Policy Analysis: Prevention and Management of Workplace Bullying in NSW Health

This policy analysis discusses the Prevention and Management of Workplace Bullying in NSW Health. It identifies the gaps in the policy and suggests alternatives to deal with workplace bullying in the healthcare sector. The policy aims to provide a safe place for working and maintain equality for all the staffs in the organisations where the values of each staff will be respected.

Running head: POLICY ANALYSIS
POLICY ANALYSIS
Name of the student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1POLICY ANALYSIS
Introduction:
The policy of anti-bullying measure in the workplace has enough depth as it correctly
has identified the issues of workplace bullying in the health sector of Australia. The policy to
be analysed here is Prevention and Management of Workplace Bullying in NSW Health
which was published in the year 2011 (Health.nsw.gov.au, 2011). This particular policy is
one of the most important to ensure the fundamental concern for respect of all the human
beings. The concept of bullying in the healthcare is an important issue to discuss. This can
lead to psychological harm as well as negatively influence the process of healthcare. Bullying
id confused with harassment violence and aggregation which may lead to suicide among the
patients as well as healthcare employees (Erdogan & Yildirim, 2017). This is due to the fact
that various racial as well as ethnic issues greatly influence the perceptions, behaviour of the
employees in the healthcare sector of Australia and late or incompetent response to
interventions have increased the issues more (Ross, 2017). The patients of the hospitals have
been found to be mistreated by the doctors based om their race. The evidence of biasness and
harassment among the employee relation and management have been recorded due to
migration and different cultural background This policy has mandated the health
organisations to develop and manage a supportive workplace which will provide clear
regulations of the organisational expectations of their staffs in respect to their behavioural
conduct so that these do not constitute the examples of workplace bullying and breach any of
the organisational policies regarding rights of the employees. This policy has enough depth
because it assures that the victims of workplace bullying will have a failure chance to lodge
their complaints against any managers and employees who support discrimination. Finally,
the initiates of taking a punitive measure against them who will conduct breaches of this
policy is important.

2POLICY ANALYSIS
Prevention and Management of Workplace Bullying in NSW Health policy is
distributed to the Public Health System, Government Medical Officers, Health Associations
Unions, NSW Ambulance Service, Ministry of Health and Tertiary Education Institutes. This
policy is implemented to bring all these agencies under control and direct the according to the
strategies prescribed by the Minister for Health or the Director-General of Health. This policy
aiming to prevent bullying is applicable to all the persons who are employed in any of the
capacities in the NSW health service and department of health, all the persons engaged by the
public health organisations for example the visiting practitioners as well as volunteers along
with the students.
There are many reasons for choosing this policy. First of all, workplace bullying is
one of the most significant issues in this changing global context (Salin et al., 2018). It is one
of the most persistent patterns of mistreatment in the workplace. Secondly, these issues of
workplace bullying have far more intensive effect on the physical as well as mental health.
This includes psychological, verbal, non-verbal humiliation and physical abuse (Chaplin,
2017). Thirdly, dealing with such organisational aggression is quite difficult because this type
of bullying operates within the well-established rules of the organisation. Fourthly, the
efficiency of management with such issues is more difficult as the evidences are often not
clear as the victims do not get cooperation from the management or colleagues. This is
because the issues of confidentiality emerge which often cause psychological and metal harm
to the victims (Ross, 2016). Finally, negative effect of bullying is not only limited to the
targeted individuals or the patients under the governance of healthcare system of Australia
but lead to the declination of employee morale which ultimately affect the organisational
culture. The reason of choosing this policy also includes the efficiency and emphasis on
maintaining dignity of the employees in the health sector of Australia.

