“It’s Not Us, It’s You!”: Extending Managerial Control through Coercion and Internalisation in the Context of Workplace Bullying amongst Nurses in Ireland

Abstract

This article investigates why workers submit to managerial bullying and, in doing so, we extend the growing research on managerial control and workplace bullying. We employ a labour process lens to explore the rationality of management both engaging in and perpetuating bullying. Labour process theory posits that employee submission to workplace bullying can be a valuable method of managerial control and this article examines this assertion. Based on the qualitative feedback in a large-scale survey of nurses in Ireland, we find that management reframed bullying complaints as deficiencies in the competency and citizenship of employees. Such reframing took place at various critical junctures such as when employees resisted extremely pressurized environments and when they resisted bullying behaviours. We find that such reframing succeeds in suppressing resistance and elicits compliance in achieving organisational objectives. We demonstrate how a pervasive bullying culture oriented towards expanding management control weakens an ethical climate conducive to collegiality and the exercise of voice, and strengthens a more instrumental climate. Whilst such a climate can have negative outcomes for individuals, it may achieve desired organisational outcomes for management.

Bad behavior in healthcare: an insidious threat to patients, staff, and organizations

“…Studies cite being ignored (failure to respond to requests, pagers/calls, and questions) or being spoken to rudely or aggressively as the most common UPB [15,16]. Victims of UPB must weigh the fear of retribution and risk to reputation and career advancement with the benefit of reporting UPB, which dramatically impacts the rates of reporting [5 && , 10,13,17,18]. Failure to report due to peer counselling for fear of retaliation and career limitation is common [5 && ,10,13] even within highly unionized professions such as nursing underreporting is common [17].…”

“…Victims of UPB must weigh the fear of retribution and risk to reputation and career advancement with the benefit of reporting UPB, which dramatically impacts the rates of reporting [5 && , 10,13,17,18]. Failure to report due to peer counselling for fear of retaliation and career limitation is common [5 && ,10,13] even within highly unionized professions such as nursing underreporting is common [17]. Inaction, minimization, and dismissive reactions from managers and organizations as to the seriousness of UPB creates a sense of futility for reporting [10,17].…”

“…Inaction, minimization, and dismissive reactions from managers and organizations as to the seriousness of UPB creates a sense of futility for reporting [10,17]. At worst, reporting of UPB can result in complainants having their competency and 'resilience' challenged or being labelled as a 'troublemaker' [17,18]. Victim blaming or ignoring complaints is more common when perpetrators are powerful and have unique skills the organization is dependent upon [19] Healthcare professionals who identify as belonging to a minority group (women, ethnic, cultural, and gender diversity) remain more vulnerable to UPB [4 Junior and inexperienced staff are more likely to be victims of UPB [11,[14][15][16]21,22].…”

“…Underreporting of UPB due to a fear of identification and reprisal was a recurring theme across reviewed publications [10,13]. Several studies described a dismissive and sub-standard response to reported UPB in healthcare and evidence of leaders tolerating or even perpetuating harmful behaviors [7,13,17,23]. Early intervention and consistent consequences for UPB are important for meaningful change as UPB is frequently identified during the early phases of an individual's career and persists without intervention [9].…”

“…Failure to report due to peer counselling for fear of retaliation and career limitation is common [5 ▪▪ ,10,13] even within highly unionized professions such as nursing underreporting is common [17]. Inaction, minimization, and dismissive reactions from managers and organizations as to the seriousness of UPB creates a sense of futility for reporting [10,17]. At worst, reporting of UPB can result in complainants having their competency and ‘resilience’ challenged or being labelled as a ‘troublemaker’ [17,18].…”