Bully's Perspective Summary

‘Bullying Allegations from the accused Bully’s perspective’ is an academic journal written by Moira Jenkins, Dieter Zapf, Helen Winefield and Aspa Sarris with the aim to provide an argument based on whether there is bullying within the workplace, and narrow the gap in research what would normally be from the points of views of the target and witnesses. Based on their professions, it is clear that the authors are experts in psychology and workplace psychology, and therefore the article tries to explain and conclude if, why and how bullying happens in the workplace, rather than just proving that it happens.

The main purpose for the article is to gain an understanding of Bullying in the work place from the perceived perpetrator. Although it is

This is an important question to keep in mind due to the grey area between what is perceived as bullying and what isn’t. This is because the ‘target’ may feel over-whelmed by the demands of their job, or feel that their job does not fit the job description that was offered, but will not however be suspect of true bullying credentials, such as harassment or offensive interaction.

The research method used by the authors is known as phenomenological epistemology. Phenomenological epistemology is known as practical knowledge. This makes use of lived experience and uses it as a resource of knowledge (Prim C and Jose C, 2006, online).

Put into context, phenomenological epistemology can be used to understand the everyday experiences of participants in order to gain a better knowledge of workplace bullying from the perpetrators perspective. The types of methods under the title phenomenological epistemology used in the research were face to face interviews and telephone interviews. There were 24 people that responded, and of these, 19 people were interviewed by telephone, and the other five through face to face

. . Qualitative approaches are particularly useful when the topic under investigation is complex, dilemmatic, novel or under researched and when there is a concern with understanding processes, not measuring outcomes (Smith and Dunworth, 2003, pp. 603–604)’’.

This quotation in the article gives a broad summary of the strengths of qualitative research.

Bullying, as explained previously, is a subject which has several interpretations, therefore the beneficial use of qualitative research is that it offers clarity when the subject is complex (mis-interpretations of the meaning of bullying), when understanding the processes (the actions of the alleged perpetrators and target) and also when the subject is under researched (a gap in the literacy from the view of the perpetrator).

However, although qualitative research can be useful to gain insights to build up conclusions over time, it can be difficult to obtain reliable data because of biased attitudes and opinions towards a certain subject. For example, one interviewee could have had greater negative attitudes towards their work rather than actual negative experiences (such as being bullied in their workplace), and therefore give unreliable responses which may alter the findings in the conclusions of the research. Furthermore, the size of the research may not search into the true depths of the matter of workplace bullying. This is because as only 24 people were interviewed; this may not give a wide enough range of experiences