Skip to main content

WORKPLACE BULLYING

Workplace Bullying

compiled by Manelisi Manellie

Kraal Alleen by Lady Skollie (Everard Read)
Kraal Alleen is a 2019 crayon and ink piece created by Gauteng-born artist, Lady Skollie. It is exhibited at Cape Town’s Everard Read gallery and it is one of many of the University of Cape Town alum’s artwork that boldly explores themes of gender, sex and the search for identity. Kraal is an Afrikaans word which commonly refers to an enclosure of livestock that is occasionally considered to be the main resource of sustenance for a family or household in rural surroundings. Whereas Alleen means alone when directly translated into English and the parallel of the combined usage of these words makes for an effortless association with a common Afrikaans expression, ‘sielalleen’ meaning soul alone. A feeling typically provoked by rejection or mistreatment of any kind either by family, peer group or society. However as common as mistreatment is in a working environment, it is still a unique and often overlooked plight. 

Throughout life the expectation in society is set for one to complete an education, acquire further training, find a job and work efficiently ever after, however it only works this way in an ideal world. It is upon reflection of personal experiences and bearing witness to how people are commonly treated in places of employment that has prompted the evaluation of a habit normal in many workspaces called workplace bullying. The importance of its awareness is key for each individual in the labour market, whether it is to increase workplace morale or to hold business leaders accountable for their role in the decay of the working economy. It also significant to understand the meaning of this problematic conduct, how to identify it, what type of people are magnets for it and how to protect oneself from such toxic behaviour in  the workplace.  

In the fifth edition of Psychology In Work Context, authors Ziel Bergh and Dirk Geldenhys  identify workplace bullying as “repeated negative actions and practices that are directed at one or more workers over long periods of time. These negative actions and practices, which may be intentional or unconscious, are unwanted by the victim, cause humiliation and distress, are offensive, interfere with work performance and/or might cause an unpleasant working environment”. Bergh and Geldenhys proclaims that in order for behaviour to be deemed as bullying, it must occur repeatedly and over a long period of time. They recognise six types of workplace bullying behaviour:
  • Threats to professional status e.g. belittling someone’s opinion, public professional humiliation and an accusation regarding lack of effort
  • Threats to personal standing e.g. name-calling, insults, intimidation and devaluing with reference to age
  • Threats to social relationships e.g. damaging the friendship networks, thus causing social manipulation to occur, making it very difficult for victims to report on their experiences or to be believed if they do so
  • Isolation e.g. preventing access to opportunities, physical or social isolation and the withholding of information
  • Overwork e.g. undue pressure, impossible deadlines and unnecessary disruptions
  • Destabilisation e.g. failure to give credit when due, meaningless tasks, removal of responsibility, repeated reminders of mistakes and setting someone up to fail 

Another source consulted on workplace bullying was the website of international workplace compliance and training platform, HSI. In their employment training and development section they state that bullies will usually pick on non-confrontational, introverted or quiet types and that the line crosses into harassment should it involve traits such as race, sex or “other inherent factors that make the bully feel superior”. HSI outlined the following prime targets for workplace bullies in their blog post, How To Stop Workplace Bullying (https://hsi.com/blog/how-to-stop-workplace-bullying):

  • Model employees who are seen as competition for doing a good job
  • Team players who are seen as going against the bully’s need for control
  • Popular employees who are a source of jealousy for the bully
  • Whistleblowers
  • Employees who are different and susceptible to being “othered”
  • Women

