Introduction
In workplaces, challenges come from the environment of the job and can impact the employee’s productivity. Bullying in workplaces is a sensitive issue that has been disturbing around the world and it may have adverse effects on the victims. Mostly, bullies influence some aspects such as power, and physical energy to intimidate among other issues around their personality. When bullying happens in workstations, inferior employees tend to have a situation of unrest due to the moments when they are forced to be flexible with their bosses’ schedules and programs. This paper explores bullying at Canada Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) where one of the staff namely; Jiani Ghomeshi, had frequently intimidated his fellow radio presenters because of the celebrity stereotyping and influence he had on the management.
Summary of the Case
At CBC, Ghomeshi, who was hired at the firm due to his success in performances, had shown skillful productivity during a radio show named Q. However, some issues happened in the radio station that made Ghomeshi’s colleagues start to express their grievances to Arif Noorani, executive producer, and Linda Groen, the director of network talk radio at CBC. The Q staffers complained that Ghomeshi had taken the radio show as his fiefdom. They expressed against Ghomeshi alleging that he was late at work often and he made them reschedule their programs in his favor.
The staff also criticized that Ghomeshi frequently reacted negatively to light provocation and he threatened to harm them based on their reputation with the management. Ghomeshi was said to have pressured other staff by punishing them when he was required to authenticate various things during work. Most of the time he did not receive their calls nor did he answer their emails. The employees reported that calls from Ghomeshi came at all hours and he had forced them to be alert to his communication at any moment. Ghomeshi readily took credit for other people’s work and he was able to influence the management, something that the radio show members felt uncomfortable with.
Negative Behavior Associated with Ghomeshi and the Impacts
The negative behavior attributed to Ghomeshi is intimidation, taking advantage of Q radio presenters, and failing to follow work ethics. Ghomeshi did not consider other employees to have equal power as his own, rather disregarded them since he was more successful than them. The star had physically assaulted Kathryn Borel in 2010 when she had reported him to Noorani about the previous mistreatment. According to labor laws, it is against the law to harass female employees since it is a violation of laws. The hostility that Ghomeshi had is attributed to someone who does not credit other people’s efforts and contributions to the radio.
The vices that were associated with Ghomeshi made him an unfair character when it came to respecting other people’s dignity in the workplace. The management was reluctant to take action against Ghomeshi since he was one of the people who had brought business to the company due to his fame. Later on, Borel had to leave the company since she felt the corporation had played no role in controlling the disgusting man, as she put it. All the negative behavior that the host had is again the work ethics and hence a subject to too serious scrutiny and legal action.
Ghomeshi would share other people’s details without their consent and he even shared sexual incidents hence making his colleague have a negative attitude toward him. Radio Q members filed specific two complaints i.e., first, they alleged there was a tendency to make decisions in the interest of the hist without putting into consideration other people’s feelings. Secondly, the staff members alleged that the management of CBC often held at the whim of the host. If they did not do according to what Ghomeshi wanted, they would be punished in some way.
Why Employees Filed Red Sky Presentation
The employees got together to file the Red Sky presentation to Arif Noorani, and Linda Groen because they wanted to have a better working environment. The staff felt that they will not deliver communication roles effectively with Ghomeshi being a stumbling block towards their execution of the various assignments in the corporation. They hoped to convince the executive of the need to change some policies about the working, especially that which concerned the singer. The employees risked getting harmed by Ghomeshi when he would realize the specific person behind the issue. The employees wanted to take a solidarity role that would safeguard them from individual liability. They could alternatively perform go-slows and demonstrations to the executive to express the need to have the end of a culture that was evident at the corporation.
Ghomeshi had indeed treated his colleagues poorly from 2007 to 2012 because for that period, no one had come over to criticize him or scrutinize him for his actions. The reason why Ghomeshi got the favors for that ling despite working for an organization that had stipulated the need to have employee’s respect and dignity while working was due to his personality. Ghomeshi was a singer, dancer, and famous artist in Canada since the 1990s. he had won the CBC’s attention due to his charm in terms of appearance and presentation. He had assisted the CBC to develop a culture program that many fans liked hence making him have a significant mileage on his career.
