This paper reports on a survey into workplace bullying carried out at Staffordshire University in 1994. The 1137 respondents were part time students at the University. Approximately half the sample reported they had been bullied during their working lives. Apart from the gender of the bully, there were no significant differences in the bullying experience between men and women in the parameters examined in this paper. Many people reported being bullied in groups, which is contrary to the current anecdotal evidence. Those who had not been bullied anticipated a more assertive reaction to the situation than those who had been bullied actually took. Data are presented and the findings are discussed, and future research potential identified.

This paper is intended to provide literature signposts for the new researcher into adult bullying. A concise, but not exhaustive, overview of literature relating to workplace bullying is undertaken. It draws on the base provided by work into school bullying and progresses to the arena of adult bullying. In both fields Scandinavian countries have contributed a significant proportion of the research. Research reported in the English language into adult bullying at work is rather limited, but will have emphasis in this paper. Broadly there are two direct approaches; that of investigating the incidence of bullying, and also that of attempting to understand the bullying process. Both approaches are sometimes integrated within a study. There is a wide range of work that can be related to bullying at work, and some of these areas are highlighted.

In this article, we examine the dynamics of trust in the triadic relationship between HR, employees and managers when dealing with allegations of workplace bullying. Previous research has shown employees to be dissatisfied with HR practitioners' responses to complaints of workplace bullying, and we explore the novel angle of the HR practitioners' perspective through semistructured interviews. Paralleling extant employee accounts, the findings suggest that HR practitioners rarely judge situations as bullying where a manager is accused. Trust between employee, manager and HR practitioner is essential for the successful resolution of bullying claims, yet this study suggests multiple directions of distrust. By virtue of their role alignment and previous experiences of handling bullying, HR practitioners were found to prioritise their relationships with managers, automatically distrusting employees' bullying claims. Despite also distrusting managers to effectively deliver HRM practices, it appears that bullying complaints are ‘too hot to handle’ for HR practitioners given the risks to their relationships with managers.

The study of bullying at wotk emerged in the 1990s and is gaining momentum internationally. Bullying is persistent negative interpersonal behavior experienced by people at work. It can be applied to the boss who is too tough and the work mates who go beyond a joke-in other words, those who cause distress, anxiety, or feelings of intimidation in others at work. It can be counterproductive to the recipient causing increased stress that may lead to sickness absence or, in severe cases, total withdrawal from the workplace. It can be counterproductive for organizations because people simply leave (often quietly) as a method of resolution. Witnesses also leave. Replacement costs for these staff alone can represent a major drain on bottorri'line profits. In addition we suspect that the breakdown of trust in a safe psychological environment means that, for example, employees fail to contribute their best, do not give extra ideas for improvement, do not provide feedback on failures, and may be less than truthful about performance. Organizations that can keep employees incur costs when investigating and resolving these situations. Without doubt bullying at work is costly and counterproductive to individuals and organizations.

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