Managing bullying and harassment in the workplace is a contemporary and current issue that resonates well with many organizations in the competitive business world. This means that it is an issue that can not be avoided in any way because every organization is bound to experience it.
Bullying and harassment in the workplace is a significant issue because it affects productivity yet employees are supposed to perform to their maximum. There is no organization that can achieve its goals ad objectives with bullying and harassment in the workplace which explains why this is a very significant topic.
This means that bullying and harassments should be avoided at all costs through effective conflict resolution strategies (Randall 2001, p. 23). There is a lot of diversity in the current workplace and that is why every organization needs good management practices for success.
Employees should be motivated to be the best that they can ever be. People have different characteristics and behavior that can be explained from the diversity that we have in the society.
Cultural differences should not be taken as a hindrance by human resource managers but this can be effectively understood for long term sustainability. Organizations have been going global and this means that they will be exposed to different cultures which need a good approach to managing diversity.
This therefore explains the significance of this topic to the current competitive business world. A downward spiral can occur in a company if cultural differences are not clearly addressed by the human resource department. Managing bullying and harassment should be effectively coordinated to avoid fear and biasness (Hare 1997, p.
37).The needs of the global market are changing drastically and that is why such an issue is of great significance to our society. It is quite obvious that we have individuals who can be threatened by a difference that they don’t understand and that is why harassment and bullying should be dealt with.
Diversity is powerful resource that any organization can use to its advantage. This can only be achieved with best practices and trends that can be horned and instilled in employees. Cultural assumptions need to be understood because they have been identified as the main reason behind harassment and bullying in the workplace.
There are certain behaviors that can cost time and money thereby reducing productivity which leads to bullying and harassment. This can be on the basis that a given employee did not perform his duties and responsibilities as expected.
On the other hand, there are some employees who are looked upon by their seniors which can be termed as harassment (Weed 1983, p. 67). Misinterpretations can also lead to harassment which is an aspect that has been seen as time goes by. Internal employee needs are some of the issues that revolve around managing diversity in an organization.
Workplace bullying and harassment can take various forms and this depends on the situation in question. For instance, ignoring other employees, humiliating others and gossiping can be termed as bullying and harassment. Employees are not supposed to be given meaningless tasks because everybody has a role to play in the organization.
Performance should be effectively evaluated because there are people who can do a given task by giving it their best yet this might not impress managers. A person who is being bullied can be an individual or a whole group and this is normally done by seniors or managers (Tehrani 2004, p. 72).
Employees in an organization have a specific role that they are supposed to play and this means that there might be shortcomings which should not lead to bullying. In a broad perspective, harassment revolves around unlawful discrimination which can also be seen in various forms depending on individuals who are involved. There are various grounds upon which harassment is portrayed which can be either by race, sex and religion.
Managing diversity in the workplace resonates well with bullying and harassment because it can be the ultimate solution. There are occasions where we can have verbal and emotional abuse in an organization which will also lead to harassment and bullying.
The effects of workplace bullying and harassment have been well elaborated and documented in the society. This means that nobody can deny that these two aspects should not be entertained in an organization. As a matter of fact, this is based on the negative effects that they have on an organization (Beale 2001, p. 39).
The most common effects of workplace harassment and bullying are stress and tension which can poison the working environment. Personal relationships in an organization should not be severed in any way because people are supposed to work as a family.
This is because organizations have some common goals and objectives that are supposed to be shared by everybody. Work performance will ultimately deteriorate in an organization that has a lot of harassments and bullying.
The effects of bullying and harassment can first of all be seen on an individual level which will move to departments and ultimately the whole organization. There are managers who are always in denial that bullying can not occur in their organization because they believe that they have hired professionals.
As much as everybody knows that he/she is supposed to perform exemplarily, differences in diversity can lead to harassment and bullying. This therefore refers us back to managing diversity as the possible solution to avoid harassment and bullying. There are internationally recognized approaches to managing workplace harassment and bullying which means that there is always a solution (Clarke 2010, p. 87).
Therefore, the most difficult question should be how to go about the issue of managing workplace diversity that revolves around different cultural practices and beliefs. This is because everybody has a belonging which can be traced from his culture meaning that we can not share our origin. In the long run, every organization has always strived to ensure that diversity does not translate to conflicts in an organization.
Various individuals, managers and shareholders have appreciated the fact our society has some cultural diversity that needs to be appreciated by everybody for long term sustainability. Current trends show that every employee in an organization should send out a clear message that harassment and bullying is not acceptable.
This is the first step because harassment and bullying affects every employee and that is why it is an organizational problem (Field 2010, p. 55). As a matter of fact, exchange programs have been used across various organizations to learn how such problems can be solved.
Managers need to support their employees in coming up with the best solution to work place harassment and bullying to enhance productivity. It is unacceptable to harass an individual yet we all contribute equally to achieve organizational goals and objectives. This means that an individual who is being harassed should stand tall and denounce such issues.
Workplace diversity revolves around the general behavior of employees because everybody has his/her own preferences. It is possible for managers to build and come up with respectable and diverse workplaces through proper understanding.
This means that employees should be well understood based on their belief, preferences and general culture. As much as organizations have their own work ethics that might differ as time goes by, they should be properly instilled in individuals to manage their behavior, relationships and interest (Oade 2009, p. 70) Skills can be developed and enhanced amongst employees to deal with some of these issues because they will be in a better position to understand the root cause than the manager in charge.
Training and proper management of employees has been used time and again to understand why employees might find themselves in such a situation which should be encouraged to find long term solutions. This is because every organization should be on the forefront to promote diversity for enhanced performance.
In conclusion, workplace bullying and harassment is something that every organization will face as time goes by. This is because we can not predict behavioral patterns that employees will exhibit in their workplace. As much as this is a contemporary human resource issue, there should be no excuse as per to why every organization should be having workplace bullying and harassment.
As earlier noted, the answer lies in proper and effective management of diversity in organizations. Such issues can be stressful depending on how they have been exhibited which needs to be understood.
Cultural diversity should benefit organizations because every employee brings something new that can be used by others. In this case, open dialogue and proper understanding is the best approach to bullying and harassment in the workplace.
Reference List
Beale, D., 2001. Monitoring bullying in the workplace. New York: Routledge.
Clarke, J., 2010. Working With Monsters: How to Identify and Protect Yourself from the Workplace Psychopath. New York: Harper Collins.
Field, M., 2010. Bully Blocking at Work: A Self-Help Guide for Employees and Managers. New York: Harper Collins.
Hare, C., 1997. Work Abuse: How to Recognize and Survive It. New York: Harper Collins.
Oade, A., 2009. Managing Workplace Bullying: How to Identify, Respond to and Manage Bullying Behavior in the Workplace. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Randall, P., 2001. Bullying in Adulthood: Assessing the bullies and their victims. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
Tehrani, N., 2004. Bullying: A source of chronic post traumatic stress? San Diego: San Diego State University.
Weed, F., 1983. Conflict in Organizations. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.