Bullying is a widespread challenge within organizations, thus the need to understand and manage it in an effective manner. One of the guiding principles of the transformation theory is the need to promote a consistent vision and a set of values that people can apply to understanding changes in their lives. Effective management of bullying within the workplace requires transformative leadership that focuses on developing social systems that help people in managing change.
This style of leadership aims at creating valuable and constructive change that influences followers into becoming leaders (Dean & Shepard, 2017). Its practicability is evidenced by a noticeable change in an individual’s behavior and attitude towards something familiar. In most cases, bullying within the workplace happens when there is inadequate monitoring across all organizational levels, thus creating room for dysfunction.
According to the transformational theory, bullying within the workplace can be identified using four parameters, namely regularity, persistence, aggression, and the power imbalance (Cobb, 2017). Regularity refers to the frequency with which a negative behavioral pattern occurs over a specified period. Persistence refers to the period within which the patterns manifest themselves, while aggression identifies and defines the notable negative acts. Power imbalance entails situations within the workplace where one employee controls or has influence over another. In instances of bullying, the person in a position of power instills fear and threatens their victims if they do not achieve their desired performance levels.
In order to achieve prolonged success, organizational leaders should comprehend that effective management of workplace bullying does not only apply using a top-down approach. This means that an employee can experience bullying from any colleague, regardless of their position within the workplace (Carbo, 2017). Bullying within the place of work applies in a downward vertical cycle, whereby a supervisor can intimidate a subordinate and vice versa. Additionally, bullying also happens between co-workers at the same level, as well as customers and organizational employees (Carbo, 2017). Understanding this cycle plays a pivotal role in handling cases of bullying because it is easy to identify the source of aggression.
Personality is one of the effective elements that can be applied in identifying victims and perpetrators of bullying. Quiet people with no peers within the workplace are easy targets for bullies. On the other hand, people who exhibit leadership and social confidence are less likely to be bullied because they are always around people (Dean & Shepard, 2017). This means that introverts who have a high degree of agreeableness are vulnerable to bullying.
On the other hand, extroverts are less likely to be bullied because they are proactive. Studies on personality traits have shown that people who repeatedly experience bullying within the workplace suffer from similar issues that include depression, insecurities, low self-esteem, and lack of confidence (Gattis, 2018). It is important for employers to engage their employees in development programs, which help in improving self-awareness
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