Workplace Bullying In The United States

Workplace bullying is becoming more and more frequent within a workplace. It’s described as insensitive and repeated abuse of people by their superiors, co-workers and subordinates. Often supervisors are branded as being the person to do the bullying, to subordinates within the workplace. Bullying can be labeled as a form of violence, which crosses boundaries of gender, race and organizational rank. Workplace bullying has increased over the last decade within the United States. At an increase rate, employees are reporting that they have encountered being treated rudely at least once a week rose from 25% to 50%, per the article by Forbes. Workplace bullying is obvious now as it was over fifty years ago. It is becoming more evident in

Workplace bullies constantly involve overwhelmingly negative actions at work including the need to control, humiliate and embarrass to cause some kind of pain or personal distress. It can be associated with office politics, unclear expectations, dishonesty, withheld information, etc. Not only does workplace bullying have a connection with abusive supervision, it also has an increase with negative workplace performances. By promoting ethical practices, it could reduce workplace bullying and abnormality among co-workers. Agervold and Mikkelsen (2004), in one of the first studies, found that employees who were frequently exposed to bullying reported less job control, work tasks which were more unclear or contradictory, a management style which was less employee-oriented, and fewer social contacts with co-workers. More recently, Skogstad, Einarsen, Torsheim, Aasland and Hetland (2007) found that a laissez faire leadership style as well as role conflict and role ambiguity were antecedents of bullying, with role stressors mediating the effect of abdicating leadership on

Rodriguez-Munoz, Baillien,De Witte, Moreno-Jimenez and Pastor (2009) found that exposure to workplace bullying at baseline predicted decreased dedication and job satisfaction.

Workplace bullying not only impact inside the office, it also have an influence on employees outside of work. Tepper (2000) found that abusive supervision was negatively related to life satisfaction and positively related to work family conflict, and also that abusive supervision was positively related to family undermining. Those that are being bullied often develop self-esteem issues, have concentration issues, and even post-traumatic stress symptoms. If that individual is continuously to be intimidated, that person could involuntary leave the organization and endanger their career, taking more time off and looking for other employment. “88% of the victims reported high trait neuroticism at first consultation, with this percentage remaining statistically unchanged at the one-year follow-up” (Balducci, C., Fraccaroli, F., & Schaufeli, W. B.