Workplace bullying discussed by top UK psychologists

A significant number of British workers are bullied in the workplace leading to severe psychological problems for the victim.

This is according to The British Psychological Society who discussed the topic at their Occupational Psychology Annual Conference in Blackpool on Friday January 4.

The different types of bullying, their impact on employees, and the ways in which organisations can deal with them, were also discussed.

A presentation by Noreen Tehrani, based in London, looked at the difficulty that employers can face, in determining who is the bully and who is the victim. She noted that the roles of victim and bully are often interchangeable, so that individual counselling of the victim can have limited value. Mrs Tehrani also highlighted the problem of passive aggressive behaviours, such as secrecy and manipulation, which can often go unnoticed by employers.

The following day Penelope Smith-Lee Chong and Dr Iain Coyne, of the University of Hull, with Dr Patricia Lindley of NPAL, presented a paper discussing how victims, perpetrators and others interact within work teams and what ‘roles’ each take within the team. They found that these ‘roles’ differed for victims and perpetrators of workplace bullying. (MB)