A postal National Survey of the workforce in Ireland (N = 1057) found that six per cent of respondents claimed to have been bullied frequently, with a further 17 per cent bullied…
Abstract
A postal National Survey of the workforce in Ireland (N = 1057) found that six per cent of respondents claimed to have been bullied frequently, with a further 17 per cent bullied occasionally, over the previous 12 months. Of those who had been bullied, 67 per cent described the style of leadership in their organizations as autocratic, 15 per cent as laissez-faire, and 18 per cent as democratic. Whilst 72 per cent of non-bullied respondents reported that their working environment was friendly, only 47 per cent of bullied respondents reported that their working environment was friendly. Furthermore, 39 per cent of bullied respondents claimed to work in a hostile environment. There were significant differences between bullied and non-bullied respondents with regard to working conditions, with the exception of the level of challenge, and significant differences in all aspects of the perceived working climate, with the exception of a variable atmosphere.
Mona O'Moore and Niall Crowley
This paper aims to evaluate the subjective experience with associated clinical and health effects on workers subjected to persistent harassment in the workplace. The study also…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate the subjective experience with associated clinical and health effects on workers subjected to persistent harassment in the workplace. The study also attempts to explore an a priori hypothesised personality/clinical effects model of workplace bullying, identifying the relationships between relevant variables using structural equation modelling (SEM).
Design/methodology/approach
The sample represents 100 individual psychological assessments conducted by professional psychologists at an Anti‐bullying research and resource centre. The quantitative results are based on robust psychometric inventories. The conceptual models were tested using the software LISREL 8.7.
Findings
Results indicate elevated overall psychometric scores on all psychological and physical health inventories. The constructed a priori model was conceived based on grounded theoretical literature which assessed the moderating impact of individual factors such as personality on the severity of clinical effect, thought to be as a result of workplace bullying. Using a strictly confirmatory approach, however, all tested models were not adequate fits.
Social implications
Results of this study have implications for the prevention and intervention of workplace bullying both of which need to be intensified in order to minimise the physical and psychological ill effects of victimisation in the workplace. One of the key messages of this study is that the severity of the clinical effect may not relate to a person's character, but rather to the traumatic experience of bullying itself. The findings suggest that action is needed at an organizational level as explanations with regards to the intensity of psychological health outcomes may not be found in the constitution of one's personality.
Originality/value
This is a unique study that looks specifically at personality as a potential moderating factor of psychological and physical health in relation to workplace bullying.
Details
Keywords
Darcy McCormack, Gian Casimir and Nikola Djurkovic
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Michael Sheehan and John Griffiths
The purpose of this paper is to extend awareness that workplace bullying impacts on the health of individuals both within and outside the workplace and that there are implications…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to extend awareness that workplace bullying impacts on the health of individuals both within and outside the workplace and that there are implications for workplace health management.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper contextualises the problem of workplace bullying and workplace health management and introduces the five articles in the special issue.
Findings
Workplace health management is becoming more prominent in some organizations and workplace health management, and a corporate culture based on partnership, trust and respect, offers considerable potential to move the agenda forward. Moreover, there appears to be a paucity of knowledge available as to how workplace health management strategies and programmes impact on organizational culture and assembling and sharing such a knowledge base could be a useful step.
Research limitations/implications
Further research is required to extend the studies presented and to address workplace bullying from the perspective of workplace health management.
Practical implications
Research is required to explore the extent to which the potential of workplace health management programmes to impact positively on corporate approaches to bullying and harassment has been realised and how those programmes have influenced corporate culture.
Social implications
A partnership approach to knowledge creation and sharing has the most potential for successful outcomes and accords closely with the inferred ideals of the Luxembourg Declaration for Workplace Health promotion.
Originality/value
The paper addresses a perceived gap in the literature linking workplace bullying to the impact on individual health and the implications for workplace health management.