BULLYING AND VIOLENCE WITHIN THE VET TEAM Workplace bullying and lateral violence are two types of disruptive behaviors and have become an epidemic in all professions and in Veterinary Medicine, which has become such a part of our daily lives. In the Workplace Bullying Institute 2021 survey, it was estimated that 79.3 million US workers were affected by workplace bullying, which is equivalent to the population of the 12 Western US States. Workplace bullying is defined as repeated health-harming mistreatment, offensive abusive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviors, or abuse of power conducted by an individual or group against one or more persons, who are considered the targets. Bullying behaviors can be verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse, humiliation, etc..... and which is generally persistent, systematic, and ongoing. Bullying will cause the target to feel upset, threatened, humiliated, vulnerable, devalued, along with many other emotions. Lateral violence, also called horizontal violence and horizontal hostility, are used to describe the physical, verbal, or emotional abuse of a team member from another team member (at the same level as the bully and target). This type of violence can be manifested in verbal and non-verbal behaviors, such as withholding information (especially important information that helps guide the team member in their immediate position), sabotage, infighting, scapegoating, backstabbing, failure to respect privacy, and it goes on and on. These types of behavior are not supportive of a culture of safety and will decrease morale in any workplace situation. These disruptive behaviors interfere directly with effective communication among the teams and negatively impact the performance and productivity of all involved. This type of aggression is particularly difficult, unlike the typical forms of school-age bullying, workplace bullies often operate with the established rules and policies of their organization and society as a whole. Bullying in the workplace is in the majority of cases reported as having been perpetrated by management and takes a wide variety of forms. Bullying can be covert and overt, may be missed by management or known by many throughout the organization. Negative effects of bullying are not limited to the targeted individuals, and lead to a decline in employee morale and company culture. There are five categories of bullying behavior, which include: • Threats to professional status • Threats to personal standing • Isolation • Overwork • Destabilization Workplace Mobbing Mobbing is defined as “ganging up” by coworkers, subordinates, or superiors, to force someone out of the workplace through rumor, innuendo, intimidation, humiliation, discrediting, and isolation. It is described as malicious, nonsexual, nonracial, general harassment. The term of workplace mobbing is used to refer to an abusive group behavior that is prolonged and systemic in nature and may include both horizontal bullying but also upward bullying, where a group of workers exhibit bullying behaviors towards those in authority (such as management). The intent of this type of bullying is usually to drive the team members, manager, etc. to quit and leave the workplace. Other expressions for mobbing are bullying, psychological terror or aggression, hostile behaviors at work, workplace trauma, incivility (discourtesy, rudeness), and emotional violence. Workplace mobbing and workplace violence are used interchangeably in some incidences, there are similarities and some differences. Workplace mobbing, like bullying, is considered as a “virus” or a “cancer” that spreads throughout the workplace via gossip, rumors, and unfounded accusations. It is a deliberate attempt to force a person or persons out of their workplace by humiliation, general harassment, emotional abuse, and/or terror. Mobbing is executed by the “gang” leader, then that leader will then rally others into a systematic and frequent “mob-like” behavior toward the victim. What is Considered Not Bullying Sometimes we mistake normal management responsibility and guidance as bullying behavior, and the term bullying is used incorrectly at times. In most organizations, there are expectations and protocols for the workplace and what each team member can do and cannot do. As we build the culture and team itself, the leaders of the organization will put those expectations and protocols into written procedures and give them to the team members to follow. All employers have the legal right to direct and control how work is done within their organization and management have a responsibility to monitor those team members’ performance and workflow to be able to give feedback for improvement. If a team member has performance concerns, these can be identified and dealt with in a constructive and objective way that does not involve any type of personal insults or destructive remarks. If the team member is dissatisfied with the practices within the organizations, the concerns should also be raised in a manner that remains professional and objective, there also should be a grievance and complaint procedures that can be utilized confidentially to resolve these concerns. The relationships should remain always in a professional to build rapport and encourage healthy workplace morale and culture. Harassment vs Bullying Bullying and harassment are very similar, bullying looks and feels like harassment. At work, harassment is a special term, in the workplace harassment connotes sexual misconduct and a hostile work environment. State and federal civil rights laws are designed to protect workers from discriminatory, disparate mistreatment. If, and only if, you are member of a protected status class or group and you have been mistreated by a person who is not a member of that protected group, you might be able to claim that you were harassed. Targets Unlike the school-aged targets, the targets are those individuals that are targeted because they pose a “threat” to him or her. This perception of threat is entirely in the bully’s mind, but it is what he/she feels and believes. Targets are independent and refuse to be subservient. Bullies seek to enslave targets. When the target takes steps to preserve their dignity, the bully escalates his/her campaign of hatred and intimidation and gain control of the target. The target is more technically skilled, they are the “go-to” worker that others go to for guidance, are better liked by others, more social skills, and quite likely possess greater emotional intelligence. The target has empathy for all, even the bully. There are many emotional, physical, and emotional effects on the targets, and they will vary according to the nature of the bullying and those being bullied. Some of the effects will include stress and anxiety disorders, sleep disturbance, panic attacks, impaired ability to make decisions (and sometime afraid to make any decisions, possibly making the incorrect decisions and getting bullied more due to it), concentration concerns, loss of self-confidence and self-esteem, depression, sense of isolation, and risk of physical harm or self, risk of suicide, and reduced quality of personal and home life. Medical, Psychological, and Physical Effects of Bullying There are a lot of medical, psychological, and physical effects of bullying on all entities, the target, the workplace, and society as a whole. The cost to an organization may include reduced efficiency and productivity, unsafe work environment and risk of accidents, increased workers compensation claims and/or civil action, increase absenteeism, decreased retention, poor morale, and many more We will explore these effects and discuss the impact of this on all those involved. As we explore the ins and outs of workplace bullying, we will understand this silent epidemic. As more and more information are understood and release about bullying in the workplace, almost all states in the U.S. have legislation to recognize workplace bullying and protecting the target from abusive mistreatment. Hopefully soon, we will see laws governing this epidemic so no one else will be mistreated and suffer in silence. Bullying Can (and should) Be Stopped Bullying can be and will be stopped, it will take everyone. How to handle bullying will depend on the particular circumstances, work environment, and the nature of the bullying. Every situation and circumstance are different and if you are a target of a bully or witness bullying, you can act informally or follow a more formal approach depending on the situation and workplace. An example of an informal procedure would be checking for workplace bullying policy and prevention plan, seeking advice from a grievance officer or HR official, documenting and keeping a record of all the incidences, considering approaching and having a discussion with the bully, and consulting a counselling service. An example of a formal procedure can be important and may be required if the informal procedure is not successful and/or where the allegations are more serious. A formal procedure would consist of lodging a written complaint to your employer. As part of the formal investigation, the grievance officer should document your report and record all of the information gathered during the course of the investigation. As part of the investigation, the grievance officer may suggest mediated discussions with the bully to possibly find a resolution that is acceptable and appropriate for everyone involved. At the end of the investigation and result are concluded, there may be disciplinary actions and the employer may be required to make changes to the workplace to ensure that any breach of occupational safety and health legislation is rectified, and the bullying activities cease. As part of our responsibility for helping to change workplace bullying, we can be part of the grassroots movement for legislation for Healthy Workplace Bills within 32 states (so far). During this lecture, we will be having an interactive discussions on what the bullying issue is, the concerns on the targets and others, how we can end bullying in the workplace and the legal and legislation acts around the healthy workplace and how we and others can get involved if they would like, and the workplace bullying stats and how do we become advocates for ourselves and others.
