Exam 12: Creating a Healthy Work Environment

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Workplace bullying is a repeated mistreatment of another employee through verbal abuse; conduct that is threatening,humiliating,or intimidating; or sabotage that interferes with the other person's work.Bullying can take one or more of the following forms:
•Verbal abuse
•Offensive conduct/behaviors (including nonverbal) which are threatening,humiliating,or intimidating
•Work interference (sabotage) which prevents work from getting done
Additional bullying behaviors include ignoring,making unreasonable or menial work assignments,teasing,gossiping,or holding the target to a different performance standard.Between 30 and 53 percent of employees report having felt bullied at some point in their working lives.Bullying affects employers through higher workers' compensation costs and higher disability insurance rates,not to mention a reputation as a difficult place in which to work.
Both targets of bullying and observers of bullying report psychological problems such as distress,humiliation,anger,anxiety,discouragement,depression,lower job satisfaction,eroded attachment to the job and organization,and greater intention to leave.Twenty percent of victims leave their jobs.Forty-five percent of targets report stress-related health problems,and targeted individuals suffer debilitating anxiety,panic attacks,clinical depression,and even post-traumatic stress.Research suggests that psychological well-being is impaired more through psychologically abusive behavior than physically abusive behavior.Research suggests that as much as 71 percent of bullies are in management positions,and 29 percent are peers and subordinates.