An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying: A Guide to Prevention and Management of Workplace Bullying

By Dr. Debra Stewart

The book an Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying examines organizational culture and wellness in the presence of bully triads. The book includes ideas for assessment and performance improvement concerning organizational culture. The book addresses possible approaches to improve workplace culture and corporate wellness and to create bull

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rushmore Press LLC
• Release date: Mar 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781957943060

Dr. Debra Stewart

Dr. Debra Stewart is an organizational psychologist specializing in health and wellness. She also has a master's in business administration and a master's in teaching and learning with technology. Dr. Stewart provides certifications that are a good fit for organizational problems in organizations, communities, school systems, and religious groups.Dr. Stewart's recent work includes helping hospitals understand discharge planning needs as it pertains to the caregivers' attitudes and beliefs about pain medication administration and increasing unit productivity for the caregiver who takes care of persons living with dementia. Also, Dr. Stewart has developed a bully management and prevention system for organizations, colleges, schools, and the elderly population that provide the tools to begin the foundation for healthier and safer work, living, and learning environments.

Book preview

ISBN 978-1-957943-04-6 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-957943-05-3 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-957943-06-0 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Dr. Debra Stewart

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Rushmore Press LLC

1 800 460 9188

www.rushmorepress.com

Printed in the United States of America

An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying is dedicated to my son, daughter-in-law, daughter and son-in-law, and my grandchildren, who have been the greatest joys in my life. A special thank you also to my partner Gary Deaton, who encouraged me to share the work with others.

Contents

The Author’s Purpose in Writing

Acknowledgment

The Bully Profile

Chapter 1: The Bully Impact

Chapter 2: Workplace Bully Triad Triage

Chapter 3: Examining Organizational Culture

Chapter 4: Assessment of the Bully Triad

Chapter 5: An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying

Chapter 6: Finding the Good in the Workplace Victim

Chapter 7: Finding the Good in the Workplace Bystander

Chapter 8: Gratitude in the Workplace

Chapter 9: Managing the Gifted and the Ungifted

Chapter 10: Bully Triad Behaviors That Defeat Organizational Wellness

Chapter 11: Just a Few Stories of Bullying

Chapter 12: Lasting Unquestionable Forgiveness

About the Author

Index

THE AUTHOR’S PURPOSE IN WRITING

An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying

The author’s experience with bullying began with being lost in the foster system as a half-blood American Indian until she was almost eight years old—not enough Indian blood to return to her people and not enough white blood to be considered adoptable. She was sent to a woman’s work farm at the age of two, where the unspeakable occurred by bullies who operated without restraint and compassion for life. The author has finally gathered the right tools to stop organizational bullying from happening to others. An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying was written to break the cycle of abuse for organizations and corporations. The book is an edited and complete manual and has vivid application for foster homes, schools, abusive relationships, and the protection of the marginalized.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The strategic tools used in An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying are based on the author’s information while achieving a master’s in business administration and working on a doctorate in organizational psychology from Ashford University and the University of the Rockies. These educational programs detail methods to heal and promote healthy workplace cultures. I am deeply grateful for all my teachers at Ashford Forbes School of Business and the University of the Rockies. I am also thankful to numerous friends and colleagues who encouraged and supported me in writing An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying.

I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Dennis O’Grady, who has greatly influenced my ability to improve my interpersonal and intrapersonal communication with his TALK2Me system. Dr. O’Grady helped me realize that communication is an attitude that can heal relationships and provide the basis for effective professional communication when communicator styles are understood and respected. Ideally, as we grow with the TALK2Me communicator system, we adopt the functional aspects of both communicator styles.

Bill Witte and his Vital Life Community concept have transformed my leadership focus from innovation and productivity to include a thought process that develops a concern for how these elements are achieved and to what expense. The Vital Life Community concept focuses on socialization and well-being to create a life plan congruent with organizational and personal goals and dreams, rather than seeking socialization and well-being only if we have time. Change occurs in a Vital Life Community or organization, so those bully triads, which consist of the bully, the victim, and the bystander, are dismantled peacefully. Thus, bully-free sectors are allowed to become leaders who respect human doing and the human being.

I want to offer my appreciation to my brother, Pastor Dan Hicks, for sharing with me the passages in the Bible that defined the bully and the importance of labeling the actions that lead to a lack of reverence in the workplace. The feelings left behind after a bully event are difficult to dismiss; however, with proper direction and focus, bully triads can move forward if they learn forgiveness. Pastor Dan Hicks has dedicated his life to the support and protection of the marginalized and to helping individuals with the process of forgiveness.

THE BULLY PROFILE

It is difficult to profile a workplace bully because of many workplace environment variables, individual unmet needs, and the lack of home and community support. Through research, the elements, traits, and personalities listed in the bully profile may easily explain the abnormal behaviors and actions of the workplace bully; however, these profile elements may also exist in any employee and those who do not create issues in the workplace. The book An Organizational Approach to Bully will look at the systems in the workplace that allow or encourage predatory and other bully-type behaviors.

Before we begin, unless leaders have the credentials and license to diagnose and treat personality disorders and maladaptive behaviors, it is best to explore what processes in the workplace aggravate each element of the bully profile. For example, how did the bully gain or create power inequalities in the workplace? A question for leaders to explore is what policy or procedure or reward and recognition program created the imbalance. Perhaps, the problem is a diversity and inclusion problem, and the bully just took advantage of an existing condition. Rather than fire the bully, it might be better to look at the workplace culture and find ways for the environment to be inclusive and safe for all employees. Rigorously surveying the employee population and enhancing leadership diversity and inclusion training would be a great start when addressing power inequalities in the workplace.

In the chapters that follow, the book will explore the impact of having bullies in the workplace to review the other members of the bully event, the victim and the bystander. Assessment tools provided to use or adapt, with the emphasis on training and changing the workplace culture to become bully-free. Other factors of bully prevention are the introduction of gratitude and forgiveness in the workplace so that relationships may heal.

CHAPTER 1

The Bully Impact

Organizational leaders examine and analyze the workplace environment for anything that may hinder brand image, retention of brand knowledge, productivity, and retention of human resource talent, employee satisfaction, and customer satisfaction. Additionally, factors that may obscure the mission and values of the organization are scoured for rightness and possible ethical dilemma. When factors that create any different vision are found, issues are often addressed terminally and quickly without investigating the origin. When elements are found in disharmony with the desired present and future organizational stories and memories, the culture is considered toxic and unhealthy.

Organizational administrators often stand ready to adapt to costly new management and leadership programs to offset the rising cost of doing business in a toxic environment, enlisting consultants to diagnose organizational culture and to produce treatment plans filled with cognitive-behavioral approaches that are vague and short-lived. While some consulting expense is necessary, organizational leaders may be missing the easiest of all remedies for toxic work environments and the escalating cost of doing business within an industry, which can be found in the book titled An Organizational Approach to Workplace Bullying.

Finding the good in the workplace bully sounds like a misnomer; however, bullies are only using skills and talents inappropriately. It is known that bully manipulation and misuse of power can devastate work teams and