Case Study on Motivation- Workplace Bullies

Group Members:~Abhishek PurohitAditya SaurabhAkansha ShipraArya Hari KumarDevashishMahul Dhiman

So what should the managers do to

motivate the employee ?

Case Study on Workplace Bullies

• In the given case, Madhu was a victim of Bullies at the organization she worked.

• Madhu was looked down upon by her other staffs, colleagues and her boss when she thought of giving some good suggestions or raised high lightened points in meetings.

• She was finally exclude from the group when she resented to attend an informal meeting against lack of pay incentive , saying, she was a snob.

Bullies: a reason of stress…

• Unfortunately, due to this, she had to resign from her job

• This clearly showed that she became a prey of her Bullying Boss. (A bullying person is one who is blustering, quarrelsome who habitually badgers or intimidates smaller or weaker people.

• Research data depicts-40% of bullies are women, & women are their target 70% of time.

Bullying Effect on Employee’s Performance

• Bullying affect the employee’s motivation and behavior. The feel less motivated to go to work daily & are unable to give their complete attention to work.

• This eventually affects their extra-role, job-involvement and organizational citizenship behavior.

Counter measures for Bullying Boss:No help should be expected from co-workers because

they often blame the victims in order to resolve their own guilt. So the person must act boldly with complete confidence.

• In case of Madhu she was humiliated by her boss.• All her colleagues are jealous of her.• It shows lack of dignity and respect towards the

employee.• Interactional Justice

Q:1-Workplace bullies demonstrates a lack of which one

of three types of justice?

Q:2-What aspects of motivation might workplace bullying reduce? For example, are there likely to be effects on an employee’s self-efficacy? If so, what might those

effects be?

•  If we consider Hierarchy of needs theory, in early theory of Motivation there exists a hierarchy of five needs: Physiological, Safety, Social, Esteem, Self-actualization. Workplace bullying has moderate impact on Safety, Social and high impact on Esteem, Self-actualization of aspects of motivation. By bullying an employee there will be a long last effect on self-efficacy. He or She cannot drive to become what they are capable of becoming. “The victims may feel less motivated to go to work every day, they continue performing their required job duties with fear, some are less motivated to perform extra-role or citizenship behaviors. Helping others, speaking positively about organization, and going beyond the call of the duty are reduced as a result of bullying”.

Q:3-What steps would you take to try to reduce workplace

bullying occurrence?Developing and implementing strategies and plans to minimize and control workplace bullying. The strategies and plans should be designed to create long-term change within the workplace and not used as a quick fix for the problem.

Developing a workplace bullying policy.

Establishing expectations of appropriate behavior and consequences of failing to comply with expectations of appropriate behavior.

Developing a complaint handling and investigation procedure and appointing persons-in-charge specifically to handle this procedure .

Providing training, information and awareness on workplace bullying for all employees

Keeping records and information relating to productivity, absenteeism, grievances, work related injuries, disciplinary actions and so on.

Ensuring that the managers and other higher authorities of the organization respond promptly and carry out necessary actions on receiving complaints of bullying.

Keeping a record of the employees previously involved in bullying and keeping a watch on them to ensure that the same is not repeated again.

Q:4-What factors contribute to workplace bullying?

There are a variety of reasons why a person may bully another person in the workplace. These reasons may include:

PowerA person may use their position of power or their physical dominance over those who are perceived to be weaker. The bullying is often dependent upon the perceived power of the bully over their victim.

Self-EsteemBullies may put down others to boost their own self-esteem and confidence to help deal with personal feelings of inadequacy.

DifferenceAn individual or group may become targets of workplace bullying because others perceive them as being new or different.

Perceived ThreatSome people bully others because the other person is perceived as a threat to them personally, or a threat to their position within the company.

Organizational CultureThe culture of a workplace is often shown by its values, beliefs and what is considered to be normal behavior. When the culture is positive it encourages individuals to adopt appropriate behaviours that promote respect of others. Conversely, employees may find themselves in a negative culture where inappropriate behaviors and attitudes are encouraged or condoned by management and bullying is seen as normal behavior for the majority of people in the workplace.

Are bullies a product of the situation, or do they have flawed personalities? What situations and what personality factors might contribute to the presence of bullies?

Most of the bullies are products of situation and some of them do have flawed personalities. Employees might compare themselves to  friends, neighbors, co-workers, or colleagues in other organizations or compare their present job with past jobs”, in-equality in power and position, these are situations contribute to the presence of bullies.  Negative and stressful working environment, low self esteem are the personality factors that might contribute to the presence of bullies.