Bullying In The Workplace Essay

Bullying has become a very relevant problem within the workplace. Bullying is defined as instances where an employee is repeatedly exposed to negative acts from coworkers, supervisors and/or subordinates over a period of time (Incivility, social undermining, bullying, 2010). A few examples of negative acts related to bulling are constant abuse, ridicule, social exclusion, and stating offensive remarks/teasing. Bullying within the workplace may be portrayed in many different ways, for instance, it can be a manager being the perpetrator or another coworker. A few examples of how a manager can act as a bully are by purposely giving one employee more work than another due to disliking the individual, giving unrealistic deadlines or tasks, denying

In fact, according to the 2017 WBI U.S Workplace Bullying Survey nineteen percent of working individuals are bullied with in their place of work. The study also concluded that sixty one percent of Americans are aware of this abusive conduct in the workplace yet do not say anything to the perpetrator. Bystanders often do not step up and confront the bully for various reasons. A bystander may not step up when witnessing bullying because they may be afraid that if they stand up to the perpetrator, then they too may become a victim. They see it as unprofessional behavior to cause drama within the workplace, or they tell themselves that stepping up will not make a difference given they are not in a position of power in the company. However, there are always solutions to ending workplace bullying on your own if you are a victim such as a three-step process developed by the Workplace Bullying Institute. The three-step process includes: step 1) name it and legitimize it, step 2) take time off to heal and plan a counter attack and step 3) Expose the Bully. Step one, name it and legitimize it means that the individual must name the actions being made as bullying and recognize that the source of the problem is external, not in any way the individuals