Legal Consequences Of BullyingOne of the examples which can be considered as devastating with respect to workplace bullying involves case

of workplace bullying which led to the process of litigation in the geography of Indiana in the year 2001. In this case it was not the incident of bullying that captured all the eyes and attention but it was also the fact that bullying expert was called to testify. Thus, almost all the organizations now have various types of policies in place to prevent such type of harassment as well as bullying activities as associates are the most distinguished, competitive as well as significant asset that any organization has in todays environment. Thereby today organizations resort to various kinds of policies which help the organization to retain associates for a longer time period as well. In case of bullying at workplace, it is also an agreed fact that the person who exhibits bullying activities is also one of the highly creative associates in the organization as well. But in this case the workplace bullies seem to deploy their creativity and ingenuity in negative aspects. If the organization is able to come up with any kinds of HR policies that are able to divert creativity of workplace bullies in to positive direction, then it can do wonders for the organization as well. In this case establishing priorities is a must. It is also a lesser known fact that workplace bullies may appear very charming on face but behind the scenes these are the people who deploy harsh tactics and bully other associates who may be co-worker or subordinates as well. Workplace bullying is adding up to the serious problem of increasing attrition rate in the organizations and now management of the organization has to take some serious steps to devise an effective viable framework to deal with such issues. In fact as per one of the research studies, almost 70 percent of the respondents agreed to the fact that they have been victims of bullying in their career at some point or other in their life. Workplace bullying sometimes also is responsible for excessive stress, anxiety and depression in serious cases. Bullying may be verbal or physical as well. Verbal bullying involves insults to humiliating sarcasms too with an obvious intention to hurt the other person or group of persons who are being bullied. In many cases victims are so much intimidated that they are not even in the condition to report such kind of abusive activities to management as well which also aggravates the problem to a

higher degree. This also gives the required encouragement to workplace bullies who go on one step further which may not only lead to losses on individual level but also cause serious losses on organizational level which may be for a long term or a short time period. It is also to be borne in mind that bullying damages business in a nasty manner as it amplifies the attrition rate as well as employee absenteeism rate. This in turn negatively affects organizational productivity as well as consumes major chunk of associates positive energy which he/ she could have otherwise deployed to accomplish various tasks. Thus it causes loss to the organization not only in financial terms but also in terms of non-financial parameters. Thus, if organization has to mitigate and fight with the problem of workplace bullying, then organization should undertake some of the below mentioned steps such as1. Stating as well as making it very clear to one and all that organization will not bear and tolerate any kind of bullying at workplace 2. Carving out specific anti-bullying practice in written which should be an important part of employee handbook 3. Forbid various actions such as tantrums, screaming, threats etc 4. Making complaint making mechanism easy and feasible especially in case of bullying so that organization gets timely reports and is able to take the required action without getting late and thereby curbing the practice at initial level 5. Have frequent consulting at workplace so that associates are open to share their feelings and experience 6. Monitoring all the associates keenly which may indicate whether an associate is a victim or workplace bully or is working as per specifications? 7. Monitor absenteeism of associates 8. If organizational management spots workplace bullies, then action should be immediately taken 9. If feedback is given to bully, then focus should be on behavior rather than personality 10. Ensuring that workplace bully understands the fatal consequences of bullying and related practices 11. Documenting the conversations

12. Remember that management should act as role model for all the associates in the organization.

Old Views on Domestic Violence

Current Views on Workplace Bullying

Its a private affair. What goes on behind closed doors is no-one elses business Police turn a blind eye to reports Courts adopt a conciliation role based upon the understanding that domestic violence was somehow a problem between two people that could be resolved by counseling Victims often partly blamed for the abuse based on the assumption that they

"I dont care how you manage them just get the results" HR and senior management turn a blind eye" to management practises Employment Relations Authority adopt a mediation first policy. This is again based upon the understanding relations that all are

employment

problems

somehow problems between two people Targets often partly blamed for the abuse based on the assumption that they

somehow provoked it Victims accept they are responsible for the violence because (in the eyes of their

somehow provoked it Targets believe they are responsible for the bullying because (in the eyes of their

partner) they have not been supportive enough, efficient enough etc.

supervisor) they have not performed well enough or because they have stressed out their supervisors

Victims afraid to report it because nothing effective will be done Results in further victim trauma and support for the perpetrator Violence becomes part of the family culture and is spread from generation to generation as the parents role model the patterns of violence and acceptance of violence to the children

Targets afraid to report it so they leave without compensation Results in Workplace Bully remaining in the organisation and more good people targeted and leaving Workplace Bullying becomes part of the workplace culture, even institutionalised in some cases. It remains unchallenged and is maintained through management

acceptance and refusal to challenge it