Bullying

Question 1

Bullying examples

Answer 1

criticism.
•Blame without factual justification.
•Being treated differently than the rest of your work group.
•Being sworn at.
•Exclusion or social isolation.
•Being shouted at or being humiliated.
•Being the target of practical jokes.

Question 2

Corporate/institutional bullying

Answer 2

Definition: Bullying is part of the organization’s approach and is accepted as part of the culture at that job.
Examples: Having “unreasonable expectations” for employees. Failure to meet these expectations results in an unpleasant environment (or firing) for anyone who complains.
•Firing employees who are experiencing stress since they are “weak.” Ignoring or denying any possible work-related reasons for causing the stress.
•Encouraging employees to lie and make up complaints about coworkers. This encouragement is done with either promises of promotion or threats of disciplinary action.

Question 3

Harassment

Answer 3

Harassment is different from bullying
•Harassment is a type of illegal discrimination. This offensive and unwelcome conduct is serious enough to negatively affect the terms and conditions of a person’s employment. It occurs because of a person’s protected class (e.g., race, sex).
Examples:
•Telling racist jokes and referring to a particular employee

Question 4

Retaliation

Answer 4

• Retaliation is different from bullying
• Retaliation: An individual complains about something and then is treated in a negative way at work because the individual made a complaint

Question 5

Overt

Answer 5

abusive, insulting or offensive language
•behavior or language that frightens, humiliates, belittles or degrades, including criticism that is delivered with yelling and screaming
•inappropriate comments about a person’s appearance, lifestyle, or their family
•teasing or regularly making someone the brunt of pranks or practical jokes
•interfering with a person’s personal effects or work equipment

Question 6

Covert

Answer 6

• unreasonably overloading a person with work
• setting timelines that are difficult to achieve or constantly changing deadlines
• assigning tasks beyond an employee’s skill level
• ignoring or isolating a person
• deliberately denying access to information, consultation or resources
• unfair treatment with regard to accessing job entitlements such as leave or training

Question 7

Bullying definition

Answer 7

• Bullying is different from aggression. Bullying is an on-going pattern of behavior.
• Aggression can be one-time incidents.
• A “tough” supervisor is not a bully if the main reason for doing so is to have high standards for employee performance.
• A lot of bullying can occur from co-workers and not only from supervisors.