This essay explores the issue of violence and workplace bullying from an ethical perspective. It reviews relevant literature, discusses ethical theories, and analyzes the issue from different perspectives. The essay concludes with recommendations for organizations to address workplace bullying. The essay is supported by 10 peer-reviewed articles.
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Running Head : VIOLENCE AND WORKPLACE BULLYING Violence and Workplace Bullying Name of the Student Name of the University Author Note
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1VIOLENCE AND WORKPLACE BULLYING Introduction The workplace violence can be referred to as a threat of violence to the workers working in an organization. On the other hand, bullying is the direct affront to the ethics when ethics is considered to be based on a primary relationship with responsibility on other people(O'Neill, Beauvais & Scholl, 2016).There have been many researches on the organizational explanations of workplace violence and bullying related to ethics. It has been argued and positively supported that the organizations cannot be accused for the individual acts of bullying but they can be found responsibleforassertingcontinuousvigilancethatseeksaddressingandminimizingthe existence of such acts.In this paper, the relevant literature will be reviewed on the selected issue and the findings will be summarized too. The essay will also consist of the relevant ethical theories for analysing the issue. Next, the issue will be analysed from the perspectives of the ethical theories such as utilitarianism, denontology, right and virtue. Lastly, the conclusion will be developed about what is ethical and unethical about the issue. Ten peer-reviewed articles on the topic will support the essay. Background Theworkplacebullyingisextremelydestructivefortheemployeesandthe organizations. It usually happens when then a particular employee establishes hostility in the working environment for another employee through the non-verbal and verbal behaviour.The hostilitiesgenerateabusive,offensive,persistent,malicious,intimidatingandinsulting behaviour.This leads to the threatening and humiliated atmosphere for the individuals in the workplace(Ariza-Montes et al., 2017).It has also been found that most of the victims of workplace bullying are driven out and quit too. This phenomenon has detrimental impacts on the people who are bullied. It has been also found that the bullying is an enactment of violence
2VIOLENCE AND WORKPLACE BULLYING having various consequences for the company and the people who practice and spread it. It can be said that bullying is a deliberate act of violence that focuses on hurting people(Xu et al., 2018).It is also not surprising that workplace bullying is considered as unethical because as it compromises the worker’ right to safety and well-being in the workplace(Harrington,Warren & Rayner, 2015). As far as the characteristics and traits of workplace bullying is concerned, it can be said thatworkplacebullyinghassomeself-motivesalongwithlackofrespectforothers (Valmohammadi & Roshanzamir, 2015).. It displays traits like anxiety and anger.The victims suffer from low self-esteem and it usually occurs in the stressful working environment(Chatman & O’Reilly, 2016).An environment of jealously and competitiveness might lead to workplace bullying(Cheung, Lee & Yip, 2017).In some of the cases, the victims are found to be more intelligent and competent than those who bully them out of anger and inferiority complex. Specifically, when the organizations cannot be held responsible for the individual acts, they should be held responsible for controlling vigilance and address the minimization of such types of acts(O'Neill, Beauvais & Scholl, 2016).The organization has an important role to play in addressing the workplace cultures and the phenomenon of harassment. It can have an extremely damaging impact on the targeted individual(Vinnari, Vinnari & Kupsala, 2017).In most of the cases, the unethicality of bullying has been taken for granted instead of justified and argued. Therefore, from the literature review it can be concluded that workplace bullying can give rise to the mental and physical disorders among the victims.It affects both the employers and the employees. When a workplace bullying occurs, there is high absenteeism and staff turnover. The morale and the productivity are extremely low among the employees and they
3VIOLENCE AND WORKPLACE BULLYING suffer from anxiety and stress(Chatman & O’Reilly, 2016).The also leaves greater impact on the creativity of the employees and decrease their ability to cope with difficult situations. Explanation The ethical theories are important part for the decision- making as these theories help to represent the viewpoints of people with their choice of actions and decision-making. Each of the theories elaborate on different points and every decision making style has a different rule. For understanding the ethical decision-making, it is extremely important to realise everyone does not follow the same way, same information for making decisions(Vinnari, Vinnari & Kupsala, 2017).Few of the most common ethical theories are the theory of denontology, utilitarianism, rights and virtue. Denontology The theories related to denontology suggest that people must adhere to the obligations they have along with their duties during engaging in a decision making where ethics play an important role. It suggests that people usually should follow the obligations to the society or other individuals because it is ethically correct to uphold one’s duties. Taken for instance, a denontologistshouldkeepthepromisesmadeandfollowthelaw(Valmohammadi& Roshanzamir, 2015). Utilitarianism The theory of utilitarianism on the other hand is founded on the ability of a person to predict the outcomes, rather consequences of action. For a utilitarian, the choice, which yields benefits for most of the people, is the choice that is correct ethically. There are usually two types of utilitarianism such as rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism.