3POLICY ANALYSIS
The purpose of this policy is to provide a safe place for working and maintain equality
for all the staffs in the originations where the values of each staff will be respected. Under
this policy the NSW government will not be tolerating any type of workplace bullying under
any circumstances. This policy Prevention and Management of Workplace Bullying in
NSW Health aims to prevent as well as fight workplace bullying in the health workplaces.
This policy will be assisting the managers to fulfil their responsibilities for eliminating the
risks of workplace bullying in the health organisations of this region (Health.nsw.gov.au,
2011). They will take all initiatives to minimise the instances of bullying and manage all the
complaints associated with bullying. By providing the staffs with all types of information
about their right and responsibilities so that they can lodge their complaints.
This policy has some mandatory requirements where the staffs are expected to
underwrite to maintain a professional as well as productive workplace culture
(Health.nsw.gov.au, 2011). The policy mangers are responsible to maintain such a workplace
which is free from bullying. They must be treating the complaints about bullying with more
sensitivity, seriously and unbiasedly then take a prompt action. The managers of the
organisations are responsible to identify risks related to complaints which they will assess
and act upon. The associated agencies will be documenting each and every information from
the very first information as well as initial assessment (Lamberth, 2015). The employees or
managers who will be identified to support workplace bullying or harassing the patients on
the bias of racism or other reasons will be recognised as potential guilty of breaches of this
particular policy and will be managed in accordance with NSW Health policy for dealing
misconduct.

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Policy Analysis
Policy problems:
Despite the fact that the government of New South Wales has initiated to solve the issue
of workplace bullying seriously, there are some gaps in the policy which need to be
eradicated or transformed so that more effective results can be achieved. These issues are
mainly political, legal and social. The problem of workplace bullying in the healthcare
sector has become a social challenge it has directly affected the legal factors (Sheehan,
McCabe & Garavan, 2018). The opponents of the governments particularly try to find out
the issues which may lead to failure of this policy. This is the reason why the government
needs to have proper investigation of the gaps present in the anti-workplace bullying
policy (Althaus, Bridgman & Davis, 2013). This particular policy applies to-
 Local Health Networks
 Board Governed Statutory Health Corporations
 Chief Executive Governed Statutory Health Corporations
 Specialty Network Governed Statutory Health Corporations
 Affiliated Health Organisations
 Public Health System Support Division
 Community Health Centres
 Dental Schools and Clinics
 Government Medical Officers
 NSW Ambulance Service

5POLICY ANALYSIS
 Ministry of Health
 Public Health Units
 Public Hospitals
Social:
Workplace bullying in the healthcare sector directly connects the community
involvement as the basis of such misconduct is on the ethnicity, gender, culture and age. Here
one of the most important issue could have been the religion as many of the religious
categories can be found in the New South Wales. In addition to this, the employees are often
bullied due to their diseases such as cancer and HIV (D’Cruz, Noronha & Lutgen-Sandvik,
2018). The impact of the interest groups in the healthcare sector for addressing any identified
workplace culture issues, work practices or supervisory arrangements that may contribute to
bullying need to be incorporated. The policy does not cover the necessity of leadership
training about the cultures with which the organisations can maintain diversity in the
healthcare workplace (Rockett et al., 2017). The work conditions and physical work
environment are to be strategized which this policy does not refer. The actions of the interest
groups like Australian Human Rights Commission can influence the issue of unclear job
description and the alternative work locations in healthcare sector which may not be possible
as solution always.
Political:
The equality issue which the government policy wanted to impose on the healthcare
organisations needs the agreement among the political advisors (Namie & Namie, 2018).
Therefore, the persons which have been victimised need perfect protection from the similar
things that may be happened again (Althaus, Bridgman & Davis, 2013). Moreover, what the

