"The quality of an organisation can never exceed the quality of the minds that make it up." - Harold R. McAlindon (1999) The Little Book of Big Ideas Workplace bullying and harassment has been an important topic of research in industrialised societies since the 1980s (Einarson & Matheison, 2004; Giga & Hoel, 2004). Bullying, emotional abuse and workplace harassment are a critical social issue that has a prominent position within public discourse, and influences professional, scientific and political communities. Workplace interpersonal hostility can dramatically impact on employee job satisfaction and well being, for victims, bullies and bystanders (Mikkelsen & Einarsen, 2001). Further, workplace bullying can incur high costs for organisations due to increases in employee absenteeism, high turnover over personnel, and decreased employee motivation and productivity, and perhaps even poor publicity for the organisation (Hoel, Einarsen & Cooper, 2003). Subsequently, effects in the wider community can include lower production, early retirements and an increase in the costs of health care services. Globally, nations are implementing laws to promote dignity within the workplace, and to ban a range of forms of workplace harassment (Giga & Hoel, 2004). However, actual research of how best to ascertain the presence and degree of workplace bullying within an organisation remains contentious. This paper will explore the suitability of using survey instruments to understand the organisational context of workplace bullying. First the background of workplace bullying shall be outlined. Second a literature review of survey instruments used shall be presented, with a focus on the Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ). Strengths and weaknesses of the survey instrument shall also be identified. The conclusion will resolve the question of survey question suitability, and also provide recommendations for future research. Background of workplace bullying There are various forms of workplace bullying that can be broadly categorized into two main types: 1) work-related and 2) person-related. Work-related bullying is indicated by constant criticism, not being provided with information, and excessive monitoring. Person-related bullying can include being subject to insults, teasing, false allegations, rumors, social exclusion, humiliation and or intimidation (Einarsen & Hoel, 2001; Knott, 2004). Bullying, whether in the workplace or elsewhere, is about power in social relationships, or more specifically, power differences (Hoel & Cooper, 2000). Within the workplace, bullying may also be referred to as mobbing, workplace aggression, petty tyranny or victimization (Aquino, Grover, Bradfield & Allen, 1999). Ultimately, workplace bullying is repetitive, persists over time, and results in a hostile work environment (Hoel & Cooper, 2000). The antecedents to workplace bullying vary across organisations and departments within organisations, however, studies point to the values of the organisational culture, the representation of these values in policies, and the roles, and task demands of employees as primary factors (Hoel & Cooper, 2000). The direct consequence of workplace bullying has been shown to be increased stress and negative responses from some employees (Giga & Hoel, 2004). Conceptual issues of how to define and measure workplace bullying in order to understand it are dominant research areas currently (Knott, 2004). Studies show that a failure to address issues of workplace bullying places organisations at risk of increasing costs due to sick leave, compensation and a tarnished public image (Hoel & Cooper, 2000). Literature suggests a focus on the psychosocial aspects of the workplace as potential antecedents and prevention variables (Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf & Cooper, 2003). There is a current emphasis on the use of survey instruments to identify and measure bullying within the workplace adequately account for the organisational context. However there is a lack of literature exploring the efficiency of survey instruments to understand the organisational context of workplace bullying. Background of Survey Instruments Survey instruments are a popular research tool in psychology, sociology, human resources, education and other disciplines (Neill, 2004). The strengths of a survey are their ease of administration, and can be printed as a hard copy, used within an interview context, or be presented over the Internet. Importantly, surveys allow self-report of the respondent for cognitive and psychosocial variables that could not easily be measured otherwise (i.e., attitudes, beliefs, values, perceived behaviours) (Neill, 2004). They also allow a positivist approach to the research process in that a hypothesis can be tested, and as they allow collection of data they contribute to inductive reasoning and critique. However, surveys do have their limitations, namely that they tend to be retrospective, increase the likelihood of subjective bias, the length can decrease accuracy yet many questions enhance reliability and validity (Neill, 2004). Also, a well-constructed survey requires pilot testing and statistical checks that take time, and may limit sample options (Neill, 2004). As well, it is often necessary that the survey be provided in the respondent's first language so as to control for misinterpretation of questions, once again this may limit the sample. Background of Workplace Bullying Survey Instruments The purpose of the survey in measuring workplace bullying is to gather quantitative data such as job satisfaction, organisational identification, intention to leave employment, and workplace bullying prevalence (Barker, Cameron, McCarthy, Sheehan, Mayhey, & Manning, 2002). Currently, there is no standard measure of bullying within the workplace (Einarsen & Hoel, 2001). However, one survey that is used extensively is the Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ) (Einarsen, Raknes, Matthiesen, 1994), recently revised as the NAQ-R (Einarsen & Hoel, 2001). The NAQ was designed to measure employee perceptions of their exposure to bullying and victimization (Einarsen & Hoel, 2001). The survey has questions constructed in behavioural terms so that there is no direct reference to the term bullying, until at the end of the survey within the context of an open question to disclose personal experiences