Victims of workplace bullying whose organisations are supportive are less likely to seek help from a trade union or a court of law, a new study finds.
A study of bullying victim coping strategies, published in the Journal of Business Ethics, found that a quarter of NHS employees surveyed had been bullied at work, and that 14 per cent of them chose to keep silent about it.
If the victims perceived their organisation to be supportive, they were more inclined to speak out to a manager, a colleague or member of HR rather than seek external support from the likes of solicitors.
Victims were also more likely to take action about workplace bullying if they were in a trade union.
The researchers collected survey data on bullying from 1,812 healthcare workers across two NHS Trusts in response to the seminal Sir Robert Francis Review, which found only 72% of NHS employees felt safe raising concerns over negative acts like bullying.
Participants were asked if they had been bullied at work in the 12 months to September 2018, with 474 (26.1%) reporting that they had been bullied.
The coping strategies of the victims of bullying included support from colleagues (24%), asking their line manager for help (21%), going to 'some other manager' (8%), and 4% contacted HR.
Of those who turned to an external channel of support, 7% approached their trade union, 1% chose the Speak Up Guardian and 3% the NHS Trust's counselling services.
However, around a quarter of those bullied chose not to seek support at all, with 9% directly confronting the bully and 14% doing nothing at all.
The study found that 'perceived organisational support' (POS) and trade union membership were two key factors behind the victims' coping strategies.
The researchers measured POS using a questionnaire based on the Psychological Safety Climate (PSC) and tested the effects of changes in POS and trade union membership through an agent-based social situation (ABSS) modelling approach.
They found an increase in POS made employees much more likely to seek internal processes to redress bullying, more than doubling the likelihood of the victim seeking support from colleagues or a manager.
It in turn lowered the likelihood of victims turning to external channels for support, a process which can have negative consequences for organisations.
Trade union membership raised the likelihood of victims seeking support from outside their organisation by around 15 percentage points as well as a slight increase in seeking help internally.
Dr Constantine Manolchev from the University of Exeter Business School said: "When the victims of workplace bullying believe their organisation is supportive it increases the likelihood of them seeking help from within the organisation, which includes their personal network – both colleagues and other managers.
"Engaging with internal support mechanisms is extremely important. It allows the organisation to address potentially unethical acts without the need for external escalation - for example through a court of law – which can be disruptive and costly to the organisation. It also allows the organisation to have better awareness of the true levels of incivility, bullying and harassment across its workforce.
"Bullying is a long-standing issue for organisations and our study suggests that it is the cumulative impact of small interventions that makes a difference, rather than putting in place large-scale policy changes. For example, we recommend that bullying and harassment conversations are normalised as part of the annual performance review cycle. We also suggest that including conversations about the employee's general wellbeing, and ensuring managers are available to discuss employee issues as they arise, can improve workers' perception of their employer.
"This can encourage targets of bullying, harassment and other negative acts to engage with internal support mechanisms rather than seek redress outside the organisation. At the same time, trade union membership will empower victims who typically choose 'do nothing' to take action. We may not be able to fully eradicate negative acts in organisations, but we have a duty to ensure those experiencing them do not suffer in silence"
