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Unequal Wales – Evidence and Action: Employment

Workplace BullyingDuncan Lewis

University of Glamorgan

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What do you hope to achieve from today’s session?

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What do we think about when we talk about bullying and

harassment?

Power Escalating process

Negative/inappropriate

Persistence

Bullying and Harassment - key issues

• Lots of evidence• Some dodgy research• Cultural differences• Different terms but do they mean similar

things?• Is bullying too narrowly a defined concept

for some of the things labelled as bullying?

Bullying is ………………………………………………………

A definition of bullying

Harassing, offending & socially excluding someone or negatively affecting

someone’s work tasks in order for the label ‘bullying’ to be applied to a particular

activity, interaction or process, it has to occur repeatedly and regularly for

instance (weekly) and over a period of at least six months (Einarsen et al 2003)

Power Escalating process

Negative/inappropriate

Persistence

The Einarsen et al definition attempts to encapsulate these concepts………

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Conflict Escalation & Bullying

Suicide & Destruction

Incidental slipping into tensions

Polarization – interaction via deeds not words

Concern for reputation – outrage

Dominant strategies of threat

Systematic destructive campaigns

Power struggle between both

Bullying begins

Conflict Escalation Model – after Glasl (1994)

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2008 British Workplace Behaviour Survey

The original negative acts questionnaire

• Asks people about their exposure to 21 items of negative behaviour (how often experienced - Daily through to Never)

• Give people a definition of bullying and ask them if they have been bullied – Yes or No

What is the problem with answering surveys?

• (1) Comprehension: They have to decide what they think the question is asking.

• (2) Retrieval: Then they have to retrieve the relevant information from memory.

• (3) Judgement: Next they have to make judgements about the information in order to decide on which response option to use.

• (4) Response: Finally, they have to give their response to the interviewer or provide it on the questionnaire.

Cognitive Testing

• We asked 60 people about the 28 items in the 21 item NAQ battery -15 people in each of the following locations:

• Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff and Ilford

• Our aim was for them to tell us about what they understood of terms such as bullying, harassment and so on.

What did we ask people in the cognitive testing?

• Ask about the definition of bullying, is it clear/unclear? Do they agree/disagree? How would they describe bullying?

• If any experienced – what sorts of incidents are they thinking of?

• If no experience personally – have they seen incidents of bullying in their workplace – what are they including?

• Additional probes were used with particular questions/definitions, for example:

• How would you describe bullying?• How would you describe harassment?• Are they the same thing?• What does a ‘hostile’ environment mean to you?• What does being a victim mean to you?

Outcome of cognitive testing…

• The concept of bullying is not at all clear to working people.

• Lack of clarity in people’s minds as to what it is, may be, or, is not

• Expecting people to read and understand long definitions is not reliable – people made their minds up within the first one or two lines

The Equality Bill

The Government has now published its long awaited Equality Bill. The Bill proposes to bring all the current strands of discrimination (disability, sex, race etc) within one piece of legislation. It is expected the Bill will receive Royal Assent in Spring 2010, with the majority of provisions coming into force in October 2010.

Equalities and Bullying – risk groups

• LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gendered) – Majrowski Case, 2006

• The Disability Discrimination Act – FTAW1 and 2 plus WBS 2008

• Age, Gender, Race/ethnicity, Religion and belief – little or contradictory evidence in terms of higher or lower levels of bullying. Picture is not at all clear but evidence appears to reject higher levels of bullying in these groups.

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Relationships & Behaviours

• Problems of perception – what is acceptable to A may not be to B. Think about:– Age, Gender, Ethnicity, Sexual Orientation,

Religion, Disability, Appearance etc., etc.

• Departmental and Organisational Culture. Think about:– Norms, Values, Beliefs and how they might

underpin unacceptable behaviours.

