Managing Workplace Bullying and Harrassment - Free Essay Example

Managing workplace bullying and harrassment. Bullying is the continuous act of unwelcomed behaviors which have reasonable foreseeability of the common man to cause damage, bullying within the workforce has great potential to derail success and culture of a company, the matter over the decades has not gone without cited seriousness, legislations and judicial laws have been implemented in attempts to reduce the likelyhood of future incidents(Bullying among workforce Alex; Tattersall 1987), such legislation as the NSW governments 1977 harrassment and discrimination act, the commonwealth sexual harrassment act of 1984, are two examples of statutory action and recognition of the large scale matter. he majority of bullying issues arise from an imperfect imbalance of authority within the working forceCoping with bullying in the workplace: the effect of gender, age and type of bullying, British Journal of Guidance Counselling, August 2004, Vol. 32 Issue: Number 3 p319-333, 15p; (AN 6297432), such matters are required to be given atten tion as soon as reported or noticed by management, depending where the harrassment or bullying has originated from will alter the available options and paths in order to rectify the situation, management must attend to both parties and venture down all alternate options before the option of termination of employment arises as a possibility so as to satisfy unfair dismissal regulations act 2009 of the commonwealth government, and avoid legal actions undertaken. Workforces must provide adequate attention to the individual matter and also a broader sense the reason for its existence within the corporation and its future prevention steps, or steps to restrengthen the culture or addapt rules where necissarry, perpetrators of bullying/harrassment must be informed of their behavior and informed of its innapropriate and on what levels, in doing so the confidentiality of the victim must not be compromised within the process, in doing so the perpetrator of workforce bullying must be offered support alternates to change the behavior, such will be varying on the individuality of the case at hand, it is often the behavior is not intentional to cause harm, but a result of a lack of personal skills (communication openness, conflict events and reactions to conflict in culturally diverse workgroups, Cross Cultural Management, May 2007, Vol. 14 Issue: Number 2 p105-124, 20p;), which in the case of such routes as educational re training will be appropriate, such as a workshop or a university or tafe course to help bring the deficiency up to standard. In the case of the workers principle personality and traits being the percecutor of problems, such support which will be offered most likely are counselling or therapeutic sessions. It is quite often the case that a Ceo will be responsible for the display of bullying due to the high statute of power and figure, such matters can be tackled with worker interventions attempted as a collective group with the senior manager, other ways are externally involving third parties to the dilema, such as the union which has strict guidelines and procedures for such arises, the victorian civil and administrative tribunal, the victorian equal opportunity and human rights commision,or in cases of physical forceful contact the police. Communication openness, conflict events and reactions to conflict in culturally diverse workgroups, Cross Cultural Management, May 2007, Vol. 14 Issue: Number 2 p105-124, 20p;) Often cases of workplace bullying are not a single one â€Å"off† within a corporation, but are generally implanted within the working culture of a business due to poor socialisation, commitment, trust and modelling within the business, such matters require swift action from HR levels, such strategies can be put into place as retraining all or selected parts of the workteam, a increased link to social support and interaction to commence, or the introduction of new working systems to reward positive social behavior and new internal regulations to punish unethical ones ( Neuroticism and the psychosomatic model of workplace bullying. Journal of l Psychology, January 2006, Vol. 21) Often in such cases it is vital for senior management to commence communication in order to show what â€Å"matters† and set standards and put forward a placement of value on individual workers heads. (Neuroticism and the psychosomatic model of workplace bullying. Journal of l Psychology, January 2006, Vol. 21) Changing and moulding a workforce culture is a way to tackle workplace conflicts, but is a long and challenging process which requires persistence and effort to win and can come with heavy financial costs. The possible problems which can arise from bullying are severve and potentially legally binding against the organisation, not the perpetrator, severe psychological disenbowerment may be a binding result of ongoing bullying either unnoticed or poorly handled, the victim can suffer such traumas as . increased blood pressure . high levels of stress, anxiety . clinical depression . decreased levels of esteem . false beliefs about onesself . decreased socailization and morals (Neuroticism and the psychosomatic model of workplace bullying. Journal of l Psychology, January 2006, Vol. 21) The humiliation and abuse of bullying can take years of counselling to overturn, it is vital for experienced therapists/counsellors to take on the matters, with constant re assurance that they have no blame or fault what so ever in the occurance that took place Once again the importance of bullying and the swiftness of action to commence can not be undermined, bullying prevention should be an ongoing monitor within every organisation, such schedueled events as surveys and360 degree feedback should be an ongoing thing rooted into the companies life as preventative measures as well as measures of harrassment detection. Areas where bullying is likely to occur should be kept under strong supervisation, workers must be made aware of their rights and entitlements and company regulations to know what is acceptable and what isnt. Matters from bullying in the workforce create multiple ethical dilemas in all kinds of areas, the effect will spread outwards into the local community as word of mouth, possiblly nationally if incident recieves legal attention, the concequences may possibly be lack of image resulting in loss of sales or potential suppliers, and a possible reduction in the quality and quantity of future human applicants for jobs, from a managerial perspective there can be a fine line between driving a workforce and carying the weighted responsibility of a workforce on your shoulders and managing the personal stressors associated with high responsibility and the transformation of it into a harrassment problem, it is essential that both managers are employees are fully aware of all the current dated rules and regulations which constitute acceptance of behaviors in order to best keep within the walls of guided acceptable behaviors. As we move into the 21st century, society laws and general expectations are ever changing and growing, it is important that organizations are structurally prepared to tackle bullying and harrassment dilemas as soon as they arise and have measures in place to counteract its existence, as ethics and social responsibility is a growing expectation amongst society, the way in which conflict is now handled has never been watched and scrutinized by so many stakeholders as it is now (Bullying among workforce Alex; Tattersall 1987), increazing the bearing of its outcome quite substantially and abroad. .Neuroticism and the psychosomatic model of workplace bullying. Journal of l Psychology, January 2006, Vol. 21) . (Bullying among workforce Alex; Tattersall 1987) .(Communication openness, conflict events and reactions to conflict in culturally diverse workgroups, Cross Cultural Management, May 2007, Vol. 14 Issue: Number 2 p105-124, 20p;) .(Cross Cultural Management, May 2007, Vol. 14 Issue: Nu mber 2 p105-124, 20p; (AN 12558917) .Coping with bullying in the workplace: the effect of gender, age and type of bullying, British Journal of Guidance Counselling, August 2004, Vol. 32 Issue: Number 3 p319-333, 15p; (AN 6297432)