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The problem of bullying creates a severe issue for the atmosphere of the workplace environment, the mental health of workers, and their performance. Various factors can contribute to the developing problem of harassment. It may be due to the application of incompetent leadership strategies that create the feeling of helplessness and devaluation of the employees and the invalid policy of bullying prevention and control. Hence, there is a crucial need to define and create a modern and effective system of leaders skills and values alongside a new manual for bullying prevention in the healthcare environment.
One of the essential parts of the process is defining workplace bullying and how leaders can influence it. Workplace Bullying Institute describes the problem as repeated, health-harming mistreatment by one or more employees of an employee or a group (n.d.). Bullying can be performed as a form of verbal abuse, behaviors marked as threatening, intimidating, humiliating, or sabotaging the working process (WBI, n.d.). All mentioned forms of bullying may result from weak or failed leadership. According to DCruz et al. (2021), certain styles and skills help to prevent acts of harassment and secure a healthy working environment for all employees. Among them, scholars emphasized the approach of transformational leadership, which associates with the beneficial organizational structure of the workplace (DCruz et al., 2021). According to the method, we can point out four skills necessary for leaders.
Firstly, the central element is management skills and the ability to empower the employees. It is vital to establish a co-working approach in the working group, with the help of coaching, which has to minimize the biased attitude of the potential bully. It will reduce burnout, work alienation, and feelings of powerlessness and self-estrangement. Secondly, persuasion skills must be developed alongside strong charisma to achieve the most effective communicational interactions. Open communication may help establish connections with employees and offer them reliability on the leader in harmful situations. Thirdly, the inclusion approach has to be applied by the manager in the workplace; each team member has to feel their value to the company regardless of cultural, religious, race, or identity differences. And the last quality required for successful leadership to manage conflicts is the ability to put accountability for every person in the situation. It means every side of the conflict has to understand their role and involvement in the process, including the manager. Accountability has to be measured according to the policy of the healthcare organization. Hence, various leadership factors can contribute to creating and ensuring a healthy and safe working environment.
The bullying prevention and control policy is not directly secured by federal law. Still, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration include employee safety programs, granting workplace anti-bully regulations. The first document prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin (Civil Rights Act, 1964, Section 703). It explores the regulations in terms of the situation of harassment, which does not always correspond to the bullying definition; hence, applying the act to the modern working environment presents limited solutions. At the same time, OSHA defines the central purpose of the regulation as to provide a workplace that is free from violence, harassment, intimidation, and other disruptive behavior (OSHA, 2012, p. 10-15). The standard expands the field of possible intervention by adding other notions of harmful actions in the workspace, defining the responsibility of employees and employers in cases of bullying. Thus, both documents prohibit bullying activities toward other employees based on various factors, but OSHA (2012) offers a more precise explanation of the violence forms than the Civil Right Act of 1964.
The code of conduct for the new policy must be created according to the OSHA (2012) manual and instructions of workplace regulations. It must consist of the following rules: employees must treat other employees and customers with dignity and respect; managers must provide a safe workspace by immediately responding to threatening or potentially violent situations; employees must not engage in abusive or disruptive behaviors (OSHA, 2012). Among the inappropriate behaviors that violate the code are numerous verbal abuse or poor relationships with co-workers based on race, religion, sex, social position, and other factors. It also includes violent reactions to criticism of conduct; disruptive dialogues with co-workers, such as gossiping; alienating one employee from the work team.
Specific regulations must be applied to control and prevent such incidents. There are two ways of resolving the issues: formal and informal procedures. The informal intervention is the first and primary approach utilized in case of rule violation. The victim of the bullying can use it to address the problem entirely confidentially through dialogue with the leader figure. Managers using the mentioned skills of conflict control can help the victim to achieve issue resolution through the discussion with the bully. In case of failure of an informal approach, the formal procedures should be invoked. They include written complaints, exploration of the mediated solution, or investigation of the complaint must determine the facts and the credibility (OSHA, 2012). Once management decides that the complaint is well-founded, they must select an appropriate course of action. They involve counseling and monitoring the issue through the disciplinary procedure of employment.
Therefore, the issue of bullying in the workplace requires a combined solution. It is based on leadership tactics and skills along with the policy regulating the process of intervention and protection of the victim to find the appropriate resolution to the problem. According to the points secured by OSHA, we can create new policies that will increase safety for any employee in the healthcare organization.
References
Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title 7, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq (1964).
DCruz, P., Noronha, E., Caponecchia, C., Escartín, J., Salin, D. & Tuckey, M. R. (Eds.) (2021). Dignity and Inclusion at Work. Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA). (2012). Regulations (Standards-29 CFR 1910.1200).
Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI). (n.d.). What is workplace bullying?
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