6POLICY ANALYSIS
policy have suggested as the risk originated from workplace bullying and its response, has
not cover the important of security from physical threats or violence which lead to distress
(Einarsen et al., 2017). There is no factor of media reception which will increase awareness
and refer to the past cases of bullying in the Australian healthcare sector. Moreover, the
government parties did not come to a negotiated settlement where the consequences of such
complaints may take legal turn.
Legal:
The administrative and constitutional framework of the country prescribes for legal
initiatives to be taken in such cases (Chadwick & Travaglia, 2017). The complainant is
needed to be permitted for taking the matter to court so that a legal decision may be taken
against the person guilty of bullying. In this case the court will be providing a remedy,
including compensation where appropriate but the policy only speaks for notifying the person
against whom the compliant has been made (Althaus, Bridgman & Davis, 2013). The
temporary suspension from work which will not have a desired effect to prevent bullying ion
the workplace and maintain equality (Ramely & Ahmad, 2017).
Evidence of critical discussion and analysis:
Objectives and goals:
Early identification of bullying is one of the most important factors that help the
managers to prevent such incidents in the healthcare sector which is closely related with
mental and physical health (Einarsen et al., 2017). This issues of workplace bulling can be
linked to a long term health issues. turn to emotional attacks to humiliate or undermine their
targets. This is the reason why the policies need to have some changes.
To the experts, there cannot be one single initiative that can cater all the issues
(Althaus, Bridgman & Davis, 2013). Therefore, a whole organisation approach to prevent and

7POLICY ANALYSIS
manage workplace bullying can be recommended. Some individual components which are
related with WHO benchmarks are 1) human resource development, training and education;
2) planning; 3) legislation and policy; 4) funding; 5) vulnerability assessment; 6) information
systems; 7) surveillance; 8) absorbing and buffering capacities and responses; 9) patient care;
and 10) coordination (Searo.who.int, 2018).
 The positive leadership practices and development which include proper
knowledge of maintaining positive mental conditions of the employees.
Human resource development will be acquired through proper training and
education which will increase the awareness against buying among the
employees
 Proper planning method to rearrange the setting wherever possible or required
will be needed so that the policy can have the best effect
 Bringing changes in the healthcare organisations’ legislations and policies in
order to fit the criteria of the World Health Organisation aiming to maintain a
safer and better place for working as well as providing better service to the
patients
 Developing and solidifying a positive workplace culture in the health care
system so that no issues with patient care relating buying or harassment
emerge
 Funding needs to be raised from various sponsors especially the government
of Australia so that the policy can be effectively implemented without any
monetary issue
 The policies need to maintain an unbiased and impartial conduct from the
managers who must assess the vulnerability of the patients. They need to have

8POLICY ANALYSIS
a commitment to provide natural justice to all the polities of the organisations
(Budden et al., 2017).
 The risk management approaches which the policy has covered need to
include the method of reviewing any past incidents of bullying so that the
reoccurrence can be prevented effectively (Einarsen et al., 2017). This will
also include proper information system so that any news of bullying and
harassment can have proper solution based on evidence.
 Coordination is the most important aspect without which this policy will not
get any success. Coordination among the employees will decrease the cases of
harassment effectively and maintain confidentiality.
Decision parameters:
Resources:
 Worker Information Sheet will be needed so that workplace conflict complaints can
be documented.
 A worker’s guide to prevent bullying in the workplace will be required so that this
guide can provide information each employees how to manage the risks of this
workplace bullying as the apart of effectively meeting their responsibilities under the
work health as well as safety laws.
 Workplace Bullying Support Pack will help the victims to lodge their complaints and
keep the workplace free from harassment and bullying.
 Survey forms after implementing the policy will help the organisations to identify the
rate of bullying in the workplace (Dollard et al., 2017).
 The human resource department of the organisations will be conducting meetings to
implement the policy change effectively.

