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February 08, 2010 17:57 PM

Bullying At Work Place, Bad For Productivity?

By Zulkiple Ibrahim

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 (Bernama) -- Bullying among students in schools have made frequent reports in the media, either involving the boys or girls. The public is also aware on the disciplinary measures taken against those responsible for the bullying, including expulsion from school.

But what about incidents of bullying at the workplace?

The following is the situation as told by Azman Bahar (not his real name), in his late 20s and an administrative assistant in a private firm.

"I have been burdened with loads of difficult tasks by my superior officer. Even though my colleagues share the same responsibilities, I was the one who became the 'victim'.

"It is a rare occasion for me to leave office the moment the clock showed six in the evening, unlike my co-workers. Usually I am only able to leave at about 8pm. After completing a task, immediately I would be given another bundle of files even though the other workers are quite free," he told this writer.

Azman also complained that it was difficult for him to obtain leave. "Even when I showed a medical certificate, many questions were hurled back with some degree of sceptism," he said.

Why not switch to working at another firm or report the matter to the boss?

That was a poser given by this writer to the graduate from a local public university.

"I had reported the matter once but I was told that was part of the work culture in the firm. Even if I switched to another workplace, how can I be assured that this bullying would not happen there?" said Azman.

NURSE

Bullying can occur at any workplace.

For Norlina Samad (also not her real name), she has been the victim of bullying by her senior colleagues when she first reported for duty.

"Bullying at the workplace is an open secret. New staff would usually be given tedious and difficult tasks on the pretext that the juniors should grasp whatever they could learn. But actually this is a form of bullying at the workplace," she said.

For lecturer and social activist Abdul Rashid Ismail, bullying at the workplace is something that cannot be avoided.

"Bullying is a social disease and it can happen anywhere".

WHAT IS BULLYING AT WORKPLACE?

According to Abdul Rashid, there is no universal definition for bullying.

He said the society understands that bullying at the workplace refers to 'repeated illogical actions' directed towards an employee that are detrimental to health and safety.

"There are several types of bullying. Among them are the harsh and rude words, the act of isolating the worker, directing a worker to form tasks unrelated to his job apart from pyschological harassment.

"Other forms of bullying are handing out tasks that are impossible to perform, making life hard on an employee and knowingly witholding information as well as data to obstruct or prevent a worker from doing his job," he said.

According to Abdul Rashid, there are no specific laws to protect victims of bullying at work unless physical force, threat or violence is involved where action can be taken via the penal code.

GENDER AND ETHNIC ORIGIN

Abdul Rashid said there are cases of bullying attributed to gender, ethnic origin and personality.

"Bully victims suffer from stress. The same happens to those who witness the bullying, they will experience fear and emotional stress," he said.

Abdul Rashid said the bullies would feel the excitement in committing the act and there is no remorse. Unfortunately the victims would exercise 'revenge' on others.

Bullying also goes beyond the gender borders.

"Bullying is not limited only to the men, as there are incidents where women also bullied their own as well as the men," he said.

NOT GOOD FOR PRODUCTIVITY

An expert on psychology Dr Anne Ng said bullying would cause the victims to suffer from bad health, attributed to stress and tension.

"There are several clinical symptoms experienced by victims of bullying, among them anxiety, weight increase (without substantial over eating), headache, back pain, nausea, mouth ulcers, diarhea and gastro-intestinal irritation, insomnia (sleepless nights), nightmares, skin inflammation, high blood pressure, depression and lack of confidence", she said.

Dr Ng said bullying at the work place is not only about harsh work conditions but also could be in the form of words and actions that intruded on personal matters such as family, lifestyle, physique and body weight, clothing and personality.

Bully also covers discrimination against disability or medical problems, she said.

According to Dr Ng, bullying at the workplace would affect productivity.

"Victims of bullying would become ill and tend to take medical leave. The victims may also be forced to take more leave to avoid the bullying and this would directly affect the person's work productivity as well as that of the organisation," she said.

HOW TO STOP BULLYING?

Therefore, how do we avoid from being bullied?

For Dr Ng, the 'weapon' is to simply ignore the bullies.

"The bullies are only waiting to see the victims' response as to them these are the cheap thrills they are looking for. They would go all out to make the victims feel uncomfortable. They key reaction is to simply ignore the bullies and this would deter them.

"When the bully initiated his action against you, your disregard of them would make them feel disheartened and over a period the bully would stop his actions," said Dr Ng.

Another way is to show the bully that you are not the kind that he can 'tango' with. Office bullies would usually pick on someone they thought weak and has no strength to fight back.

"Build an impression that you are not a person that can be easily bullied. Project a personality that you are a confident person as a bully would usually observe a person first and he would think twice before pouncing on an individual that shows confidence," she said.

What about hardcore bullies?

According to Dr Ng, hardcore bullies are not worried by a person's personality or show of confidence.

"If you are facing such a bully, then seek out the others who have been bullied before and make a stand and confront the bully. If this does not work, then report the matter to the management. The management would definitely hear you out as bullying at the workplace lowers productivity".

-- BERNAMA

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