This document discusses the issue of bullying and harassment in the workplace, focusing on a specific case study. It explores the impact of such behavior on the victim and the overall work environment. The document also provides strategies for prevention and legal rights that can be exercised in such situations.
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Running head: MANAGEMENT Human Resource Management Name of the Student: Name of the University: Author Note:
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2MANAGEMENT Answer 1: During events that lead to dismissal, Heather could have ensured dealing things more professionally instead of taking it personally at the workplace (Vila, Pérez & Coll-Serrano, 2014). She should have understood that closer deadlines at the month end are an inevitable part of the job life and hence should have undertaken proper time management in prioritizing her work that would have helped in avoiding working overtime. She should also have adopted the skill of working tactfully that would have helped her in avoiding mistakes and in maintaining a work life balance. This would also have ruled out the chance for Patricia in discussing her weakness amongst the other staff members. Besides, being a very new member to Meadow Muffin Trading Company (MMTC) she should have avoided taking the matter of her difficulties of working with Patricia to the human resources representative, Sally. Instead, she should have dealt things patiently and followed a more professional approach in dealing with the difficulties. Further, Heather should have avoided arguments with Patricia in weekly senior meetings and must have sorted things not only through adopting a means that seemed logical, reasonable and with a lot of patience (McVicar, Munn-Giddings & Seebohm, 2013). Answer 2: Patricia was not a very popular character amongst the colleagues of Heather as they believed that she brought in changes to the process without totally understanding the ramifications of the change. She was also known for setting unreasonable expectations from the staff. She was not only too judgmental but dealt incompetence of employees through termination as believed that it was detrimental in the paths of success.
3MANAGEMENT Patricia bullied or harassed Heather, a senior analyst with managerial responsibilities, in meeting the deadline at the month end. This implied that the financial reports required to be completed by fifth day after the end of the calendar month. This seemed to be unrealistic deadline for Heather who has just been just been two months old into the system. This not only forced her to work overtime but also email a spreadsheet to the management with wrong amounts and formula. To make her aware of such mistake, Patricia intentionally discussed Heather’s mistake in front of another employee in a manner that made her look not only incompetent but also stupid. This led Heather in questioning her competence and losing her composure at not only wok but also home. Patricia also tried to bully Heather by not being appreciative of Heather and sometimes demanding the completion of the task by the day’s end that left Heather immensely frustrated and succumb to crying. Answer 3: Bullying in workplace has been difficult to recognize especially when the victim is very new to the company (Samnani, Singh & Ezzedeen, 2013). They might act reluctant in speaking out as they hold the belief that such behavior is a representative of overall culture or they seem worried that the newer colleagues would find them weaker. A particular behavior that might seem bullying to a particular individual might be fair to someone else. This is why it is vital for the employers in clearly stating what they recognize as unacceptable behavior (Branch, Ramsay, & Barker, 2013). The company should therefore adopt policies for personnel in combating bullying and harassment (Harrington, Warren & Rayner, 2015): A commitment statement from the senior management
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4MANAGEMENT Acknowledging that harassment and bullying are the problems for organization Putting across a clearer statement that harassment and bullying are unlawful andwould not be tolerated. Mention the examples of the unacceptable behavior Mentioning statement that harassment and bullying should be treated as the disciplinary offences. Responsibilities of the management and the supervisors Maintaining confidentiality of any particular complaint Referencetotheinformalandtheformalproceduresofgrievanceincludingthe timescales Investigation of the procedures including the timescales The ways in which the policy would be implemented, reviewed and monitored. Answer 4: Bullying and harassment can have devastating impacts on avictim and can lead to the creation of a toxic atmosphere in workplace when not dealt appropriately (Turner et al., 2015). If I would have been in charge of the human resource department then I would have ensured a workplace that is free from sexual harassment and bullying thereby making the work ambience not only enjoyable but productive. Such positive environment would also make the employees feel increasingly respected and valued. Besides, as an human resource manager, I would also adopt the following four strategies for prevention of the harassment and bullying at workplace. Some of these strategies include (Pastorek, Contacos-Sawyer & Thomas, 2015):
5MANAGEMENT Adoption of a clearer anti-harassment and anti-bullying policy and distributing it as part of the handbook of employees Training the employees once in a year and explaining them the procedures of filing a complaint in case of bullying and harassment. Provide training to the supervisors and the managers to make them aware of the process and the produces to be adopted in handling the complaints Monitoring the workplace in a periodic manner by talking to the employees and asking open ended questions about work environment, ways of doing things and the atmosphere. Answer 5: The company under discussion in this particular report is a 25 year old family operated business known as Meadow Muffin Trading Company (MMTC) that was brought by a Canadian organization for diversification of the product offering. Presently, the company operated as the division of parent company and retained its name due to the eco-friendly and unique products along with quality customer care. After the economic crisis, the company was sold in the year 2008. This lead to considerable change within the parent organization with the company facing financial loss that led to the termination of the chief executive officer. Heather Rock was appointed at such a critical time in the role of the senior analyst with managerial responsibilities. But she along with other employees faced immense amount of bullying and harassment as the company did not have any well defined policies in place in dealing with such instances. This resulted in employees being unhappy and unproductive that finally resulted in their termination. Answer 6: The Heather could adopt the following legal rights (McKay, 2014):
6MANAGEMENT Canadian Province, Quebec, put across a legislation mentioning the workplace bullying on June 1, 2004 that completely prohibited the psychological harassment of the laborers. The Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1979 put forward in Ontario dealt with protection of the employees against any kind of workplace violence. The Occupational Health and Safety (Harassment Prevention) Amendment Act of 2007 of the Canadian Province Saskatchewan mentioned workplace bullying to be completely illegal.
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7MANAGEMENT References: Branch, S., Ramsay, S., & Barker, M. (2013). Workplace bullying, mobbing and general harassment: A review.International Journal of Management Reviews,15(3), 280-299. Harrington, S., Warren, S., & Rayner, C. (2015). Human resource management practitioners’ responses to workplace bullying: cycles of symbolic violence.Organization,22(3), 368- 389. McKay, R. B. (2014). Confronting workplace bullying: Agency and structure in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.Administration & Society,46(5), 548-572. McVicar, A., Munn-Giddings, C., & Seebohm, P. (2013). Workplace stress interventions using participatoryactionresearchdesigns.InternationalJournalofWorkplaceHealth Management,6(1), 18-37. Pastorek, S., Contacos-Sawyer, J., & Thomas, B. (2015, July). Creating a no-tolerance policy for workplace bullying and harassment. InCompetition Forum(Vol. 13, No. 2, p. 232). American Society for Competitiveness. Samnani,A.K.,Singh,P.,&Ezzedeen,S.(2013).Workplacebullyingandemployee performance: An attributional model.Organizational Psychology Review,3(4), 337-359. Turner, H. A., Finkelhor, D., Shattuck, A., Hamby, S., & Mitchell, K. (2015). Beyond bullying: Aggravatingelementsofpeervictimizationepisodes.SchoolPsychology Quarterly,30(3), 366.
8MANAGEMENT Vila, L. E., Pérez, P. J., & Coll-Serrano, V. (2014). Innovation at the workplace: Do professional competencies matter?.Journal of Business Research,67(5), 752-757.