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4VIOLENCE AND WORKPLACE BULLYING Rights The ethical theories, which are based on the rights, are established by a society and are protected by the highest priority.The rights are considered to be correct ethically and valid too since there is a large population which endorses them.The individuals might also bestow the rights on others when they have the resources and the ability to do so. Virtue On the other hand, the ethical theory of virtue helps to judge a person by the character he /she has by a particular action that can deviate from the normal behaviour. It takes into account the reputation, moral and the motivation of people during considering an irregular behaviour. Analysis The examination of violence and workplace bullying as an unethical act provides focus on the problems, which are connected with the bullying activities. According to the normative approach to ethics, it can be said that it is derived from the descriptive ethics. In this regard, it tries to justify the standards of morality for a society(Ariza-Montes et al., 2017). The violence and bullying can either occur inside or outside of the workplace or consist of the physical and verbal abuse. Nowadays, the workplace violence and bullying has become one of the biggest causes of deaths related to job.The workplace violence is a developing concern for the employees and the employers worldwide. Studies have found that almost 2 million Americans have suffered from the workplace violence each year. However, violence and workplace bullying are quite different from each other.In simple words, the workplace violence is the perpetuated intentionally by one person on another person. A person who adheres to the theories of
5VIOLENCE AND WORKPLACE BULLYING denontology automatically can produce the consistent decisions based on the set duties of an individual. There are various positive attributes of the theory of denontology but has some flaws too. The denontology has no such logical basis or rationale for deciding on the duties of individuals. The act utilitarianism precisely defines what utilitarianism is – the person focuses on the acts which benefits others the most irrespective of the social constraints and personal feelings (Chatman & O’Reilly, 2016). On the other hand, the rule utilitarianism considers the law and aims at fairness of deeds. It also seeks benefits for most of the people through the fair deeds and means. The rights theory is most appropriately used in conjunction with other ethical theory which will explain consistently the society’s goals.Taken for example, the people of America have the rights to select their own religion as this right is supported by the constitution.In the normative ethics literature, there are many of the theories on ethical behaviour captured. As per the theory of utilitarianism and the theory of denontology, the moral decision –making s explained properly. The denontological approach suggests that duty is the primary moral imperative, which is independent of the actions’ outcomes(Ramely & Ahmad, 2017).Two of these theories would be useful for assessing the bullying behaviour in the global context.In most of the cases, both of these theories will result in equal moral conclusions.Both the views can be used for having a systematic approach to explain the moral judgements. Additionally, the social exchange theory, agency theory, reinforcement theory and theories related to neoclassical economics easily demonstrate that people can act aggressively towards others in an organization. The business ethics consists of the standards, rules, the principles and the codes which provide guidelines for morally right type of behaviour in specific situations of the organization.The aim of the business ethics is to understand the reasons behind
