Workplace bullying is not solely caused by individual characteristics but is also significantly associated with power dynamics at the workplace, as well as with individuals’ opportunities to receive support in situations of bullying.
This is according to a study – “Struggle Over Rights and Duties at Work: Storylines and Discursive Self-Other Positioning in Workplace Bullying Stories” by Pekka Kuusela, Pasi Hirvonen and Luk Van Langenhove – that appeared in SAGE Open.
The study is based on personal accounts of workplace bullying published on online discussion forums dedicated to sharing experiences of workplace bullying. In total, 136 accounts of workplace bullying were analyzed, detailing how the bullying started, how it was handled within the work community and how the situation ended.
Work community is a key player in workplace bullying
The study employed the so-called positioning theory, which focuses on how rights, duties and responsibilities related to workplace bullying are constructed and how they are discussed and negotiated in everyday interactions. A similar perspective has been rarely used in previous research.
In the accounts of workplace bullying, individuals who experienced bullying described how they were positioned differently in relation to their work community. A significant role in workplace bullying was played not only by the bullied and the bullies, but also by the entire work community and external parties, such as occupational health care providers and occupational safety and health authorities.
Individuals who had experienced workplace bullying described it as a situation where they either lost their health and ability to work, or they perceived bullying to be passively accepted by the work community. Bullying was also described as an unresolved conflict, or as a situation employees had managed to survive it thanks to their own, active opposition. However, such accounts of survival were extremely rare.
Supervisors play a crucial role in addressing bullying
According to the study, supervisors play a crucial role in addressing bullying. Supervisors who handle bullying situations openly and fairly can prevent them from escalating further. In contrast, ignoring bullying, remaining silent about it and passively accepting it often jeopardises the bullied individual’s possibilities to remain in the workplace.
“The accounts of bullying we have analyzed often describe how isolated and powerless the bullied individual feels in the situation, with hardly any opportunities for fair handling of the matter in their work community, or even knowledge of what to do in the situation,” said Kuusela.
Storyline-based examination of positioning, i.e. how individuals are positioned in relation to each other, shifts the focus from individual characteristics to power dynamics and interactions between employees, offering a different perspective on workplace bullying.
“To understand how to best handle situations of bullying, future research should also examine narratives from work communities where workplace bullying has been addressed successfully,” the researchers ended.
