Workplace Bullying as Workplace Corruption

Abstract

Creative nonfiction writing is used to interpret secondary data and produce a short story depicting events of workplace bullying in the public sector as also being acts of corruption. Creative nonfiction writing enables interrogation of, and vicarious experience of, sensitive, complex, and controversial workplace events. Readers are invited to think, and feel, the events of bullying (and corruption), as well the multiple perspectives involved. For organizations grappling with workplace bullying, understanding the behaviors as also being potentially corrupt will deepen understanding, as will recognition of the possible rationales of those involved in its downward spiral.

A Creative Writing Case Study of Gender-Based Violence in Coach Education: Stacey’s Story

“…Like others, we had a moral and ethical duty to ensure the best possible use of the data and given the experiences recounted in the story, we offer a "cloak of anonymity" in order to protect both the worthy and the unworthy (Douglas & Carless, 2009). The writing process followed a multi-staged, iterative course of drafting, re-drafting, editing and story engineering (Vickers, 2014). Partial happenings, fragmented memories, and echoes of conversations were layered against conventional, creative literary writing techniques (Sparkes, 2007).…”

“…Thus while certain encounters and character development in this story have been imagined, that events in this story occurred as described is not in doubt, the information presented is based on our own existing research (Finley & Finley, 1999). Significantly, we have deliberately chosen to adopt some creative license by mixing up the language features, metaphors, and embellishing or exaggerating the thread of our narrative (Bachelard, 1964;Vickers, 2014). Our aim here, was to not to retell "life as lived" (Finley & Finley, 1999, p. 318), but to create a story that was useful in raising important questions, and by weaving the empirical, historical, imaginative and reflective, create a text that allows us to know more about those who we choose to write about (Finley & Finley, 1999).…”

“…Academics have made important contributions to often complex and controversial topics by synthesizing existing works of fiction, by shaping their own, or by adopting the tradecraft of fictional writing to allow nonfiction to breath (e.g., Beames & Pike, 2008;Brackenbridge & Fasting, 2005;Douglas & Carless, 2009;Dzikus, 2012;Pelias, 2004). Researchers adopting this genre create vicarious versions of reality inviting the reader to inhabit the experiences of both the individual and the unique (Vickers, 2014). Creative nonfiction captures what Gilbourne and Richardson (2006) refer to as moments, offering instants obtained from countless techniques of fiction (e.g., contextualized vernacular language, composite characters, dialogue, metaphor, allusions, flashbacks and flash forwards, tone shifts and so on) to communicate considerations, results and key findings in compelling and emotionally vibrant ways (Smith, 2013).…”

“Kicking and Screaming” or “Gracefully Conceding”: Creative Nonfiction Stories of Aging With Multiple Sclerosis

“…Past topics that have (re)presented knowledge this way include rehabilitation experiences of a spinal cord injury (Smith, 2013), the impact of social relationships for engaging in physical activity with a physical impairment (Javorina et al, 2020), active aging (Wright, 2019), and difficulties managing MS within a workplace (Vickers, 2014), but aging with MS has yet to be explored.…”

“…(b) Creative nonfiction can ensure human conduct and lived experience is portrayed in a way that respects agency and structure (Gerard, 2017). (c) Our purpose as researchers is to serve the MS community and share our research with those that make our research possible (Vickers, 2014). (d) Creative nonfiction is accessible to a wider audience than academics, and is a highly effective knowledge translation technique (Griffin & Phoenix, 2014).…”