6VIOLENCE AND WORKPLACE BULLYING corporations and individuals behaving in a certain way regardless of the situation. The self- interesttheoriesareusedforexaminingtheway individualsintheorganizationbehave unethically. Reflection After undergoing the class lectures, modules and a range of theories relate to ethics, I would like to suggest that the management of the organizations need to develop a proactive process for addressing the increasing practice of violenceand workplacebullying. As a recommendation, I would suggest that the organizations should develop SOPs for intolerance of harassment and hostile behaviors in the workplaces.Some of the examples of workplace bullying areswearingorcursingatsomeone,ignoringtheopinionofapersonortheperson himself/herself, criticising someone, blaming someone, targeting someone for cracking jokes on, humiliating someone, monitoring someone extremely and many others. The workplace bullying is considered as an individual phenomenon to such an extent that the organizations need more attention as far as the responsibility of ethics is concerned.The bullying is found as the individual phenomenon and in this manner, the individual wrongdoings should also be concerned as it leafs to major organizational dimension.The determination of the organizational units required for the monitoring and assessing of compliance to SOPs is required too. There has to be an establishment of a system for reviewing the grievances which are sensitive “ locally” but non- consistent in the international context.There has to be appropriate penalties for the accidents occurred through violation of the rules. Conclusion
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7VIOLENCE AND WORKPLACE BULLYING As a conclusion, it can be said that bullying in the workplace is an ethical phenomenon and the intensity of this behaviour can diminish the organizational culture.The examination of the ethical variance among different organizational cultures would appear as the powerful means of examining activities of bullying.The cultural foundations play a significant role in the causes and resolutions of bullying. The only solution is to establish and develop compliance for the members of the organization. Proper penalty has to be imposed for unethical, counter – productive work behaviour and its consequences.
8VIOLENCE AND WORKPLACE BULLYING Reference Ariza-Montes, A., Arjona-Fuentes, J. M., Law, R., & Han, H. (2017). Incidence of workplace bullyingamonghospitalityemployees.InternationalJournalofContemporary Hospitality Management,29(4), 1116-1132. Chatman,J.A.,&O’Reilly,C.A.(2016).Paradigmlost:Reinvigoratingthestudyof organizational culture.Research in Organizational Behavior,36, 199-224. Cheung, T., Lee, P., & Yip, P. (2017). Workplace violence toward physicians and nurses: prevalence and correlates in Macau.International journal of environmental research and public health,14(8), 879. Harrington, S., Warren, S., & Rayner, C. (2015). Human resource management practitioners’ responses to workplace bullying: cycles of symbolic violence.Organization,22(3), 368- 389. O'Neill, J. W., Beauvais, L. L., & Scholl, R. W. (2016). The use of organizational culture and structure to guide strategic behavior: an information processing perspective.Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management,2(2), 816. Ramely, A. B., & Ahmad, Y. (2017). Attributors of Workplace Bullying: Cleaning Workforces’ Perspective.JournalofAdministrativeScienceSpecialEdition:Socio-Economic Issue,14(3).4 Rhodes, C., Pullen, A., Vickers, M. H., Clegg, S. R., & Pitsis, A. (2010). Violence and workplace bullying: what are an organization's ethical responsibilities?.Administrative Theory & Praxis,32(1), 96-115.
9VIOLENCE AND WORKPLACE BULLYING Valmohammadi, C., & Roshanzamir, S. (2015). The guidelines of improvement: Relations amongorganizationalculture,TQMandperformance.InternationalJournalof Production Economics,164, 167-178. Vinnari, M., Vinnari, E., & Kupsala, S. (2017). Sustainability Matrix: Interest Groups and EthicalTheoriesastheBasisofDecision-Making.JournalofAgriculturaland Environmental Ethics,30(3), 349-366. Xu, T., Magnusson Hanson, L. L., Lange, T., Starkopf, L., Westerlund, H., Madsen, I. E., ... & Hansen, Ă…. M. (2018). Workplace bullying and workplace violence as risk factors for cardiovascular disease: a multi-cohort study.European heart journal,40(14), 1124-1134.