is broken down and the individual productivity drops almost to nothing.

Not only does the individual who suffers this evil is affected, but it is the whole organization who has to pay this price. The company graph starts dropping down and there is an unhealthy environment prevailing all-around. Stress, negativity, nil morale are some of the many drawbacks the workplace has to undergo.

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