Help and hindrance: clergy talking about bullying

Search for Spiritual Assistance in Religious Organizations: What Are the Motives of Persons Who Have Experienced Destructive Relationships at Work?

“…After conducting a study in one of the United Kingdom dioceses, Turner ( 2018 ) distinguished the key obstacles making spiritual assistance unavailable: the lack of assistance, the wish of potential assistants to dissociate themselves from the victim, expecting benefit from concealing the event, etc. In addition, attention was drawn to the inconsistency of the organized assistance.…”

“…Especially, considering that this study did not investigate how religious organizations of specific denominations operate (e.g., parishes, public institutions, communities, and other organizations). For example, Turner ( 2018 ) highlighted the shortcomings of availability of spiritual assistance to the clergy who experienced mobbing at the diocesan level, but it would not be less meaningful to investigate the situation at the level of a particular organization in terms of provision of assistance to the laity. This study reflects only the extent of information about the spiritual assistance provided by the religious organization and does not show the extent to which the assistance itself is provided.…”

“…In this context, in parallel with therapy, the emphasis is placed on the religious aspect (Pargament et al, 2011 ; Zenkert et al, 2014 ; Benson et al, 2016 ; Ruth-Sahd et al, 2018 ), as research shows that the application of religious resources and spiritual care measures not only helps to convalesce from a traumatic experience (Rambo, 2010 ) but also restores the integrity of broken relationships with the environment and ensures the intrinsic sense of well-being (Bartel, 2004 ; Delgado, 2005 ). Although it is observed that the commonality of religious values facilitates the relationship with the persons seeking assistance (Delgado, 2005 ); however, research on the possibilities of religious organizations to provide assistance to persons who have experienced destructive relationships at work is not abundant (Nunez and Gonzalez, 2009 ; Vensel, 2012 ; Turner, 2016 , 2018 ). The lack of such research aggravates not only the possibilities to use potential resources of religious organizations in providing assistance to persons who have experienced psychological traumas in the workplace but also in explaining the motives of victims for which such assistance is sought or not sought.…”

Religious and Non-Religious Workplace Mobbing Victims: When Do People Turn to Religious Organisations?

“…On the one hand, a share of practitioners generally believes that religious needs are in themselves deviations from the norm [4]; therefore, the focus is only on non-religious forms of assistance. On the other hand, a part of researchers who view religious spirituality positively emphasizes a considerable potential of religiosity in dealing with various traumatic experiences [5,6], with particular emphasis on the perspective of spiritual growth in the experienced suffering [7]. It has been noticed that spirituality and religion are important sources of hope and healing for people who have experienced various traumatic experiences [6,8,9].…”

Upwards Workplace Bullying: A Literature Review

“…Its pervasiveness in all environments is reflected in the research literature that documents the problem in both the private and public sectors (Catley et al, 2013; Hutchinson & Jackson, 2015; Nguyen et al, 2019). Workplace bullying is known to occur in offices and manufacturing factories (Rodriguez, 2017; Salin, 2001; Sims & Sun, 2012), in corporate boardrooms (Harvey et al, 2006), in tax-funded community services (Gershman, 2014; Griffith et al, 2016; Kim et al, 2018), in health care venues (Hutchinson et al, 2006; Lamberth, 2015; Shabazz et al, 2016 ), in service industries providing social support and assistance (Hallberg & Strandmark, 2006; Inness et al, 2008), and in the hospitality industry (Chung et al, 2021; Okafor & Okoye, 2017; Ram, 2015) There are many examples of workplace bullying in institutions of higher education (Hodgins et al, 2017; Hollis, 2015; Howard, 2011; Zabrodska & Kveton, 2013), in politics and all levels of government (Francis, 2019; Reid, 2009, 2016; Rheault et al, 2019), as well as in religious institutions (Finlan, 2015; Turner, 2018). With no workplace assured of protection from bullying, it is not surprising that individuals at any level of an organization can become unwilling targets of abuse, or bystanders who witness attacks against colleagues.…”