Since workplace bullying is outright harassment, the Labour Guide (www.labourguide.co.za) asserts that such harassment can result in violation of human rights, poor morale among employees, cause unexplained absenteeism, late coming and poor concentration at work. It affirms that every employee has the right to be treated with dignity and respect in the workplace and declares the CCMA’s position that employers have a duty to protect workers from harassment. It also states that because harassment constitutes to unfair discrimination, it therefore falls within the jurisdiction of the Employment Equity Act. The Labour Guide advises that the victimised employee should first confront the harasser directly in the presence of a witness, requesting that the harassment comes to an immediate end. This is before having the matter escalated to a manager, making use of grievances procedures or consulting your union for assistance. The Labour Guide also says that “once the case has been reported, the employer is obliged to investigate the case and if necessary disciplinary action must be taken against the harasser. Any matters that cannot be resolved at employer level can be referred to the CCMA for conciliation and if a resolution is not reached by that process, then the matter will be referred to the Labour Court”. It is vitally important to understand that in some cases the results are fair, just or even profitable. On the other hand this stage of the process also has the potential to expose the distorted power that certain corporate organisations have over such procedures and government judiciary bodies.  

It is unquestionably a personal choice to decide to take a matter such as workplace bullying further, many people who have gone through this believe that ignoring the matter is much less bothersome for them. However whether the victim wishes to escalate the matter or not, it is incredibly helpful to have absolute awareness of one’s rights should one come across such an experience. The example set for future potential victims by holding workplace bullies to account should not be underestimated along with making a concise statement of zero tolerance for the abuse of power. Every human being has the free will and right to (lawfully) earning many main resources of sustenance without being actively or passively isolated. Workplace bullying is undoubtedly a form of violence and a contributory factor to social despondence that acts as evidence of the private and economic sector’s largely overlooked complacency.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A WOMAN IN THE GEOMATICS INDUSTRY

A Woman In The Geomatics Industry Compiled by Manelisi Manellie Photo: Offset by Shutterstock By general observation, infrastructure is understood to be a formation of amenities, such as tunnels, water, railways and gas systems which are constructions that typically exist underground. This system is largely believed to form part of many aspects of modern existence that society struggles to do without. Another aspect that society ceases to exist without is the role of women, who draw an arguable parallel to a substantially overlooked necessity of our daily lives. Consequently, this notion has prompted consideration for the role of women from a standpoint of one of the important professions in the infrastructure (built environment industry), geomatics.  According to the Western Cape Department of Infrastructure ( https://www.westerncape.gov.za/tpw/department-of-infrastructure/become-geomatics-professional ), “Geomatics is the study of methods and technologies used to collect, distribute,
Post a Comment
Read more

THE FOUNDATION OF CULTURE

The Foundation of Culture  Written by Manelisi Manellie   Village Scene with South African Flag by Maggie Molongo (Mutual Art) Villiage Scene with South African Flag by Maggie Molongo is an embroidery on textile presentation that offers rich dimension through colourful and strikingly textured pictorial elements. As the title suggests, Villiage Scene with South African Flag places figures complementary to the South African national flag, which is acclaimed for its representation of a hard-won democracy and a culturally diverse nation. This decorative artwork design provides a visible outlook of a distinct and dynamic lived experience in a South African rural village. This piece has inspired a consideration of the value of culture, its meaning in the context of South Africa, our responsibility of protecting it and new expressions and spaces for cultural development, preservation and evolution.   Arguably, the value of cultural heritage is as concrete as it is seemingly subtle. The ta
Post a Comment
Read more

THE POST-PANDEMIC GENERATION

The Post Pandemic Generation compiled by Manelisi Manellie   Historical events has consistently had an indelible effect on society in every era, the most recent experience was the COVID-19 pandemic that had brought about various unpredictable elements that inescapably challenged our politics, economic standing, mental wellbeing and most importantly our health and mortality. The last pandemic of this magnitude was over 100 years ago when the outbreak of the Spanish Flu erupted, and it is between this period and now that monumental historic events prompted various generational groups. The Post-Pandemic Generation is a self-coined term intended to refer to a group of young adults emerging out of an era during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following is an exploration of the component cultural elements that precede this group and the effects on their current and future subsistence. The observations will be established through brief descriptions of previous generational groups by way of deter
Post a Comment
Read more