Bullying in the workplace is a kind of aggression that occurs where an individual or
group intimidates, excludes, harasses, insults, mistreats or demeans another
individual or group at work, either directly or indirectly.
A complex power imbalance presents itself, in that the perpetrator uses formal or
informal power over his or her victim to such an extent that the victim is almost
powerless to defend him or herself. Bullying can occur from the top to the bottom,
from the bottom to the top, or horizontally.
Not all kinds of bullying give rise to illegal acts, but even if menial bullying continues
over time, it can give rise to severe negative effects. Due to new digital
developments in employment, the management of cyberbullying, as a form of
workplace bullying, complicates the legal dilemma even further.
Not only do bullied victims have to continue in a working relationship where the
bullying took place, but depression, stress, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder
and a plethora of physical illnesses also take their toll, as reflected in abnormally
high turnover and absenteeism figures. If no timeous intervention occurs early during
the bullying, severe psychological problems have been reported by bullied victims,
which render them incapable to continue with work, or lead to summary resignations
accompanied by claims for constructive dismissal. Low morale and negativity have
been shown to be linked to workplace bullying and impact negatively on the
organisation as a whole, and vicarious liability for the employer may follow.
Due to the fact that there is no universally accepted definition for bullying and
different jurisdictions place bullying on different continuums, it adds to the problem of
regulating and preventing workplace bullying. The question has been asked whether
there is a need to legislate employees into being âniceâ to one another, but that
merely shows the lack of knowledge about the notion and effects of workplace
bullying. Sexual harassment is a form of human behaviour and is regulated
extensively. With bullying four times more prevalent than sexual harassment, there is
no reason why bullying should not be regulated also.
Many countries, such as Sweden, Germany and France, have legislated bullying and
there is a strong drive in the USA to have the Healthy Workplace Bill passed. Many
states have introduced different versions thereof, but none have been passed. The
USA treats bullying as a form of harassment, and no protection exists for employees
who fall outside the scope of certain âclassesâ, unless, of course, the bullying
amounts to criminal actions or tort action.
The UK treats workplace bullying as a dignity violation and extensively uses antistalking
law, in the form of the Protection from Harassment
Act of 1997, to curb bullying. Australia views bullying from a health and safety perspective and, in South Australia,
it is currently dealt with by means of Codes. There is a drive to eradicate bullying
from the workplace on a national level through a new Code (dealing with workplace
bullying), for which public commentary has recently closed.
Little has however been done in South Africa to create awareness of, or deal with,
this peril. The country is in dire need of a uniform approach to workplace bullying. It
is not clear on which continuum bullying should be placed, but as our discrimination
laws are not limited to certain âclassesâ, it is not suggested that separate legislation
should be passed. The new Protection from Harassment Act could be used, as in the
UK. Employers should embark on the creation and implementation of zero-tolerance
policies in the workplace to deal with this pervasive problem.
For too long the victims of workplace bullying have suffered silently at the hands of
bullies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-08042014-123113 |
| Date | 04 August 2014 |
| Creators | Smit, Dina Maria |
| Contributors | Prof JV du Plessis |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-08042014-123113/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0018 seconds