Bullying in the Workplace: Psychological Distress of Employees

Introduction and Purpose

Bullying is determined as the abuse, violent dominance, or intimidation of another person by using pressure, compulsion, harsh taunting, or threat. Considering the question of bullying in the workplace, it is feasible to define four main types of this phenomenon, including abuse of power, digital bullying, mental harassment, and retribution or retaliation. Abuse of power, also referred to as malfeasance in position, is when an official commits illegal conduct that interferes with the discharge of primary responsibilities. Colleagues may exclude an individual from staff events as a form of overt or indirect psychological discrimination. Since the pandemic pushed substantial population segments to work remotely, online bullying has become a substantial concern. Retaliation is described as a situation where an employee is harassed due to what he has performed rather than due to his personality. Female employees can be emphasized as victims of workplace bullying since they have been subject to increased interest, particularly in conservative men’s groups. The purpose of the literature review proposal is to identify and review key findings in three articles related to the aspects of workplace bullying and female employees as victims of this issue.

Article One

Concerning the first article that should be reviewed and analyzed, it is feasible to highlight the study “Workplace bullying and psychological distress of employees across socioeconomic strata: a cross-sectional study.” The paper was written by Chan, C., Wong, J., Yeap, L., Wee, L., Jamil, N., and Nantha, Y. The work was issued online in the journal BMC Public Health in 2019. According to the article, workplace bullying has been connected to stress-related health complications and sociopolitical effects such as resignation and unemployment (Chan et al., 2019). In comprehensive observational research of Malaysian employees, the researchers focused on determining the incidence of workplace bullying and its relationship to socioeconomic characteristics and emotional trauma.

In order to identify the relevance of the paper and its outcomes, it is obligatory to review its methodology and conclusions. There were 5235 respondents, 62.3% of whom were female, with ages ranging from 18 to 85 (Chan et al., 2019). More than one-third of employees, which is 39.1%, said they had been the victim of workplace bullying, which was proven to be linked to being female, obtaining a greater salary, and having emotional discomfort (Chan et al., 2019). Low personal earnings were related to increased levels of psychological suffering in general. On the other hand, employees with greater incomes were considerably more likely to report being bullied at work. The results of this study illustrate the connections between socioeconomic position and psychological suffering in the context of workplace harassment.

Article Two

The second work that was selected for the process of examining and reviewing was the research “The tangled web: consequences of workplace cyberbullying in adult male and female employees.” The study was elaborated by the scholars Jennifer Loh and Robyn Snyman. It was originally issued and published in the Gender in Management scientific journal in 2020. According to the article, the major area of focus of the paper was to recognize how well a mediation analysis model linked online bullying experience, perceived anxiety, and employee happiness among Australian workers functioned (Loh & Snyman, 2020). Hence, the authors attempted to assess the issue’s relevance in terms of a country-based approach.

In this paper, the scientists concentrated a specific field of activity on the female part of personnel. To study the effect of workplace online bullying and job results, a survey of 254 middle-income Australian individuals from various corporate firms was undertaken (Loh & Snyman, 2020). The findings demonstrated that occupational cyberbullying caused emotional distress, which projected employee job unhappiness, with the consistency reliability of 0.91 (Loh & Snyman, 2020). The statistics also reported that female workers who were bullied online were more likely than male colleagues to experience higher levels of perceived anxiety and job dissatisfaction (Loh & Snyman, 2020). Consequently, the issue of workplace bullying among females was proven to be relevant.

Article Three

Furthermore, the third peer-reviewed article that was chosen for the evaluation and discussion was the study “Workplace bullying: The interactive effects of the perpetrator’s gender and the target’s gender.” The work was developed by the academics McCormack, D., Djurkovic, N., Nsubuga-Kyobe, A., and Casimir, G. The research was published in the official journal Employee Relations in 2018. To highlight the problem statement, the objective was to comprehend if the gender of the offender and the target impacted the prevalence with which victims are exposed to workplace bullying (McCormack, 2018). In general, the study focused on the distinctions between the perpetrator and the target in working settings.

The report adds to the concept of knowledge on occupational bullying by investigating how gender interacts with the incidence of downward workplace harassment. A sample of 125 Ugandan schoolteachers was studied using a cross-sectional methodology (McCormack, 2018). Even though victims in within-gender dyadic relationships reported greater overall negative workplace bullying rates than individuals in between-gender dyadic relationships, personal discrimination, and work-related abuse revealed a high gender-gender association (McCormack, 2018). Exploring the interaction effects of gender on workplace bullying aids in gaining better comprehension of gender’s possible impact in bullying situations (McCormack, 2018). Organizations must resocialize their employees to acquire new perspectives and workplace standards around violent behavior.

Conclusion

To summarize, bullying in the workplace is portrayed as a human resources phenomenon that negatively influences professional productivity. Female workers may be perceived as victims of workplace bullying since they have been the center of increasing attention, particularly in traditional men’s organizations. The first study’s findings demonstrated the link between socioeconomic status and psychological distress in the setting of workplace harassment. In the second publication, the scientists focused a special field of activity on the female side of the workforce, revealing that women were more harmed by workplace violence than males. The third paper contributed to the understanding of workplace bullying by examining how gender influences the occurrence of workplace harassment. The material in the proposal will be used as the foundation for writing the literature review paper.

References

Chan, C. M. H., Wong, J. E., Yeap, L. L. L., Wee, L. H., Jamil, N. A., & Swarna Nantha, Y. (2019). Workplace bullying and psychological distress of employees across socioeconomic strata: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 19(4), 1-8. Web.

Loh, J., & Snyman, R. (2020). The tangled web: consequences of workplace cyberbullying in adult male and female employees. Gender in Management, 35(6), 567-584. Web.

McCormack, D., Djurkovic, N., Nsubuga-Kyobe, A., & Casimir, G. (2018). Workplace bullying: The interactive effects of the perpetrator’s gender and the target’s gender. Employee Relations, 40(2), 264-280. Web.

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BusinessEssay. (2023) 'Bullying in the Workplace: Psychological Distress of Employees'. 6 August.

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BusinessEssay. 2023. "Bullying in the Workplace: Psychological Distress of Employees." August 6, 2023. https://business-essay.com/bullying-in-the-workplace-psychological-distress-of-employees/.

1. BusinessEssay. "Bullying in the Workplace: Psychological Distress of Employees." August 6, 2023. https://business-essay.com/bullying-in-the-workplace-psychological-distress-of-employees/.


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BusinessEssay. "Bullying in the Workplace: Psychological Distress of Employees." August 6, 2023. https://business-essay.com/bullying-in-the-workplace-psychological-distress-of-employees/.