Workplace Bullying Critical Essay

In this study harmful bullying behavior and harassment has been studied from the perspective of victims of this destructive act. In previous studies research has been done to find out factors that may determine why certain people are bullied more than others. For example gender, culture of the organization and sometimes the silence of the scared victim provoke these behaviors.

One of these factors studied in our research is racial differences. It was investigated in our research that how and with which intensity racism triggers the incidents of bullying in low ranked employees of textile industry.Also we investigated that this behavior has what and how much impact on performance of employees. Based on this perception we hypothesized that racial bulling is negatively associated with motivation to work and satisfaction with the job of the employees which eventually deteriorates the performance level. For this purpose data was provided by selecting a sample of 30 employees from a textile factory. Analysis was done by finding and testing the significance of correlations between these behaviors (Racism, bullying, motivation, job satisfaction and performance).The analysis revealed that racism is associated with bulling and increase in racist behavior is accompanied with increased incidents of bullying.

Also it was revealed that there is a strong negative relationship between racial bullying and job satisfaction. Correlation of racial bullying with motivation was also observed but that was not significant in our study. Eventually it was found that racial bulling is negatively associated with performance which gives evidence that bullying is linked with decline the performance. INTRODUCTIONThe term "workplace bullying" was initiated by the pioneering British journalist Andrea Adams in 1992, who applied bullying to adulthood misery. Andrea Adams defined bullying as “Persistent criticism or personal abuse in public or private which humiliates and demeans the person”. She believed that there were two forms of human aggression. One has the aim to damage or to harm and the other form is a self assertive aggression for the pursuit of a goal.

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In bullying a person is bullied or harassed when he or she is repeatedly subjected to negative acts in a situation where the victim inds it difficult to defend himself/herself. It involves repeated unreasonable actions of individuals or a group directed towards an employee who is intended to threaten and create a risk to the health and safety of the employee. It often involves an abuse or misuse of power. It creates a feeling of defenselessness in the target and weakens an individual’s right to dignity at work. It often results due to frustration, escalated conflicts and organizational culture. It has been researched upon that most frequently victims of bullying are unassertive, conflict avoidant, and make little effort to be part of the group.Workplace bullying often occurs due to differences in language, culture, race and nationality.

Bullying at workplaces can be addressed by efforts at employee as well as the organizational level. The optimal strategy for dealing with workplace bullying involves both effective organizational interventions to help prevent and address bullying incidents and strong legislative mechanisms to allow for reimbursement and compensation. There are no specific laws for the protection of work place bullying on the base of which they can be legally protected.According to researches most bullying is same-sex harassment which is ignored by laws and employer policies. In most of the cases women are bullied. In a liberal individualistic culture, people tend to blame victims for the harm they tolerate and make them responsible for solving their unprovoked problems. Most bullies are bosses where it is a zero sum game that they are getting their personal gains at the expense of others.

Bullied employees are continuously harassed which results in mental stresses, poor performance, absenteeism, lower job satisfaction and to its extreme turnover occur.Our study focuses on the bullying based on race culture or identity. We would discuss that how bullying affects the performance, creativity and job satisfaction of the employees. It often has physical and mental affect on the employees and creates work- family conflict. The problem is that many studies have been conducted on workplace bullying but very few are able to give affective solutions to it and identify the main cause of it. This is also because of the fact that often bullying is nearly invisible, non-physical, and nearly always sub-lethal workplace violence.It is difficult to define the acts and limitations of a bully because of complexity in measuring the level of bullying.

Our study would discuss preferred means of conflict management and alternative dispute resolution in the organizations. Consequences of racial bullying not only affect the employees but also the employer. It drastically affects the work environment and has a severe impact at the organizational level. The role of this study would be to identify the impact of workplace bullying on the employees performance, employers and the organization itself.REVIEW OF LITERATURE Workplace bullying has a well-established body of research internationally, but Pakistan has lagged behind the rest of the world in the recognition and examination of this trend. Bullying has always been part of the human condition; history is rife with references to abuse of power and unnecessary or excessive force. The classic bully story is of Joseph and his brothers, a tale of envy and hostility.

This paper presents a racial perspective of bullying in organizations.The lack of attention to the concept of workplace dignity in Pakistani organizational structures has supported and even encouraged both casual and more severe forms of harassment that our workplace laws do not currently cover. The dejected victims suffer can create toxic working environments and damage organizational productivity. Some methods of protecting your organization from this blight of bullying are proposed (Vega & Comer, 2005). “Wellness in organizations” should focus on the well being of individual workers.At a time when the wellness of individuals is increasingly being threatened in our workplaces, we argue that one way wellness can be sought is through careful examination of routine organizational practices. To make this point, we look to the problem of bullying in organizations and, in particular, traditional organizational responses to bullying.

