Tuesday 1 August 2017

Leadership and approaches to the management of workplace bullying

an article by Chris Woodrow (Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK) and David E Guest (School of Management and Business, Kings College London, UK) published in European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology Volume 26 Issue 2 (2017)

Abstract

Leadership behaviour has been identified as an important antecedent of workplace bullying since managers may prevent, permit, or engage in the mistreatment of others. However, the issue of how managers respond when bullying occurs has received limited attention.

With this in mind, the aim of this study was to explore how managers behave when bullying occurs in their work group and to elucidate the contextual issues that underlie this behaviour. This was achieved through analysis of in-depth interviews with individuals involved in cases of bullying.

The findings revealed a typology of four types of management behaviour in cases of bullying, each underpinned by contextual factors at the individual, group, and organizational levels.

The study shows that the role of leadership in workplace bullying is more complex than previously thought and suggests several ways in which managers and organizations could deal with bullying behaviour.


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