Looking beneath the iceberg: can shame and pride be handled restoratively in cases of workplace bullying

Abstract

Central to restorative justice interventions that follow revised reintegrative shaming theory (Ahmed et al. 2001) is individual capacity to manage shame and pride in safe and supportive spaces. From a random sample of 1,967 Australians who responded to a national crime survey, 1045 completed a module about bullying experiences at work over the past year, along with the MOSS-SASD and MOPS shame and pride management scales. Those who identified themselves as having bullied others were pride-focused, not shame-focused. They were more likely to express narcissistic pride over their work success, lauding their feats over others, and were less likely to express humble pride, sharing their success with others. In contrast, victims were defined by acknowledged and displaced shame over work task failures. In addition to these personal impediments to social reintegration, those who bullied and those targeted had low trust in others, particularly professionals. While these findings do not challenge macro interventions for culture change through more respectful and restorative practices, they provide a basis for setting boundaries for the appropriate use of restorative justice meetings to address particular workplace bullying complaints.

From reintegrative shaming to restorative institutional hybridity

“…Since 2001, studies in Bangladesh and Australia have shown narcissistic pride and unacknowledged shame are consistently linked with more bullying; humble pride and acknowledged shame with less bullying (Ahmed & Braithwaite, 2011;Braithwaite & Ahmed, 2019;Braithwaite, Ahmed & Braithwaite, 2008). Narcissistic pride and unacknowledged shame are more likely to be found in workplaces where norms of respect for others have been weakened.…”

“…Shaming and disapproval, however packaged, will be highly threatening because without humble pride, no one is there to soothe a bruised ethical identity. Regulatory practices of reintegrative shaming have the challenging task of breaking through the shield of pride that fills the holder with a sense of superiority and blamelessness (Braithwaite & Ahmed, 2019).…”