Ethical Issues in Workplace Bullying, Discipline and Dismissal, and Whistleblowing

ACCT19083 Final Assignment
Term 2, 2018
Student ID: 12050476 Student name: Bhupinder Singh
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Part A Question 1: Describe the ethical issues inherent in bullying and harassment in the workplace. Can
bullying be linked to management style? Use the case study to inform your answer (300–400 words).
Answer: Ethical frameworks in the management of workplace bullying will be discussed from two separate, but
related perspectives: a normative model and a process-oriented model. The normative model of managing
workplace bullying is drawn from the moral principles framework (Schumann, 2001). The moral principles
framework consists of five complementary moral principles. Normative and Process-Oriented Ethical Approaches.
These principles are utilitarian, moral rights, distributive justice, care ethics, and virtue ethics (Schumann, 2001).
These ethical principles have their own theory or principle to prevent bullying and harassment in any organisation
and work as human rights for every employee at work.
Work-related bullying and harassment are severe psychosocial risks that have devastating consequences on
worker psychological health and organisational processes (Hoel & Cooper, 2001). Over the past 20 years, research
has consistently linked bullying and harassment to a range of psychological health and well-being outcomes,
including general mental health outcomes, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, generalised strain,
psychosomatic symptoms, burnout, and physical health problems (Nielson & Einarsen, 2012).
Bulling can be linked to management style because the key actors included human resource managers (HR
managers) and elected head safety representatives (HSRs) plays a vital role in all parts of the organization,
including the handling of cases of workplace bullying and the development of practices devoted to the prevention
and management of these problems. Hence, it is reasonable to expect that these organizational members have
the most accurate knowledge of any implemented systems and organizational practices regarding the prevention
and handling of workplace bullying, including having a good overview of the prevailing norms and practices for
conflict management in the organization, here denoted as climate for conflict management.
For instance, in given case study Sally McDow, a former senior manager of compliance at Origin, describes a
culture of bullying, where staff were sometimes yelled at, abused and physically intimidated when they attempted
to report serious incidents, and where staff left the organisation after being bullied or harassed. Several

employees allegedly left the organisation when they were victimised after raising concerns with managers.
Figure 1: Bullying Rates from 2009–2014/2015 in Australian States and Territories