Research pick: Tackling workplace bullying - "Understanding workplace bullying: a conceptual review"

Workplace bullying has always been a problem but recognition of this problem and how we must stand up to it and try to eradicate it from the workplace culture has only come to the fore in recent years. A conceptual review in the International Journal of Management Practice looks at the issues, the terminology, and the definitions with the aim of helping researchers fill the many gaps in the literature in a consistent manner.

Rajnish Kumar Misra and Divya Sharma of the Jaypee Institute of Information Technology in Noida, India, explain that there is a need to differentiate between bullying and other forms of negative behaviour in the workplace, such as so-called “desk rage”. However, they also hope to identify the antecedents to workplace bullying and look in-depth at its consequences on companies and their staff. Fundamentally, the team’s review alludes to a need for research and discussion to be all-encompassing and to recognise the boundaries of the definitions that emerge from the review.

Harassment and incivility are deep-rooted in many areas of human activity. Bullying can take a physical form or play a psychological role, or it can be a combination of both. Either way, it can have detrimental and long-lasting effects on anyone who is a victim. In the workplace, as with many other realms, this can have serious and life-changing consequences for victims, as morale is compromised, job dissatisfaction arises, performance and commitment become less important to the employee, burnout and employee turnover increase. All to the detriment of the victims of the bullying but also to the employer.

The research literature that has been focused on the issue of workplace bullying is inconsistent and contradictory. This new analysis could provide future research with a consistent framework with which to work to ensure that those problems are clarified and the gaps in the research filled so that the problem of bullying can be understood better and guidance emerge for managers and company owners that allows them to implement new policies to address the problem more effectively.

Misra, R.K. and Sharma, D. (2022) ‘Understanding workplace bullying: a conceptual review’, Int. J. Management Practice, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp.346–363.