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Helen Green V Deutsche Bank August 2006

Four women against 1 woman (Helen Green). Ms. Green subjected to a “relentless, deliberate and concerted campaign” (Justice Owen)Cause:1.It was a department-wide and long-standing problem2.Managers closed their eyes – a “catfight” they decided to stay away from3.HR – culpable through a lack of care4.Perpetrator – undermined, domineered, was confrontational, deliberately targeted and was unreasonable in her treatment of Helen Green (perpetrator was not a manager)5.Cumulative effect – not a single negative act but a combination of them (Tony Morton-Hooper, Partner, Mischon de Reya)

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The behaviours Ms Green was subjected to:

Nine weeks into her new job, she was working on her own in an office when the four women walked in and Miss Dolbear (an administrator and main perpetrator) - with her hand over her nose - said: "What’s that stink over there?“

"Daniella [Dolbear] was shouting and saying you stink and that sort of loud behaviour and laughing in my face and blowing raspberries," said Miss Green, from Docklands, east London.

"There was one time when I was walking from my desk over to the stationery cupboard and she was blowing raspberries with every step I made - it wasn’t funny."

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Helen Green Outcome• Brought under criminal law not employment

law (Protection from Harassment Act 1997)

• Awarded £850,000.00– £35,000 for injury – Ms Green suffered two nervous

breakdowns– £25,000 for future job-market vulnerability– £120,000 for loss of earnings – £640,000 for future loss of earnings– Balance in other costs

• Now re-training to be a teacher

Impact of inappropriate behaviours

 

•Sleep/eating disorders/substance abuse

•Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder

•Some people seek counselling or medicalattention for physical or psychological symptoms

•Reduced ability to cope with job demands

•Long term health and wellbeing consequences

IMPACTS ON THE INDIVIDUALIMPACTS ON THE INDIVIDUAL

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IMPACTS ON THE ORGANISATIONIMPACTS ON THE ORGANISATION

• Increased absenteeism

• Staff turnover

• Lower efficiency

• More mistakes & accidents

• Lost productivity among other staff

• Lower staff morale/organisational commitment

• Reduced staff creativity & innovation

• Lost opportunity costs

Impact on others

• Co-workers

• Friends

• The working environment

• Significant others, e.g. Partner, children and other family members

Table 1. Descriptive statistics for dependent variables.

Variable Disability% All%

1 Someone withholding information which affects your performance 18.9 15.7 2 Pressure from someone else to do work below your level of competence 19.3* 13.6 3 Having your opinions and views ignored 36.6* 29.9 4 Someone continually checking up on you or your work when IT IS NOT NECESSARY 25.0* 19.6 5 Pressure from someone else NOT to claim something which by right you are entitled to 15.8* 10 6 Being given an unmanageable workload or impossible deadlines 41.1* 31.4 7 Your employer not following proper procedures 35.2* 23.2 8 Being treated unfairly compared to others in your workplace 21.5* 16.9 9 Being humiliated or ridiculed in connection with your work 13.4* 9

10 Gossip and rumors being spread about you or having allegations made against you 21.8* 12.7 11 Being insulted or having offensive remarks made about you 27.4* 16.7 12 Being treated in a disrespectful or rude way 34.7* 25.3 13 People excluding you from their group 14.1* 9 14 Hints or signals from others that you should quit your job 14.4* 8.4 15 Persistent criticism of your work or performance which is unfair 22.5* 13.9 16 Teasing, mocking, sarcasm or jokes which go too far 18.7* 13.5 17 Being shouted at or someone losing their temper with you 37.3* 26.3 18 Intimidating behavior from people at work 25.4* 15.8 19 Feeling threatened in any way while at work 19.4* 12.6 20 Actual physical violence at work 11.6* 6 21 Injury in some way as a result of violence or aggression at work 8.8* 4.9

N=3979 (weighted data) * p<.05 or less.

Evidence from the 2008 British Workplace Behaviour Survey

It isn’t easy!

This is complex, unpredictable, messy and

open to multiple interpretations

Thank You

Professor Duncan Lewis

Acas Professor of

Workplace Futures