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Workplace bullying is any type of abuse, intimidating behavior or threats in the working environment. Bullying can also be referred as lateral violence or incivility. Workplace bullying is a well-known and clearly defined phenomenon (Lipinski & Crothers, 2014). These acts interfere with the job performance of the individual bullied.
The behaviors by the perpetrators interfere with the safety or even the health of the victim. Bullying can either be physical or even public humiliation and verbal degradation. Effects of bullying can have a long-lasting effect on the victims and can even end their lives.
Bullying behavior is a choice and is a learned process. Workplace place bullying is a serious issue that affects the nursing field and the healthcare field in general.
In the nursing field, there are bullies who discourage hardworking nurses. The nurses wake up every day to work with dedication and efficiency. Apart from causing low morale, the effects of bullying can lead to nurses seeking employment elsewhere or even leaving the profession.
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Small aggression over time erodes employees’ confidence in themselves and in their work. They become confused and lose motivation in their work (Duffy & Sperry, 2014).
Most cases of bullying are never recognized as the victims decide to be silent on the matter and they never make reports to the relevant authorities. With that, it is hard to know how widespread workplace bullying is. Reasons for not making reports vary. They may include fear of appearing petty or possible retaliation from the perpetrators.
Students and new nurses end up being victims in most of bullying situations.
Bullying in some form appears to be a commonplace experience for individuals from the time which they enter preschool to when they mature into adulthood (Lipinski & Crothers, 2014). With little or no knowledge at all, the students or new nurses assume that workplace bullying is part of the nursing profession. They should be advised to always make reports about such incidences and that will make things better. Workplace bullying should not be tolerated, and the nursing students or new nurses should no longer be victims.
All human beings can be difficult at times, but some are difficult more often. These kinds of people are always disrespectful and are only concerned about their own self-interest. Such behaviors may end up being habits. They may be aware of it but fail to make any change. This makes it even harder when the bullies are patients who need healthcare support from the nurses or any other healthcare field professionals.
Working at an exciting and challenging field at the same time, nurses should always come up with the best strategies and techniques to handle all types of workplace bullying. This will not only help strengthen their careers but also improve their self-esteem. Different strategies and techniques may work differently and best for one nurse to another.
A nurse may try not to change the difficult person. This is because, all the difficult people have well-established behavior patterns. They will only change if and only if they acknowledge their behaviors and they take accountability. The nurses can always shed light on the bad behaviors of the perpetrators, but it is not their responsibility to change them. If a nurse feels he or she is being bullied, it’s important to let the bully know how that behavior makes him or her feel (how to recognize and prevent bullying in nursing, 2018)
When bullied, a nurse should not take it personal. They should always have in mind that their behavior is the only thing that reflects their personalities not anything said or done about them. They may get ill or tired. They may also have emotional problems. That is normal and natural for a healthy human being. Due to experienced underlying emotions, the nurses may display an explosive reaction to minor situations. This should be sure of the intensity of emotional distress they are undergoing.
As part of the work ethics and code of conduct, the nurses should set boundaries. They should let the difficult people know that they respect him or her and they also need respect in return. As the word always goes around, respect is a two-way thing. In order for one to be respected, he or she should show respect too to the other person. The nurses should have zero tolerance to yelling or heated exchanges in public places and especially in their working environment.
As a way to avoid this and cool down the situation, the nurse should be the one walking away. The act of walking away will help him or her avoid much confrontation and humiliation from the perpetrator. They can decide to have a discussion later with the difficult person when they are calm with no any angry reaction response.
Another strategy that a nurse can use to handle a bullying situation is by acknowledging the person’s feelings. In most cases, if not all, the nurses will not always agree with the person’s point of view. This is normal and acceptable too. Human beings are entitled to their different liberal decisions. The nurse can acknowledge that the difficult person is angry or unhappy. By acknowledging this, the nurse will have acted wisely and moved him or herself from being a complainant to being a problem solver.
The nurse should try empathy and recognize that they should not be stuck in negativity or anger. Empathy helps in managing extreme situations. Difficult people lack essential communication skills and they always want to be heard and not hear the other person. This makes the communication poor.
Holding ground is also a good strategy. This means that the nurses can take the responsibility of teaching others on how to treat them. They should never open doors to challenges. To also help with the teaching, they may decide to open up and expose the difficult person’s behavior to the public or to their colleagues.
The use of fewer words while conversing with difficult people is also effective. Using short words and limit conversations for the purpose of only driving the point home should be the key. Avoiding attitude and only concentrating on the behavior should be the main agenda in order to get along. The limited engagements and discussions are crucial in avoiding the person’s bully behaviors.
The strategies and techniques explained above are not guaranteed to bring success in fighting workplace bullying, but they are helpful in so many situations. At the end of it all, one can only control his or her own behavior.
In conclusion, allegations of bullying in workplaces should always be investigated and never be ignored. The organization itself should take the responsibility to safeguard its staff from bullying. The top-level management of the organizations whether the nursing leadership or the government should come up with policies to fight to bully. Bullying should be given zero tolerance. The victims who the majority are nurses should be encouraged not discouraged to make reports about any acts of bullying in the workplace. Setting up suggestion boxes and hotlines in the workplace will push this. Every human being deserves to be treated better with dignity and respect irrespective of their social status in the society. Our nurses too deserve better treatment so as to continue providing us with good healthcare services. We should all rise and say no to bullying in the workplace.
Bullies Who Interfere With Communication in the Workplace. (2021, Dec 16). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/bullies-who-interfere-with-communication-in-the-workplace-essay
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