Workplace Bullying Assignment: Seriousness Of Workplace Harassment To Warrant Legal Action

Question

Task: Write a reflective journal on computer architecture assignment analysing the theoretical concepts captured from the weekly material.

Answer

Introduction
The workplaces that have a hostile work environment, give rise to bullying. Workplace bullying is a very serious form of harassment considered in this context of workplace bullying assignment in which a person who is targeted is continuously criticized, threatened, belittled, harassed and even abused verbally (Ariza-Montes et al., 2017). Bullying not only leads to decline in productivity of the bullied persons but also causes them psychological problems. In case of bullying, the mistreatment pattern is quite persistent. The workplaces need to take serious actions to prevent bullying within their organisations. The effect of workplace bullying can be long lasting, resulting in emotional as well as physical damage (Xu, et al., 2019). This report debates over the topic ‘Is workplace bullying serious enough to warrant legal action?’.There are literatures, which debate for and against this topic. Both the perspectives of the proponents as well as the opponents will be discussed in the debate report.

Proposition 1(support the resolution):
Logical Argument:Workplace bullying is harmful for an employee. The health of the employee is adversely affected by bullying. The ones who are bullied at workplace suffer from severe depression, low self-esteem, anxiety and fatigue. Therefore, workplace bullying seems to be serious enough and must warrant legal actions. The workplace bullying makes the work environment toxic (Birks et al., 2017). The victims lose their interest to work and show low productivity at work. The malicious or abusive conducts at workplace make the ambiance extremely hostile. The offensive acts of bullying can result in a bad reputation for the organisation. The bullying activities are not always in the form of abuse. At times, the seniors try to sabotage the performance of their subordinates (Taniguchi et al., 2016). This is also a form of bullying. However, there are no strict and well-defined laws that prohibit such bullying at work. The employees lack the power to sue the harassers. Although it is said that making all forms workplace bullying an illegal act and punishable by law is not feasible, yet such activities irrespective of the severity should warrant legal actions. The physical and mental health of the harassed victims is damaged by such acts. Therefore, the guilty one needs to be punished by law. As opined by Rai and Agarwal (2018), the intensity of the punishment, however, could vary depending on the severity of bullying.

Evidence:The bullying activities at workplace have an abusive nature. The bullying acts are a form of assertion of power on the weak. As per the surveys done to prepare this workplace bullying assignment, more than 35 percent people face workplace bullying. The bullied employees have reported of verbal abuses or threats from supervisors or seniors at their organisations. However, there are no clear laws designed for addressing the issue of workplace bullying. Though there are some anti-bullying legislations that have been framed, no clear law has been passed (Hoel, Cooper and Einarsen, 2020). Bullying is a very serious offence and due to lack of proper laws punishing those guilty of it, these acts are increasing day by day. Any form of harassment or discrimination can lead to bullying at workplace. The targets of workplace bullying are the ones who are submissive, anxious or introvert. These people are bullied by those who are assertive and extrovert. The targets could also be the ones who are skilled and efficient at their work, those who are popular and good people. The reason behind bullying in such instances is jealousy. The workplace bullying can be discrimination oriented. In such situations, the cause of bullying could be discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, age or any sort of disability (Hellemans, Dal Cason and Casini, 2017). However, law forbids these forms of discriminations. The bullied person could move to the court for seeking help against such workplace harassments. However, the law does not recognise all forms of bullying as illegal. This is the reason many people fail to get justice. Several people are suffering every day at their workplace. Nevertheless, they tolerate such harassments and continue working in the hostile work environment. The reason behind this is lack of enforcement of law for addressing the workplace bullying issues.

Theory:In case, the employee finds the behaviour of a person or a group at the workplace abusive, hostile or offensive, they should be able to file a legal complaint against these people. As suggested by D’Cruz, Noronha and Lutgen-Sandvik (2018), unless a timely action is taken to stop such bullying, this could get persuasive and severe. There are laws that prevent discrimination at workplace or protect a person who has been physically harmed. However, these laws do not specifically address the issue of workplace bullying. When the bullying activity does not meet these criteria, the offenders do not face any sort of punishment. The workplace bullying sometimes finds its way outside workplace. There are cases reported, where the employee has been bullied on their way to work. Anti-bullying laws should stop any form of bullying at workplace. The laws need to be enforced strictly to prevent such bullying activities at work. The bullied person should be able to sue the harassers for causing them menace at work. As per Cobb (2017) California requires all the large companies operating within the state to train their employees for preventing abusive actions at work. They also need to make the employees aware of workplace bullying. There should be anti-bullying cell where the employees can reach out for help. Every organisation should ensure that their employees fearlessly take a stand and speak up against workplace bullying be it in any form, like humiliation, verbal or non-verbal abuse, physical abuse or psychological damage.