(Vickers, 2006) Previous research in the workplace has identified a number of factors which are associated with bullying. Up to now, researchers have identified various individual and work-related factors as potential background of workplace bullying.The aim of the present study is to integrate this line of research in view of explaining how these circumstances may develop into racial workplace bullying and how it affects the job performance. Bullying is present in every sphere of life and is perhaps the most important ethical problem in the modern world. It consists, essentially, in the abuse of power, and can involve psychological cruelty; cultural and personal insults; religious and sexual intolerance; the abuse of political and economic power, and ultimately physical force.It can ruin lives, and it can end lives. Unlike the schoolyard bully, however, the workplace bully is an adult, usually (but not always) aware of the impact of his or her behavior on others.

Bullying in the workplace, often tacitly accepted by the organizational leadership, can create an environment of psychological threat that diminishes corporate productivity and inhibits individual and group commitment. (Vega & Comer, 2005) This brief review of literature will address the racial/ethnic aspects of workplace bullying and organizational risks associated with it.Very exhaustive studies have been done in this perspective and research has classified bullying as a source of social stress and aggression at work (Suzy Fox, 2004). Workplace aggression is more typically defined as “behavior by an individual or individuals within or outside an organization that is intended to physically or psychologically harm a worker or workers and occurs in a work-related context” (LaVan, 2010) In foreign countries such as United States, race is a particularly salient group membership category, with powerful implications for social identity (Suzy Fox, 2004).For marginal individuals who work for masses, racial identity can be an acute factor in self-esteem, performance, resistance to stress, and health. These marginal individuals victimize by presenting themselves as anxious, unhappy, insecure, or socially withdrawn. Some persons make themselves appear vulnerable to being victimized.

Others are victimized because they provoke attacks in response to their hostile or threatening behaviors (Bradfield, 2000) The impacts of bullying and harassment on the organization and the individual are striking.Organizational costs have included people leaving as a result of bullying, reduced productivity, and a loss of creativity and innovation. Efficiency is likely to decline as extra sick days taken. These costs tend to have a domino effect, creating additional organizational impact (Vega & Comer, 2005). According to a research study emotional abuse is evaluated as the most severe type of bullying (Suzy Fox, 2004) . It can have damaging effect on the physical and psychological health of the target person.Bullying behaviors such as humiliating someone, treating someone with disrespect or ridiculing them cold-heartedly, summarized as ‘‘emotional abuse’’ (Escartin, 2008)outcomes of which include depression (Heugten, 2009); burnout (Guy Notelaers, 2010); post-traumatic stress disorder (Riittakerttu Kaltiala-Heino, 1999); prolonged-duress stress disorder (Brian McAvoy, 2003); alcohol abuse (Richmann 2001; Rospenda 2002), and suicide (Moayed, 2006)describe workplace bullying as a risk factor for maintaining mental health.

Mentally disturbed employee cannot perform the way he is supposed to so it leads to decreased productivity.Research findings indicate that, with reasonable statistical confidence, men and women of various races and ethnicities experience increasing inequality in workplace power, relative to White men, but they experience it to different degrees and via different mechanisms (Elliott & Smith, 2004). It is important to understand the typical personality makeup of a bully in order to understand what motivates such people to victimize their victims. The analysis of several litigated cases can be found in this context because many of the organizations do not have any anti-bullying policies and when litigated the employer prevails.Understanding how increasing racial diversity relates to turnover is relevant to society as a whole and employment relations in particular. Because job attainment strongly determines socioeconomic status, achieving equality in the workplace. Policies affect the hiring and promotion of minority employees, but not so much their retention a necessary step to increase workplace integration.

The push for a more racially diverse organization begins with recruiting and selection, but the key to lasting diversity is retaining employees from all racial backgrounds (Zatzick, Elvira, & Cohen, 2003).In most of the organizations bullying at managerial level is legitimate. If the victim of the bully is really unlucky they may find that the personnel department is powerless to deal with the bully as the bully is senior to the Personnel department. This is particularly likely in smaller companies and in organizations it may also be that the organization has been run in an authoritarian style for so long that bullies have amassed in a gang to support each other against complaints.One policy recommendation might be to improve human capital among these groups, in hopes that greater similarity in education and experience will bring greater similarity in workplace power attainment (Elliott & Smith, 2004). Organizations may be able to go some way towards resolving or at least minimizing the problem of bullying by reducing and controlling stress at work (Cooper, 2000). Research also indicates that iverse work groups eventually produce higher quality of ideas, but it takes time for such groups to perform effectively by overcoming the early difficulties of group dynamics that arise from diversity (Zatzick, Elvira, & Cohen, 2003).

