Workplace Bullying

Within this blog I will begin my analysis of an article titled “Workplace Bullying Often Goes Unpunished” which was published on “BusinessNewsDaily.com”. According to the article, a recent study conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute, an organization dedicated to the “eradication of workplace bullying”, revealed that “27% of U.S. employees have been bullied at work,” which translates to roughly 37 million people.  In addition, the study revealed that “another 21% of workers have witnessed bullying.”

The aforementioned findings show how widespread the issue of bullying is in terms of the age groups affected by bullying. One would think that adults would be “mature” enough to avoid bullying. However, research proves that children and adolescents are not the only age groups affected by bullying. This brings up the following question: How can adults expect children and adolescents to behave properly by avoiding bullying, if they cannot avoid bullying themselves?

The study also revealed that “the majority of the people doing the bullying are in management positions.” In fact, according to the study, “more than 55% of those who were bullied said it came from their boss.” Another interesting finding is that the study found that “men are more than twice as likely as women to be bullies”. In addition, the study found that “57% of the bullying targets for men are females, and 68% of women bullies target females.”

The aforementioned statistics reveal an interesting correlation regarding bullies and bullying victims. Men have historically held positions of power in most societies. The study conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute seems to reveal the transfer and preservation of this status quo onto the roles found within bullying. Within bullying men have managed to preserve their power, since they are more likely to be bullies, but not the victims of bullying. However, I believe that there is slight glimmer of hope. Within the past few years, schools have emphasized gender equality, especially the schools found within the U.S. As a result, it may be the case that within a few years, the gender inequality that exists in terms of bullying relationships will diminish. In addition, it would be interesting to compare how school age children statistics compare with the statistics of working adults, regarding the gender of bullies and victims of bullying.