HR Department
  • Home
  • Did you Know?
  • Our Services
    • NEW: Mediation
    • HR Audit
    • Implementation
    • HR Support Service
    • HR Services
  • Our Experts
  • Testimonials
  • The HR Advisor
  • Contact Us
  • Login

Managing Workplace Bullying Between Management and Staff

25/10/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Management should be a staff member’s first port of call when faced with bullying in the workplace. But what happens if bullying takes place between a manager and staff member, regardless of whether it is upwards or downwards bullying?

A US study revealed that workplace bullying could cost businesses $250 million per year. Workplace bullying can impact a business financially, as well as contribute towards reputational and performance damage.
Businesses should take action against upwards and downwards bullying, and protect their organisations.

Downwards Bullying

While often workplace bullying refers to that which takes place between staff members, it can also take place between managers and their subordinates. downwards bullying refers to managers who bully their staff, or a certain member of staff.

With 80% of workplace bullying cases taking place from a position of power, downwards bullying can be unfortunately commonplace in many working environments.

We spend much of our lives in the workplace, forming relationships with co-workers. However, when a manager begins to bully a staff member, it can have lasting consequences, not only on that individual, but on the rest of their staff and the wider organisation.

How Can a Manager be a Bully?

While some managers are simply tough, bullying managers will be guilty of giving an employee unattainable tasks that either the individual is not trained for, or cannot complete under the deadline.

A manager may bully a staff member through overbearing supervision, or constant criticism of their work. Rather than provide constructive feedback, an effective management style, leaders may choose to bully staff by giving them constant negative feedback about different aspects of their work.

Another way in which downwards bullying can take place within the workplace, is through the blocking of promotion of certain staff members, or a manager threatening a staff member over their job security from no fault of that individual.

The Impact of Downwards Bullying

Top-down bullying can have a lasting impact, not only on a manager’s team, but also on the organisation as a whole. If a staff member is a victim of bullying from their manager, this will inevitably lead to a breakdown in communication between these two individuals.

Staff members may feel intimidated or even humiliated. This can lead to absenteeism, ultimately affecting the performance of that individual team, and the organisation.

Leading on from this, if an organisation failed to act upon any complaints against a bullying manager, their reputation amongst stakeholders and wider internal and external publics could also be damaged.

Upwards Bullying

While downwards bullying may be more common, upwards bullying can also take place within any working environment, large or small. Upwards bullying takes place when a subordinate staff member bullies their own manager, or another member of management in their workplace.

A recent Irish case saw a victim of upwards bullying, Geraldine McCarthy win a Court of Appeal against her employer, ISS Ireland Ltd, for not providing a safe place to work.

Between May 2009 and February 2011, the supervisor was subject to five separate incidents, where her subordinates displayed aggressive, abusive behaviour. Despite making a complaint to the employer after the first incident, no action was taken, leading to an unsafe workplace for McCarthy.

How Can a Subordinate be a Bully?

A subordinate may bully through spreading gossip or falsehoods about their supervisor or manager. Just as in the above case, subordinates can also bully management through verbal or physical aggression, leading to intimidation or humiliation of the manager.

Upwards bullying can also take place when an individual may gain a new management role in a new organisation or department, tasked with supervising staff members who may be longstanding. While the new staff member may be at a managerial level, they may feel intimidated or threatened by longstanding, subordinate colleagues.

The Impact of Upwards Bullying

Upwards bullying can make a significant impact on the ability of a manager to do their job. The dynamics of a workplace can be affected, with employees losing respect for that manager, and vice versa.

In turn, managers may become disengaged or ‘absent’ in their roles. Their health could also deteriorate as a result of stress and humiliation.

As with downwards bullying, the disengagement of management as a result of upwards bullying can lead to a breakdown in communication between staff. This could have lasting consequences for an organisation, as subordinate staff members become harder to control or negotiate with, affecting the performance of a company. Again, this can also lead to a deterioration in an organisation’s reputation.

Paired with the possibility of increased staff turnover, both downwards and upwards bullying can be costly to an organisation, leading to performance and reputational damage.

