HRMT 301 Case Study: Analyzing Bullying at Meadow Muffin Trading

This case study examines a bullying incident at Meadow Muffin Trading Company (MMTC), where Heather Rock, a senior analyst, faces harassment from her boss, Patricia. The case details Patricia's unreasonable expectations, public criticism of Heather's mistakes, and overall bullying behavior, leading to a toxic work environment. The study emphasizes the importance of clear anti-bullying policies and outlines strategies for prevention, including senior management commitment, clear definitions of unacceptable behavior, and confidential grievance procedures. It also discusses the legal rights employees have against workplace bullying, referencing Canadian legislation. The analysis highlights the negative impact of bullying on employees' well-being and productivity, advocating for a positive and respectful workplace culture. The case study concludes by suggesting measures Heather could have taken and emphasizing the role of HR in preventing and addressing workplace bullying. Desklib offers access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Answer 1:....................................................................................................................................................2
Answer 2:....................................................................................................................................................2
Answer 3:....................................................................................................................................................3
Answer 4:....................................................................................................................................................4
Answer 5:....................................................................................................................................................5
Answer 6:....................................................................................................................................................5
References:..................................................................................................................................................7

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

4MANAGEMENT
 Acknowledging that harassment and bullying are the problems for organization
 Putting across a clearer statement that harassment and bullying are unlawful and would
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
 Reference to the informal and the formal procedures of grievance including the
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 a victim 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.

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
participatory action research designs. International Journal of Workplace Health
Management, 6(1), 18-37.
Pastorek, S., Contacos-Sawyer, J., & Thomas, B. (2015, July). Creating a no-tolerance policy for
workplace bullying and harassment. In Competition Forum (Vol. 13, No. 2, p. 232).
American Society for Competitiveness.
Samnani, A. K., Singh, P., & Ezzedeen, S. (2013). Workplace bullying and employee
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:
Aggravating elements of peer victimization episodes. School Psychology
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.