Race discrimination in employment hiring decisions may not be as prevalent as in the past. However, more insidious forms of prejudice seem to exist (Perlow, 2001). The paradox is clear: policies professing to protect targets may actually be in place to protect the institution from the gaze of external parties, such as lawyers, insurance and human rights agencies, police and the media (Vickers, 2006).While the focus of our study is the examination of the racial difference of the bully and the victim which leads to workplace bullying and how it impacts the job performance the analysis of the additional litigated cases and anti-bullying policies would be the area for future research. Thus even beyond theoretical contributions, from a practical stand point we need to continue studying how racial diversity affects actual career outcomes for minorities. For this mask to be lifted and the paradox addressed: What cannot be talked about must be talked about.What must not be talked about must be talked about openly.

What cannot and must not be felt must be given its hearing. We must have the courage to break the spell of our cherished workplace self protectiveness (Vickers, 2006) RESEARCH OBJECTIVE The purpose of the study is to see the effects of racial bullying on the workplace behaviors and the employee performance. In our study we will observe the basis of bullying, we will investigate that whether race which includes issues related to different skin tone, geographic origin, culture or language become a cause behind the bullying behavior.It is difficult to know what initiates the bullying behavior in the bullies and on what basis bullies select their targets. Bullying has a very negative impact on the physical health as well as the mental health of the employees and when the person is not physically or mentally fit it is very difficult to perform the job well. It increases the turnover rates and reduces motivation associated with the work. These factors lead to increased costs for the employers.

So it has an increased risk at both ends for employees as well as for employers.The basic question which is behind the purpose of conducting this study is whether racial bullying affects the performance of the employees negatively RESEARCH QUESTIONS Following research questions were addressed in the study 1-How bullies select their target at work place? Is racism a vital reason for workplace bullying? 2-What are the physical and psychological effects of hostile behavior associated with bullying? 3-What are the risks associated with work place bullying? i-e Effect on employee motivation, job satisfaction and performance HYPOTHESIS STATEMENTHo: Racism is not correlated with the incidents of bullying H1: Racism is correlated with the incidents of bullying Ho: Racial bullying is not correlated with employee motivation H1: Racial bullying is correlated with employee motivation Ho: Racial bullying is not correlated with job satisfaction H1: Racial bullying is correlated with job satisfaction Ho: Racial bullying is not correlated with performance H1: Racial bullying is correlated with performance CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Independent variablesIntervening variablesDependent variables ? OPERATIONALIZATION Dimensions and Elements of the concepts . Bullying: Bullying is a form of abuse. It involves repeated acts over time attempting to create or enforce one person's (or group's) power over another person (or group) , thus an "imbalance of power". 2. Motivation Motivation is the driving force which causes us to achieve goals. 3.

Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction describes how content an individual is with his or her job. The happier people are within their job, the more satisfied they are said to be. 4. Performance Accomplishment of a given task measured against preset standards of accuracy, completeness, cost, and speed.METHODOLOGY Data Types and Scales VariableData TypeScale EducationNominal Scale DataOpen Ended Question (Converted into category scale) GenderNominal Scale DataDichotomous scale DesignationNominal Scale DataOpen Ended Question (Converted into category scale) AgeRatio ScaleOpen Ended Question (Converted into category scale) RacismInterval Scale DataLikert Scale PerformanceInterval Scale DataLikert Scale Motivation Interval Scale DataLikert Scale BullyingInterval Scale DataLikert Scale Job SatisfactionInterval Scale DataLikert Scale DATA COLLECTION METHOD Questionnaire Based SurveyBefore investigating the effect of racial bullying on employee motivation, job satisfaction and eventually on employee performance data were needed on the frequency of bullying, type of bullying and its impact on employees. To take this research further an instrument was needed to collect the data. Usually interviews do not work well for bullying because respondents hesitate to tell the truth and hence interview method does not bring new cases of bullying to open.

