Supervisory Bullying, Status Inequalities and Organizational Context

Abstract

Bullying has been increasingly identified as a significant social problem. Although much of this attention has centered on the context of schooling, researchers are now beginning to recognize that workplaces are also arenas rife with abusive, bullying behaviors. Personality attributes of bullies and victims have received attention, but much less research has examined the social and organizational foundations of bullying. In this article, we focus theoretical attention on the importance of statusbased power differentials and organizational context for the emergence of supervisory bullying in employment. Our multimethod analyses, which draw from content-coded organizational ethnographies (N = 204), highlight the importance not only of structural and social vulnerability -such as being in a racial minority or of a low occupational position -but also of chaotic and disorganized workplaces. Poor workplace organization, we show, creates positive motivations for supervisory bullying. Workplaces without capable guardians create further vulnerabilities to bullying as a managerial control tactic. We conclude by discussing the theoretical implications of our results for understanding social power, organizational dynamics and the ramifications of abuse in the workplace.The experience of bullying in employment can be devastating. Estimates of prevalence vary from a few percent to as many as half of all workers, although most research suggests that 10 to 20 percent of workers are subjected to workplace bullying each year Rayner, Hoel and Cooper 2002). Shame and psychological despair often result, typically lasting long after the bullying episodes have ended (

Why Do They Bully? Bullying Behavior and Its Implication on the Bullied

“…Various implications that arise due to the prevalence of workplace bullying in the Indian organizations are examples of other key findings from this study that complement emerging knowledge in this area (Djurkovic, McCormack, & Casimir, 2008;Martin, 2008;Roscigno, Lopez, & Hodson, 2009). Further, it also highlights some of the causes that lead to the development of bullying behavior among some organizational members.…”

Towards a Behavioral Description of Managerial Bullying

“…The workplace is particularly vulnerable because there are few "guardians." For instance, unions, the traditional guardian of workers, have been shown to be inadequate to the task of controlling bullying (Roscigno et al 2009). …”

“…One study suggested that hierarchical status was not directly related to victimization (Aquino et al 1999). However, because bullying by managers seems more impactful than that by coworkers (Cortina and Magley 2009;Roscigno et al 2009;Tepper 2007), attempting to clarify what constitutes managerial bullying as opposed to simply aggressive managerial behavior would seem to be useful and important both to theory and practice.…”

Does the Association between Workplace Bullying and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms differ across Educational Groups?

“…Some studies have observed that bullying is more common among individuals in less powerful occupational positions, with no or lower education and with lower household incomes (National Research Center for the Working Environment, 2016; Roscigno, Lopez, & Hodson, 2009;Tsuno et al, 2015). Other studies found similar levels of reporting of workplace bullying among individuals of both low and high occupational positions (Einarsen & Raknes, 1997;Hoel, Cooper, & Faragher, 2001;Zapf, Escartín, Einarsen, Hoel, & Vartia, 2011).…”