Bullying In The Workplace

Workplace bullying is social, psychological, verbal or physical abuse by employers or co-workers. Unfortunately, bullying does not only happen in the playground, but also in many workplaces. Many times, the workplace can feel a lot like high school: gossip, passive-aggressive behavior, and cliques. Bullies definitely exist in the work environment, though they are not easy to spot like the ones in grade school. Bullies in the work environment do not go around stealing lunch money and hitting kids. But their torment can be just as damaging. Whether the bully is constantly criticizing you, stealing work credit, spreading rumors, assigning impossible work schedules, or “forgetting” to invite you for lunch or meetings, his/her goal is always the
The qualitative method allowed researchers to uncover the interactions between the organization, individuals, and cultural dynamics that allow and reward bullying. This research study was also part of a bigger survey, whose objective was to identify the displays and rate of bullying among nurses in the United States. The author in this research study was looking to understand how nurses encounter bullying in the work environment and what they do to protect themselves and their patients. The researcher did not explicitly provide questions that were asked to the participants, but instead, the research study provided a table with four categories and 14 subcategories to be used as guidelines so that nurses could share their life experiences in the matter. Categories included in the table that were asked include: (1) Placing bullying events (i) Being the newbie, (ii) Bearing witness, (2) Assessing the situation, (iii) In the bull’s eye, (iv) Nurse interrupted (v) Odd nurse out, (vi) In the penalty box, (3) Taking action (i) Giving/getting support (ii) Speaking up (iii) Moving out of the toxic environment, (4) Judging outcomes (i) constructive-positive (ii) Being ignored and (iii) Destructive-negative (Gaffney, Hofmeyer, Vessey & Budin, 2012). The research questions were related to the problem because it asked nurses to share when they experienced hostility at work, how they felt and what they did in response to it. I believe the qualitative methods were appropriate to answer the research questions because it allowed nurses to describe more in detail their narrative by stating their situation. For example, some described being bullied as new nurses or student nurses, and others stated that they witnessed bullying. Other nurses expressed feeling like they were targets for humiliation and public criticism. Some even struggled with impediments to patient care like, “assignment