So, an anonymous questionnaire is the best method to go further in investigation of bullying.Type of Questionnaire Survey As the research was based on workplace so organization survey was conducted for collecting information about the employees. The organizations selected for this purpose was Textile industry. Convenience Sampling To analyze the research problem it was necessary to select a sample from the whole population to do the research in minimum cost and time. It was decided to select a sample through non probability sampling because of the time and cost consideration. The sampling technique used for this purpose was Convenience Sampling.The reason behind selecting this technique was that the sampling frame (list of all Textile industry employees) was not available to us and it was time consuming to select a random sample so it was easier and more feasible to select respondents which were conveniently available.

All the textile factories comprised the whole population. Sample Size A sample of 30 employees was selected for the analysis of data. Ethical Requirements As racial bullying is a very sensitive topic so while addressing the questions related to this issue it was necessary to keep in mind the ethical considerations related to the topic.The respondents name was kept anonymous because bringing such information in to open could cause psychological and in some cases physical harm to the respondents (in case the respondent give an answer against his supervisor or colleagues). Secondly the purpose of the research was clearly explained to the respondents and they were asked to take part in the research with their free choice. ANALYSIS Handling of Data To Measure the concepts scores to all the questions related to the same concept were added and averaged below Variable: Bullying ItemScore Attempts to belittle and undermine my work1-5Verbal and non­verbal threats1-5 Attempts to demoralize me1-5 Humiliate in front of colleagues 1-5 Persistent unjustified criticism and monitoring 1-5 Physical violence 1-5 Total6-30 Mean1. 2-6 Total Score Range Bullying 6-13Very low or no bullying 14-22Moderate 23-30Severe Variable: Racism ItemScore Discrimination based on skin color 1-5 Discrimination based on geographic origin1-5 Discrimination based on culture1-5 Discrimination based on language1-5 Discrimination based on other racial differences1-5 Total 5-25 Mean Mean1-5 Total Score Range Racism 5-11Very low or no racism 10-18Moderate 9-25Severe Variable: Motivation ItemScore Enjoy doing work1-5 Cope with time pressure1-5 Arrive at the office on time and do not leave early1-5 Energized by opportunities to work in teams 1-5 Tough and challenging assignments motivates1-5 Total 5-25 Mean Mean1-5 Total Score Range Motivation 5-11Low 10-18Moderate 19-25High Variable: Job Satisfaction ItemScore For the work I do, the pay is good.

1-5 Ample opportunities for advancement in this profession. 1-5 I feel that I am valued by my co-workers. 1-5 Satisfied with the kind of work I do in this job. 1-5 I believe that my supervisors care for me -5 Total 5-25 Mean Mean1-5 Total Score Range Job Satisfaction 5-11Low 10-18Moderate 19-25High Variable: Performance ItemScore Meet the established productivity standards 1-5 Use company resources efficiently and economically1-5 It's hard for me to meet the needs and expectations ocustomers and supervisors 1-5 Demonstrate creativity and contribute new ideas 1-5 Total 4-20 Mean Mean0. 8-4 Total Score Range Performance 4-18Low 9-15Moderate 16-20High Note: Question "It's hard for me to meet the needs and expectations" decoded as follows for analysis purpose Strongly disagree 6Disagree 5 Neither Agree nor Disagree 3 Agree 2 Strongly agree 1 DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES Descriptive Statistics According to the survey 40% of employees in textile industry suffer from moderate level of bullying and 30% face severe kind of bullying behaviors which is a quite alarming situation for the industry. Bullying FrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative Percent Validlittle or no bullying930. 030.

030. 0 Moderate1240. 040. 070. 0 Severe930. 030. 0100.

Total30100. 0100. 0 Also data shows that 43% of employees face moderate level of racial bullying Racial bullying FrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative Percent Validlittle or no racism930. 030. 030. 0 moderate1343. 343.

373. 3 Severe826. 726. 7100. 0 Total30100. 0100. 0 Although there is a high level of bullying in this sector yet 43% of the employees have a high level of performance.

But 33% of employees face deterioration in performance and 23% have a very low performance score. Performance FrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative Percent ValidLow723. 23. 323. 3 Medium1033. 333. 356.

7 High1343. 343. 3100. 0 Total30100. 0100. 0 ? TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS As the research was conducted to investigate behavioral data and to find relationships among different employee behaviors such as racial bullying, employee motivation, employee's job satisfaction and performance so a test for equality of the population correlation was most appropriate. Hypothesis#1: Ho: Racism is not correlated with the incidents of bullying H1: Racism is correlated with the incidents of bullying Level of significance: .

05 CorrelationsBullyingRacism BullyingPearson Correlation1. 401* Sig. (2-tailed). 028 N3030 RacismPearson Correlation. 401*1 Sig. (2-tailed). 028 N3030 *.

