Antecedents, consequences and interventions for workplace bullying
1School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia.
Current Opinion in Psychiatry
|July 19, 2014
Summary
Workplace bullying significantly impacts individuals, often requiring psychiatric care, yet lacks a clear definition and effective interventions. Psychiatrists need greater understanding as they treat targets, but prevention is hindered by competing workplace interests.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Organizational Psychology
- Workplace Behavior
Background:
- Workplace bullying is a growing research area, primarily studied in business management.
- Existing literature lacks a universally agreed-upon definition of workplace bullying.
- The severe consequences for targets necessitate psychiatric attention, highlighting a gap in psychiatric research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the nature of workplace bullying and its sequelae.
- To inform psychiatrists about workplace bullying, given its impact on individuals requiring psychiatric treatment.
- To review the current state of research on workplace bullying, its identification, management, and prevention.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of studies on workplace bullying.
- Analysis of challenges in identifying and managing bullying in organizational settings.
- Examination of the effectiveness of current prevention and intervention strategies.
Main Results:
- No consensus definition exists, though common criteria are identified.
- Managers and HR personnel face difficulties in identifying and managing bullying.
- Targets experience severe consequences, including lifelong impacts and need for psychiatric treatment.
- Research on effective prevention and intervention programs is limited.
- Preventive measures yield mixed results, and workplace policies are often undermined by competing interests.
Conclusions:
- Workplace bullying remains under-researched in psychiatry despite its significant impact on individuals treated by psychiatrists.
- Effective prevention strategies are hampered by conflicting interests among stakeholders.
- Addressing workplace bullying requires a deeper understanding within psychiatric practice and improved organizational interventions.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
02:04Bullying
7.9K
A modern form of aggression is bullying. As you learn in your study of child development, socializing and playing with other children is beneficial for children’s psychological development. However, as you may have experienced as a child, not all play behavior has positive outcomes. Some children are aggressive and want to play roughly. Other children are selfish and do not want to share toys. One form of negative social interactions among children that has become a national concern is...
7.9K
01:24Operant Conditioning Intervention
725
Operant conditioning serves as a foundational principle in therapeutic interventions aimed at modifying maladaptive behaviors. Central to this approach is the notion that behaviors, both adaptive and maladaptive, are learned through reinforcement. By analyzing the environmental factors that reinforce problematic behaviors, clinicians can design interventions to weaken these reinforcements and replace maladaptive behaviors with healthier alternatives.
In operant conditioning, behaviors that are...
In operant conditioning, behaviors that are...
725
02:09Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies
28.1K
When we hold a stereotype about a person, we have expectations that he or she will fulfill that stereotype. A self-fulfilling prophecy is an expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true. When we hold stereotypes about a person, we tend to treat the person according to our expectations. This treatment can influence the person to act according to our stereotypic expectations, thus confirming our stereotypic beliefs. Research by Rosenthal and...
28.1K
01:21Behavior Modification
1.0K
Behavioral approaches have often been criticized for ignoring mental processes and focusing solely on observable behavior. However, these approaches provide an optimistic perspective for individuals seeking to change their behaviors. Rather than concentrating on intrinsic personality traits, behavioral approaches suggest that even longstanding habits can be modified by changing the reward contingencies that maintain them.
A real-world application of operant conditioning principles is applied...
A real-world application of operant conditioning principles is applied...
1.0K
01:27Halo Effect
798
The halo effect is a cognitive bias in which an individual's overall impression influences judgments about their specific traits. This psychological phenomenon leads people to associate positive characteristics with those they perceive as generally good and negative characteristics with those they view as bad. This effect is particularly influential in social perception, professional evaluations, and decision-making processes.The Psychological Basis of the Halo EffectThe halo effect is rooted...
798
02:09Bystander Effect
9.5K
The discussion of bullying highlights the problem of witnesses not intervening to help a victim. This is a common occurrence, as the following well-publicized event demonstrates. In 1964, in Queens, New York, a 19-year-old woman named Kitty Genovese was attacked by a person with a knife near the back entrance to her apartment building and again in the hallway inside her apartment building. When the attack occurred, she screamed for help numerous times and eventually died from her stab wounds.
9.5K