Research explores how workplace culture and social relationships are associated with workplace bullying

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Workplace bullying poses a serious threat to employees’ health and well-being. A recent study conducted at the University of Eastern Finland sheds new light on the impact of social relationships on workplace bullying. Workplace bullying is a complex phenomenon where the bully can be a colleague, a supervisor, a workplace clique or even the entire work community.

Focusing on the dynamics of social relationships, the study, published in Sage Open, shows how workplace culture, interaction and social relationships play a role in bullying.

“Our research draws attention to the fact that workplace bullying is not solely caused by individual characteristics but is also significantly associated with power dynamics at the workplace, as well as with individuals’ opportunities to receive support in situations of bullying,” notes Pasi Hirvonen, a University Lecturer in Social Psychology at the University of Eastern Finland.

The study is based on personal accounts of workplace bullying published on online discussion forums dedicated to sharing experiences of workplace bullying. In total, 136 accounts of workplace bullying were analyzed, detailing how the bullying started, how it was handled within the work community and how the situation ended.

The results reinforce previous findings about the long-term effects of workplace bullying on individual well-being and organizational functioning.

Work community is a key player in workplace bullying

The study employed the so-called positioning theory, which focuses on how rights, duties and responsibilities related to workplace bullying are constructed and how they are discussed and negotiated in everyday interactions. A similar perspective has been rarely used in previous research.

In the accounts of workplace bullying, individuals who had experienced bullying described how they were positioned differently in relation to their work community. A significant role in workplace bullying was played not only by the bullied and the bullies, but also by the entire work community and external parties, such as occupational health care providers and occupational safety and health authorities.

“Individuals who had experienced workplace bullying described it as a situation where they either lost their health and ability to work, or they perceived bullying to be passively accepted by the work community. Bullying was also described as an unresolved conflict, or as a situation employees had managed to survive thanks to their own active opposition. However, such accounts of survival were extremely rare.”

Supervisors play a crucial role in addressing bullying

According to the study, supervisors play a crucial role in addressing bullying. Supervisors who handle bullying situations openly and fairly can prevent them from escalating further. In contrast, ignoring bullying, remaining silent about it and passively accepting it often jeopardizes the bullied individual’s possibilities to remain in the workplace.

“The accounts of bullying we have analyzed often describe how isolated and powerless the bullied individual feels in the situation, with hardly any opportunities for fair handling of the matter in their work community, or even knowledge of what to do in the situation,” says Pekka Kuusela, a University Lecturer in Social Psychology at the University of Eastern Finland.

Storyline-based examination of positioning, i.e., how individuals are positioned in relation to each other, shifts the focus from individual characteristics to power dynamics and interactions between employees, offering a different perspective on workplace bullying.

“To understand how to best handle situations of bullying, future research should also examine narratives from work communities where workplace bullying has been addressed successfully,” the researchers say.