Correlation is significant at the 0. 05 level (2-tailed). Interpretation: The correlation between racism and bullying is . 401 which is moderate positive correlation. The p-value (. 028) is less than level of significance (. 05) hence we reject Ho and conclude that there exist a positive correlation between racism and incidents of bullying.

Hypothesis#2: Ho: Racial bullying is not correlated with job satisfactionH1: Racial bullying is correlated with job satisfaction Level of Significance: . 05 Correlations Racial bullyingJob Satisfaction Racial bullyingPearson Correlation1-. 825** Sig. (2-tailed). 000 N3030 Job SatisfactionPearson Correlation-. 825**1 Sig. (2-tailed).

000 N3030 **. Correlation is significant at the 0. 01 level (2-tailed). Interpretation: The correlation between job satisfaction and racial bullying is -. 825 which is strong negative correlation. The p-value (. 000) is less than level of significance (.

05) therefore we reject Ho and conclude that here exist a negative correlation between racial bullying and job satisfaction. Hence we may say that racial bulling can have a strong negative impact on job satisfaction of workers but it will further need to run a regression analysis to prove that. Hypothesis#3: Ho: Racial bullying is not correlated with employee motivation H1: Racial bullying is correlated with employee motivation Level of significance: . 05 Correlations Racial bullyingMotivation Racial bullyingPearson Correlation1-. 335 Sig. (2-tailed). 070 N3030 MotivationPearson Correlation-.

3351 Sig. 2-tailed). 070 N3030 Interpretation: The correlation between employee motivation and bullying is -. 335 which is moderate negative correlation. The p-value (. 070) is greater than level of significance (. 05) hence we accept Ho and conclude that there exists no linear relationship between racial bullying and employee motivation.

Although it is proved from previous researches that bullying negatively impacts workers motivation but may be due to sampling error (because the sample size was very small due to economic considerations) we fail to confirm the previous studies.Hypothesis#4: Ho: Racial bullying is not correlated with performance H1: Racial bullying is correlated with performance Level of significance: . 05 Correlations Racial bullyingPerformance Racial bullyingPearson Correlation1-. 773** Sig. (2-tailed). 000 N3030 PerformancePearson Correlation-. 773**1 Sig.

(2-tailed). 000 N3030 **. Correlation is significant at the 0. 01 level (2-tailed). Interpretation: The correlation between racism and bullying is -. 773 which is strong negative correlation. The p-value (.

000) is less than level of significance (. 5) hence we reject Ho and conclude that there exist a negative correlation between racial bullying and performance. PROJECT MANAGEMENT Our study focuses on workplace bullying and we used questionnaires surveys to measure the affect of racial bullying on the performance of employees and their job satisfaction. We distributed questionnaires among the employees of different organizations and we concluded that discrimination on the base of race or language exists significantly in our working sector. Favourism is common among bosses and their favorite employees.Favourism based on same background location or language exists. We completed our report in a p of two months.

Our focus was on how bullying affects the workers personality, job satisfaction and performance. We took help from online journals, books, websites and primary data from our survey. From our analysis we concluded that it is very common practice in all of the workplaces. And because of its invisibility there are not many remedies to tackle with this problem. Organizational culture and individual mentality leads to bullying.We spend considerable time doing this report and collecting data for this study. ActivitiesStart DateCompletedRemaining Project Definition10-Sep-1050 Selecting Research Methodology15-Sep-10100 Questionnaire design20-Oct-1060 Sample selection25-Oct-1090 Questionnaire filling10-Nov-1050 Pre-testing15-Nov-1050 Coding/Data entry19-Nov-1020 Statistical analysis20-Nov-1050 GANTT CHART CONCLUSION Racism appears to play a role behind bullying behavior and results in undermining the motivation to work and satisfaction with job which consequently deteriorate the performance level of the Textile industry employees.

It was revealed that differences in skin color, language and absence of common culture among workers triggered hostile behavior against each other. This shows that there is high level of ignorance about workplace ethics in low rank employees of textile industry which is an important cause of growing bullying behavior in this sector. To address this problem we either have to wait for a radical change in general cultural norms in Pakistan or the organizations should understand the massive personal and financial consequences associated with workplace bullying.Apart from that this study makes several important contributions. It supports previous research and also brings out different kinds of basis for racism among which skin color and language are most important. Specifically we found that verbal and nonverbal threats and persistent attempt to humiliate in front of colleagues are very common among workers. . 

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