Take Action

Tackle any cases of upwards or bullying as soon as possible. By dealing with such situations head-on, organisations can protect their own reputation and performance, as well as ensuring healthy working environments for all staff, regardless of role.

While it can be difficult for victims of downwards bullying to report to management about their colleague, employees should be assured that a company’s HR team has an onus to deal with bullying. In Ireland, workplaces have a legal duty to ensure that their environments are safe places to work.

In terms of upwards bullying, affected managers can demonstrate their authority by calling on their superiors for help to tackle subordinate bullies, in a sufficient and decent way. 

By instilling an intolerance towards bullying in the workplace, an organisation can ensure that such incidences do not take place. If peers champion this culture, workplace bullies can be dealt with quickly. This will ensure that a business’ performance will not be affected, while remaining a safe place to work for employees.

0 Comments

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

    Categories

    All
    Absenteeism
    Agile Management
    Anger
    Annual Leave
    Appointments
    Big Data
    Bullying
    Bullying In The Workplace
    Business
    BYOD
    Collaboration
    Communication
    Company Culture
    Compulsory Retirement
    Conflict Resolution
    Corporate Culture
    Covid 19
    Covid-19
    Cyber Bullying
    Data Protection
    Device Policy
    Digital
    Digital Transformation
    Disciplinary Procedures
    Discrimination
    Diversity
    Dress Code
    Emotional Intelligence
    Employee Benefits
    Employee Diversity
    Employee Engagement
    Employee Performance
    Employee Relations
    Employee Resignation
    Employee Retention
    Employee Rights
    Employee Wellbeing
    Employer Branding
    Employment Contract
    Equality
    Flexible Working Hours
    Freelance
    Freelancer Management
    Freelancing
    Gender
    Gig Economy
    Health And Safety
    Hiring Process
    HR
    HR Automation
    HRLocker
    HR Paper Work
    HR Performance
    HR Tips
    Human Resources
    Incentives
    Inclusion
    Independent Contractor
    In-house
    Innovation
    Intelectual Property
    Intern
    Jargon
    Just Culture
    L&D
    Leadership
    Learning & Development
    Long Term Illness
    Management
    Managers
    McDonalds
    Mediation
    Mentorship
    Millenials
    Motivating Staff
    Music
    Negative Employees
    Office Romance
    Onboarding
    Outsourced HR
    Paid Paternity Benefit
    Parental Leave
    Parenting
    Part Time
    Part-time
    Passive-aggressive
    Paternity Leave
    Paternity Leave Policy
    Pay Gap
    Pensions
    People Operations
    Poaching Employees
    Policy
    Problem Employee
    Productivity
    Profit
    Protected Disclosures Act
    Recruitment
    Redundancy
    Retirement
    Role Of HR
    Salary Transparency
    Sexual Harrassment
    Sick Leave
    Sick Pay
    Sick Policy
    Skills
    Skills Shortage
    Social Media
    Social Media Policy
    Staff Burnout
    Staff Engagement
    Staff Retention
    Staff Training
    Strategy
    Success
    Talent
    Talent Acquisition
    Talent Retention
    Team
    Teamwork
    Tech In HR
    The Jungle Book
    Training
    Trust
    Unfair Dismissal
    Vacation
    Whistleblower
    Work Arrangements
    Working Parents
    Workplace
    Workplace Bullying
    Workplace BYOD Policy
    Workplace Conflict
    Workplace Discrimination
    Workplace Harassment
    Workplace Health
    Work Related Stress
    Zero Hour Contract

    RSS Feed

HR Department, 49 Hollybank Avenue, Lower Ranelagh, Dublin 6, Ireland.
 
Phone : +353 (0)1 685 2360 Fax: +353 (0)1 685 2532 E-mail: info@thehrdepartment.ie

Registered in Ireland under company number 348834

Testimonials

Fallon and Byrne

“As a medium –sized business, we could not justify having an in-house HR person. The HR department provided the perfect solution for us, giving us access to all of the expert advice we needed on an outsourced basis"

READ MORE!
Website by Chevron Studio