A qualitative study on how Swedish organizations deal with workplace bullying

Cicerali, Lütfiye Kaya; Cicerali, Eyyüb Ensari

doi:10.1080/19012276.2015.1071198

Cited by 14 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Humiliating discriminatory treatment was to them synonymous with bullying, which created confusion about the definition of bullying. In agreement with our results, Cicerali and Cicerali () found that managers did not find bullying to be a problem at their workplaces, and that Swedish organisations were characterized as bully‐free systems. This conclusion is, however, in contrast to earlier research (Swedish Work Environment Authority, ; Voss et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Managing bullying in Swedish workplace settings: A concealed and only partially acknowledged problem

Rahm

Rystedt

et al. 2018

J Nurs Manag

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Aim The purpose of this article was to explore workplace routines and strategies for preventing and managing bullying in the context of health and elderly care. Background Bullying is a serious problem in workplaces with consequences for the individual, the organisation and the quality of care. Method Open‐ended interviews were conducted with 12 participants, including managers and specialists within one hospital and three municipalities. The interviews were analysed with qualitative content analysis. Results Bullying was often concealed, due to avoidance, unclear definition and lack of direct strategies against bullying. No preventative work focusing on bullying existed. Psychosocial issues were not prioritized at workplace meetings. The supervisor had the formal responsibility to identify, manage and solve the bullying problem. The most common decision to solve the problem was to split the group. Conclusions The findings showed that bullying was a concealed problem and was first acknowledged when the problem was acute. Implications for Nursing Management Crucial strategies to prevent and combat bullying consist of acknowledgement of the problem, transformational leadership, prioritization of psycho‐social issues, support of a humanistic value system and work through bullying problems to achieve long‐term changes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Managing bullying in Swedish workplace settings: A concealed and only partially acknowledged problem

Rahm

Rystedt

et al. 2018

J Nurs Manag

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“…While there may be isolated exceptions, generally, it appears that organisations fail to either prevent or manage workplace bullying to minimise harm to workers (Catley et al , 2016a; Kahn and Kahn, 2012; Keashly et al , 2008; Rayner and McIvor, 2008; Salin, 2009). Evidence from studies of target or witness accounts (Hodgins and Mannix McNamara, 2017; Hodgins et al , 2018; Hurley et al , 2016; Jenkins, 2011; Klein and Martin, 2011; Mannix McNamara et al , 2017; O'Donnell and MacIntosh, 2016; Rayner and McIvor, 2008; Thirlwall, 2015), human resource managers (HRMs) (Catley et al , 2016; Cicerali and Cicerali, 2015; Cowan, 2011; Harrington et al , 2015) and consultants (Jenkins, 2011; Olsen, 2018) are confluent in reporting that organisations either fail to respond at all to bullied workers, fail to implement policy or thwart targets' attempts at redress, which serves to add further to the distress of workers.…”

Section: Workplace Bullying and The Protection Of Workersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power and inaction: why organizations fail to address workplace bullying

Hodgins

MacCurtain

Mannix‐McNamara

2020

IJWHM

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PurposeBullying affects at least one-third of the workers through either direct exposure or witnessing, both of which lead to compromised health, and as a result, reduced organizational effectiveness or productivity. However, there is very little evidence that organisations provide effective protection from bullying, and in fact, the converse appears to the case. The purpose of this paper to explore the role of both individual and organisational power in the creation and maintenance of the problem. Such an approach moves away from the specific practice of identifying “bullying” that typically engages targets and perpetrators in a dance that is really just around the edges (Sullivan, 2008) of a larger problem; a culture that permits the abuse of power and ill-treatment of workers, in both practices and through organisational politics.Design/methodology/approachThis paper elucidates key problems with organisational response as identified in the literature and critically examines weak organisational response to workplace bullying using the power theory, arguing that while overt approaches to addressing bullying appear to be underpinned by a simplistic, functionalist understanding of power, practices on the ground are better explained by more sophisticated “second-dimension” theorists.FindingsThere is a need for organisations to move beyond the current individualistic understanding of bullying towards a more nuanced understanding of how anti-bullying policies and procedures are themselves an exercise in institutional power protecting and reinforcing dominant power structures.Research limitations/implicationsThe literature from which this paper is drawn is limited to studies published in English.Practical implicationsThe authors advocate a realistic assessment of the role of both individual and organisational power in the creation and maintenance of workplace bullying, as a way forward to plan appropriate intervention.Social implicationsWorkplace bullying is problematic for organisations at several levels, and therefore for society.Originality/valueThat power is relevant to workplace bullying has been apparent since the work of Brodsky in 1976 and Einarsen's early work, this paper builds on a the more nuanced work of McKay (2014), D'Cruz and Noronha (2009), Liefooghe and MacDavey's (2010) and Hutchinson et al. (2010), exploring the organisational response to the raising of bullying issues by individual employees as an exercise of power.

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“…However, it should be noted that this study has only looked at the presence of such policies and not their quality; thus, policies should not be underestimated as important measures against bullying. Moreover, Scandinavian organizations have traditionally been more inclined to handle bullying cases informally and have little experience in developing and implementing such measures (Cicerali & Cicerali, 2015). While the mere existence of policies may have a little effect, they clarify the ideas to be communicated through training, and they provide the organization with needed background to act upon transgressions.…”

Section: Practical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%