Workplace bullying and organizational culture in a post‐transitional country

Abstract

Purpose -The aim of the study is to explore how organizational culture influences occurrences of workplace bullying in Estonia as a post-transitional country. Another objective is to produce comprehensive empirical evidence of bullying in the specific cultural context. Design/methodology/approach -The survey is based on the internationally well-known research instrument, the Negative Acts Questionnaire Revised (NAQ-R) (Mikkelsen and Einarsen) and the Questionnaire of Organizational Culture (QOC) (Vadi et al.). Findings -Victims of bullying: 22 percent -at least one negative act per week; 9.3 percent -at least two negative acts per week; 0.6 percent -by definition (several times per week or daily); 8 percent -by definition (occasionally). The results reveal a clear negative relationship between bullying and task and relationship orientation of organizational culture. Practical implications -The present study indicates clear factors at the organizational level where the preventive actions are needed to diminish the negative impact of bullying on employee's well-being and encourages a discussion and further studies of workplace bullying in post-transitional countries. Originality/value -In Estonia and in other post-transitional countries workplace bullying has not yet been studied closely. This study provides a comprehensive approach of workplace bullying related to organizational culture in a post-transitional country.

The intensity of the expression of mobbing in employees’ relations at lithuanian organizations

“…The researches performed in different countries show that the cohesion not only between demographic but also between social-cultural aspects, which vary subject to the culture of country's organization management that could be interpreted as measure of management culture development, exists. Tambur and Vadi [32] emphasized the transition period of mobbing institutionalization in states' statute-books; however, the problem of mobbing legal defi nition exists in the leading economics as well.…”

“…Socio-cultural as well as society's social and economic development aspects remain important, especially for developing countries where mobbing actions are not always understood adequately because reactions to aggressor's behaviour differ. These differences have been confi rmed by the researches performed in different cultures recently ( [1], [45], [8], [32], etc.). Undoubtedly, relations between employees, their quality are an integral part of such components as evaluation of employees [18], the stress they experience [31], etc.…”

“…In the world the researches on mobbing have been performed for a long time and the circle of researchers is large enough ([22], [23], [26], [43], [42], [4], [1], [12], [7], [28], [35], [36], [10], [11], [2], [3], [5], [8], [9], [13], [15], [16], [27], [32], [34], [37], [19], etc. ).…”

“…The conclusion that the respondents answered insincerely was made. The outcomes of the research performed in Estonia [32] confi rm socio-cultural dangers, which can cause certain error in similar researches. In addition, the cohesion between mobbing and physical environment, the meaning of managerial culture, which is related to unfavourable climate of the organization, has been confi rmed ( [29], [1], [37], [21], etc.).…”

“Another nice mess you’ve gotten me into” employers’ liability for workplace banter

“…In other words, when considering activities covered by the statements of organizational culture orientations, it would be possible to reduce bullying significantly." 111 While workplace banter can be very harmful with workers sometimes suffering serious illness as a result it can also be bad for business. Internal grievances or external claims to employment tribunals of bullying or harassment can be very time consuming and expensive and if the details of the case get into the public domain it can result in negative publicity for the business.…”