9POLICY ANALYSIS
Timeframes:
The policy mandates to complete the investigation process to complete the initial
assessment process with in the time frame of 3 days after which the investigation process will
be initiated and completed. Therefore, this policy needs time to be imposed and proper
feedbacks will be taken so that the gaps can be identified. The changes will be brought after
thirty months of policy implementation so that the gap areas can be more implicit.
Priorities:
The priority areas will definitely be the victims of workplace harassments who will be
able to discuss their experiences to the others. The management of the organisations will
identify the employees from different cultures, religion, age group and gender and take more
care of these potential victims of workplace bully.
Search for alternatives:
Best practice to deal with workplace bullying is to maintain a workplace culture
which will have trust and openness in all of the organisations (Johnstone, 2017). No policy or
procedure is a substitute for such a positive work culture in the healthcare sector Australia.
Expert opinion states that there should be clarity of processes to the resolution of the
victims, transparency of the process timelines, high level of early closure will help the
organisations to mitigate such problems (Sheehan, McCabe & Garavan, 2018). The inclusion
of bullying in NSW healthcare sector as a risk together with the policies will mitigate such
issues. The risk inclusion should be mandatory in every employer’s Safety Statement. The
Health and Safety Authority of the healthcare organisations will be charged with ensuring
that these are effectively enforced.

10POLICY ANALYSIS
Lobby groups:
The Labour Relations Commission will be the single State Agency which may be
charged with the management of specific allegations of workplace bullying. The Employment
Appeals Tribunal or the Labour Court will be the court of appeal for decisions of a Rights
Commissioner. These lobby groups will take care of the policies so that these can have
effective implementation in maintaining the workplace culture and do not infringe the patient
care system. The Human Rights department of the country can be the effectively lobbying to
bring necessary changes in the policies.
Conclusion:
Therefore, it can be concluded that the workplace bullying is one of the most
important issues which the organisations must be concerned with. This not only lead to the
harm of the mental health of the employees but also harm the culture of the workplace. Due
to the issues of bullying the workplace, the employees of different race and culture have been
suffering from depression which finally harm their emotional and mental health. The
managers are responsible to monitor these issues and accept any complaints, based on which
they will be taking immediate actions. Within a given time, the investigations will be
completed and the policy mandates punitive measures to the guilty employees. Despite of
maintaining such importance vigilance on the employees to prevent the case of workplace
harassments, there are some gaps in the process of implementing the policies in the
organisations. This is because the policy Prevention and Management of Workplace
Bullying in NSW Health does not address the religious categories as well as the diseased
victims of workplace. As Australia has a great diversity in the race, age, religion and gender,
the issues of bullying is very much common. In maintaining positivity in the workplace, the
organisation needs to follow the method of training the employees as well as the managers so

11POLICY ANALYSIS
that they have proper idea of the definition of workplace bullying in one hand and they can
take proper decisions when any type pf incident of bullying take place before them.
For preventing workplace bullying in the healthcare sector and maintaining the
equality in the organisations, the policies need to have more mature initiatives so that the
peers or colleagues build contact networks (Dollard et al., 2017). This will be acting as a
trusted point of contact for the employees. This will also help in the early identification of
problem behaviours.
According to the policy, there is no importance given on the anonymous complaints
but these are important in order to judge the actual environment of the organisations. Many of
the employees who are the victims of workplace bullying cannot expose the situation due to
many reasons. These victims need to gain order stage to share their experience therefore,
changes in the compliant section need to be changed. Through this, the anonymous
complaints will have similar concern to prevent the increasing cases of bullying.
Zero tolerance policy on the workplace bullying will be a method of representative
commitment to build a positive workplace culture. A practical standpoint in the meaning of
‘zero tolerance’ will be cleared. The changes in the policies also include the punitive measure
which the policies do not strictly implement. Prevention and Management of Workplace
Bullying in NSW Health policy only refers to the suspension and notifying the guilty
employees but there must be a strong punishment so that the organisation can set an example
for their future operations. The human rights departments, Labour Relations Commission and
Employment Appeals Tribunal or the Labour Court can be lobbying to campaign for the
proper implementation of the policies so that this issues of workplace bullying can be
mitigated and a healthy work culture can be obtained.

12POLICY ANALYSIS
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