Proposition 2 (against the resolution):
Logical Argument: It has been argued that insecurities as well as inadequacies leads to bullying in workplace. It has been established that instead of making it a legal warrant it is imperative to comprehend the aspects that triggers bullying behaviour. This in turn will make it easier to recognize abusive circumstances that help to resolve issues. It has been argued in the workplace bullying assignment that lack of self-esteem initiates bullying that does not requires a legal action. Instead of taking a legal action, an individual requires to deal with direct threats that will prevent their individual inadequacies. The individual requires overcoming the threats that they witness while dealing with a competent colleague. It is imperative to accept the responsibility that takes place due to their individual actions that will make it easier to carry out a professional conduct.

Evidence: There are evidences that an individual who is bullied is exploited to a large extent. In other words, they get access to abundant resources that safeguard the individuals from exploitation. They are also able to pass on helpful aspects to their children. There are other evidences that show that anti-bullying laws limit the ability of managers in managing. In other words, managing an employee by ordering or commanding them in several instances might be conceived as bullying disability (Hellemans, Dal Cason and Casini, 2017). On the other hand, it has been criticised in this section of workplace bullying assignment that anti-bullying laws are not easy to define that in turn makes it hard to get enforced. As a result, it could be suggested that bullying requires to be combated through internal ways as well as sensitivity training rather than making it a legal warrant.

Theory: The developmental theory requires to be incorporated to comprehend regarding the comprehensive description related to bullying. In other words, rather than regarding bullying as a legal warrant it is imperative to consider the socio-environmental aspects that will provide guidance to eradicate bullying rather than making it a legal warrant (Cobb, 2017). It is imperative to respond positively to problem-solving strategies that will help to eradicate bullying.

Conclusion
Workplace bullying can have serious effects on the life of a person. The health of the bullied person can be endangered under severe situations. The loss of sleep, depression, fear and fatigue are some common outcomes of bullying. The debate report reflects upon both the views, for and against taking legal actions against workplace bullying. However, the commonality in these views is that the bullied persons should have an access to lodging a complaint against workplace bullying. Even the cases of the minor bullying, should be reported to the internal anti-harassment cell of the organisations. The warranting of legal actions depends on the severity of the act of bullying. It could be concluded in this workplace bullying assignmentthat most of the laws that deals with anti-bullying are not practical as well as difficult to define. As a result, they restrict the ability of managers to deal with their employees.

References
Ariza-Montes, A., Arjona-Fuentes, J.M., Law, R. and Han, H., 2017.Incidence of workplace bullying among hospitality employees. Workplace bullying assignmentInternational Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.

Birks, M., Cant, R.P., Budden, L.M., Russell-Westhead, M., Özçetin, Y.S.Ü. and Tee, S., 2017. Uncovering degrees of workplace bullying: A comparison of baccalaureate nursing students’ experiences during clinical placement in Australia and the UK. Nurse education in practice, 25, pp.14-21.

Cobb, E.P., 2017. Workplace bullying and harassment: New developments in international law. Taylor & Francis.

D’Cruz, P., Noronha, E. and Lutgen-Sandvik, P., 2018. Power, subjectivity and context in workplace bullying, emotional abuse and harassment: Insights from postpositivism. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal.

Hellemans, C., Dal Cason, D. and Casini, A., 2017. Bystander helping behavior in response to workplace bullying. Swiss Journal of Psychology.

Hoel, H., Cooper, C.L. and Einarsen, S.V., 2020. Organisational effects of workplace bullying. Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace: Theory, Research and Practice, p.209.

Rai, A. and Agarwal, U.A., 2018. Workplace bullying and employee silence. Personnel Review.

Taniguchi, T., Takaki, J., Hirokawa, K., Fujii, Y. and Harano, K., 2016. Associations of workplace bullying and harassment with stress reactions: a two-year follow-up study. Industrial health, 54(2), pp.131-138.

Xu, T., Magnusson Hanson, L.L., Lange, T., Starkopf, L., Westerlund, H., Madsen, I.E., Rugulies, R., Pentti, J., Stenholm, S., Vahtera, J. and Hansen, Å.M., 2019. Workplace bullying and workplace violence as risk factors for cardiovascular disease: a multi-cohort study. Workplace bullying assignmentEuropean heart journal, 40(14), pp.1124-1134.