With Ghomeshi as the host of the show Q, the program had received significant ratings that made CBC believe in his work. Therefore, with the moderate success that Ghomeshi seemed to portray, Arif and Linda did not seem to be concerned about the true colors that the host had. It is expected for any individual with fame in a given field, may have the power to control the employers over the other employees. Any moment celebrities do wrong actions, it may take time before the issue is resolved since the public or their counterparts must express grievances against the person. Organizations should keep in mind that every person has their shortcomings.
Recommendations on Issue
To solve the issue of intimidation and bullying that happened at CBC, various recommendations would be considered for regulating the poor working environment at the firm. First, it is recommended that the two executive members of the corporation that is Linda and Arif to investigate the matter to ascertain whether or not Ghomeshi had violated workers’ rules. By getting relevant information from the members and pursuing to justify it, the situation would take a new turn and Ghomeshi would be scrutinized in good faith. Secondly, the radio show members would take further actions to present their grievances through a registered and powerful Canadian union such as the Canadian Labor Congress (CLC) that shall link them with the employees as they pursue the issues.
Unions are known for leveraging issues fairly by considering the two parties that is Ghomeshi as an individual and the six Q show members. It is only through a registered union that the case would be heard without any bias on the matter. The other recommendation would be for the Q show members to demonstrate against Ghomeshi by having banners printing their grievances to the radio executives. When the three recommendations are taken into consideration, it will be easier to control the matter on the ground because the issues will be weighted moderately.
Strategy on Issue for other Regions
The fact of the matter is that despite the issue having roots in Canada, it can happen to any modern workplace in any region. The business culture of carious places has been neutralized due to globalization. Therefore, the actions recommended above would work hence leveraging the issue. For instance, having the management investigate some claims is a universal course of action since any leader must intervene with relevant and accurate information about some given matters. However, presenting the matter to a labor union would be more effective since there is a universal way of getting the matters solved about specific issues in the workplace.
For United Arabs Emirates (UAE), such a case would not be condoned because the country has strict regulations against bullying and violation of other people’s rights during working. According to the existing constitution, any person who commits an offense of sexual harassment can be punished by imprisonment of not less than a year. Secondly, harassing people by other means may lead to a fine of a minimum of about Dh10,000 depending on the matter. The two regulations are under article 359 repeated of the penal code.
If Ghomeshi would be in UAE, he would have been convicted and charged with violation of human rights in the workplace, which is an illegal act in the country. In the Middle East, everyone is a defendant of the law, and most people would be staunch in advocating respect for dignity. For instance, there is a recommendation that Ghomeshi is punished for not responding to key issues that call for teamwork. In UAE, very few people care about what can happen after a specific action has been taken against the perpetrators of laws.
Conclusion
Poor working environments happen in many organizations and that may be catalyzed by an individual or group. In these cases, in this case, CBC’s poor working conditions at the Q radio show were caused by an individual. The challenge comes when a person has delegated a sensitive duty that concerns the workforce alongside the individual. CBC hired Ghomeshi to be in charge of the cultural program that happened at night and many people were impressed by the presenter. Ghomeshi. The radio host intimidated his colleagues by physically assaulting them, snubbing their calls and emails, and punishing them indirectly among other vices. It took the action of some six members who presented the Red Sky case that involved the corporation’s executive on the mistreatments.
The members successfully managed to present their issues to Arif and Linda and they waited to see where the matter would be solved amicably. It is recommended that the staff members would join a popular union that would present the matter to the executive and leverage on behalf of the members. Most bullying in workplaces comes along when workers have a particular power either vested in them by the virtue of the ownership or the influential capacity of their personalities. It is high time that organizations start considering employees’ grievances by investigating their most trusted individuals when it comes to creating business.