Cyberbullying

Bullying has always been an issue in societies; either analyzing history can see this or looking at the current state of affairs.  Bullying, heavy persuading or strong-arming has been a part of society in some form of another.  The legendary story of William "Boss" Tweed scandalized New York in the late nineteenth century through strong-arming and bribery.   Although this example would not typically allow someone to envision a picture of a bully, Boss Tweed was everything a bully stands for.  The characterizations of a bully are the repetition of the behavior, the duration of the situations, the fact that the events escalate, the means that there is power disparity between the individuals involved and finally there is the attributed intent to consider (Adams, 1992).   The first time the concept of bullying in the workplace appeared within Adams book, Bully at Work, written in 1992.   Before this bullies were found on the schoolyard playground.  However, those bullies are now grown up and living adult lives, but the negative patterns of behavior that caused them to be bullies on the playground has filtered into their workplace.  

Bullying in the workplace has no formal definition (Adams, 1992; Namie, & Namie, 2016).  However, according to the 2014 National Survey on Workplace Bullying conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI), the event or events can be defined by as "threatening, humiliating, or intimidating, or work interference — sabotage — which prevents work from getting done, or verbal abuse," (Namie, & Namie, 2016).   

In more recent times, the last decade, an emerging buzz word has permeated our conversations, cyber bullying.  Cyber bullying can be summed up by stating it is the use of electronic communications to bully a person, usually with a message intending on intimidating or threatening in nature (Cyberbullying Research Center, 2016). Cyber bullying has become a buzz word in media throughout the United States as it pertains to adolescents and social media (Megan Meier Foundation, 2016).  Over the last several years news agencies have publicized the stories of teens and their struggles with cyberbullying (Megan Meier Foundation, 2016).  With many experts concluding that in this digital world cyberbullying has become an epidemic.   

Cyberbullying is just the next step in the evolution of bullying and using psychological violence on individuals to create fear and ensure that people conform to standards (Opperman, 2008).   The old school yard saying of "sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me," is more detrimental to a person's psychological well-being.  Words hurt, and words blasted out into the public where they can be read and reread numerous times makes cyberbullying more dangerous than schoolyard bullying ever was.  But what happens when these misfit teens that bully on social media grow up and enter the global workforce?  

Just as history has proven before as these misfit adolescents mature and enter the workforce so does their malicious and determinantal behaviors, they continue to bully.  Cyberbullying has sustained in the workplace.  The interesting development is that employers may be held liable for cyberbullying incidents. First, it is important to make note that there is no federal law prohibiting cyberbullying (Smith, 2016).  Second, stand-alone policies that prohibit cyberbullying may not be enough or robust enough to protect a person (or the company) in a legal battle.   But Smith does state that  "harassment policies and use-of-technology policies should clearly prohibit cyberbullying," along with "anti-discrimination policies."  These types of systems are then backed by federal law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  This law simply prohibits a hostile work environment based on a person race, color, gender, national origin or religion; this law embeds itself into the digital world as well as the face to face world (Smith, 2016).  Insurance and risk management companies like LanierUpshaw have included cyberbullying as part of their baseline for enterprises and their risk assessments (Wocorek, 2014).  

Cyber Bullying in the workplace needs to be addressed with a strong, firm understanding that bullying not only affects the victim but the entire organization. The negative impact bullying has on an organization can cause lack of efficiency and effectiveness.  Many times as leaders we must address small problems so that they do not become larger ones in the end.  Bullying is one of those problems. With the advancement of technology, bullying has now invaded the digital world in which we now need to learn how to patrol, police and regulate and ever expanding universe without end. The key for companies is the complete valid risk assessments, create strategic plans and to amend HR policies that are currently in place to protect their employees and themselves from this ever festering sores of cyberbullying. 


AUTHORS FOOTNOTE:  I am fascinated by research with workplace bullying.  There have been so many studies done, and laws have been attempted to be written and passed to help victims.  I currently sit on a non-profit board of directors for an anti-bullying program in the state's schools.  However, very little focus goes into workplace bullying.  I have begun my background research and have devoted my DIP to workplace bullying however now after reading some of the articles about cyberbullying in the workplace I feel that I will be adjusting my DIP focus slightly. 

References

Adams,  A. (1992).  Bully at Work.  Virago.

Brio, M. (2014). The real-world implications of workplace and cyber bullying.  Forbes. July 27, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2014/07/27/the-real-world-implications-of-workplace-and-cyberbullying/#e58b1c934cfb

Cyberbullying Research Center (CRC). (2016).  Cyberbullying.  Retrieved from http://cyberbullying.org/facts/

Megan Meier Foundation (2016). Cyberbullying and social media. Retrieved from  http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/cyberbullying-social-media.html

Namie, R. &  Namie, G. (2016). WBI: Workplace Bullying Institute. Retrieved from http://www.workplacebullying.org/individuals/problem/definition/

Opperman, S. (2008). Workplace bullying: Psychological violence. Retrieved from http://www.workplacebullying.org/tag/oppermann/

Smith, A. (2016). Employers may be held liable for employees’ cyberbullying. Society for Human Management Resouce. Retrieved from  https://www.shrm.org/legalissues/federalresources/pages/employers-cyberbullying.aspx

Wicorek, S. (2014). Cyber-bullying: A silent epidemic in the workplace. LanierUpshaw. Retrieved from http://www.lanierupshaw.com/cyber-bullying-a-silent-epidemic-in-the-workplace/