Totally agree. I saw the Fed Gov trotted out is healthy workplace reform yesterday. TV images of people riding bikes along Southbank. All good - but a far more penetrative and lasting reform would be to expose workplace bullying in the public and private sectors with the tenacity of those hunting for spies.

Bullies are enemies of the state and should be removed from their positions and retrained.

A workplace full of idealised staff, full of vim and zeal for the job would no doubt engender nothing but the finest of feelings of satisfaction from an employer.

Sadly, in the real world, most workplaces have a minimum of such staff and lots of time-servers and unsurprisingly the time-servers tend to whine a lot. About 99% of the time their whining is about stuff that isn't bullying at all.

what's the cause of that? Well, Worksafe Victoria thinks it's because the word is used for things other than bullying. It also thinks that "Increased awareness" is the main reason it is used by people for all sorts of things that have no resemblance to bullying.

Unfortunately, the author is part of the problem rather than offering a cure.

Unfortunately, the author is part of the problem rather than offering a cure.
Antiseptic,
No need to read the article, I agree with you.

Show me a workplace without conflict and I'll show
you a workplace where no one gives a damn.
Wherever people are engaged, committed and fired up,
conflict and disagreement is bound to happen.
Bullying is not the same as conflict between people
(like having a fight) or disliking someone, even
though people might bully each other because of conflict
or dislike.

Most of us know what bullying is. Bullying is repeated,
unreasonable behaviour toward an employee or a group of
employees that creates a risk to health and safety.

It is:

1) enduring and repeated in nature.
2) inappropriate and aggressive.
3) results in physical or psychological distress.

It should not be tolerated at work. Every employee is
entitled to a safe working environment. Every employer
is entitled to his staff being productive. This stops
when bullying starts. Bullying is usually done by people
who have more influence or power over someone else, or
who want to make someone else feel helpless.
Most organisations have guidelines as to how to deal with
the problem. Often the problem can be resolved within the
department.

One thing I've learnt is that most large companies employ HR personel who turn a blind eye to bullying, call it something else, police compliance to hiearchical order, get rid of people they think are not abiding to line management.

get rid of people they think are not abiding to line management.
Rainier,
too right, Qld Public Service is notorious for that.

Rainier,
It should actually read people who don't abide by the "do as I say not do as I do" line management who get persecuted & so demoralised that they resign.

Teachers in schools can't control bullies...so how can employers - who aren't educators, aren't running schools but in fact businesses - manage to control ADULTS in their behaviour at paid WORK?

Bullying is not an employer's problem, it's a social problem... the so-called 'Fair Work' commission makes it nigh impossible to sack someone just because they allegedly 'called me a nasty name in the toilet'.

I agree floatinglili.
You can have all the anti-bullying campaigns and anti-bullying laws you like, but all of it means nothing if employers and/or HR departments in many workplaces are ineffective in their management of complaints.

I have seen many cases of bullying in my workplaces over the years, and have also seen many of the victims made out to be liars or whingers at best.

The problem seems to be that most bullies are very smart at pleading innocence or ignorance, and seem to be able to pull the wool over the eyes of their employers for some time...until one day, a very serious case of undeniable bullying occurs.
The bully is then given 'the first of three warnings'. By the time this bully has gathered three 'warnings' and is sacked, there have been several other 'resignations' of victims previous to this!

We need stronger and more workable anti-bullying laws.

Suzeonline:"I have seen many cases of bullying in my workplaces over the years, and have also seen many of the victims made out to be liars or whingers at best."

You'll like this Suzie. From wikipedia:

"Bullying has been identified as being particularly prevalent in the nursing profession although the reasons are not clear. It is thought that relational aggression (psychological aspects of bullying such as gossipping and intimidation) are relevant."

And from worksafe Victoria: "'I think what we are seeing is that the term bullying is being used quite loosely in the community now in many instances to describe something that has 'gone against me' or 'that I haven't liked' or something that 'I haven't wanted to do',''"

Sounds like it's right on the money to me.

Dear Suze,

Fully agree with you. As does the Australian Psychological
Association. I'll give you their links to this issue
when I return home this evening. I don't have the time
to do it now - we're going out this afternoon. Such a
beautiful day here in Melbourne today.

Not to downgrade the Wikepedia (I'm sure its fine)
but I'd prefer quotes from recognised experts in the field,
and people who actually work and research the topic.

Cheers.

Thanks Lexi. Yes, I tend to listen to medical experts rather than lay-people regarding matters of physical or mental health.

I do however agree that bullying is prevalent in the healthcare environment. Doctors are well known to bully each other (especially against junior doctors), and nurses are just as likely to bully or be bullied as any other large, predominantly female, workplace might do.

Mind you, my husband worked on a goldmine near Kalgoorlie years ago, where there were predominantly male workers. He remarked that he had never seen such bullying in any other workplace...although luckily not against him.

Maybe workplaces with predominantly one gender working there are more likely to experience bullying problems?
I must say I noted there were less problems with nasty female nurses when there were more male nurses or other male staff around.

True cases of bullying are more serious than merely being 'catty' or nasty though.
I'm sure most intelligent people know the difference between these two situations, as do most employers.

Suzie, which of the following references do you regard as insufficiently expert?

^ a b Hutchinson, M; Wilkes, L; Vickers, M; Jackson, D (2008). "The development and validation of a bullying inventory for the nursing workplace". Nurse researcher 15 (2): 19–29. PMID 18283759.
^ Porter-O'grady, T (2008). "Transforming work environments. Interview by Diane E Scott and Amanda Rosenkranz". The American nurse 40 (2): 7. PMID 18494401.
^ Richards A, Edwards SL A Nurse's Survival Guide to the Ward (2008)[page needed]
^ Dellasega, Cheryl A. (2009). "Bullying among nurses". The American journal of nursing 109 (1): 52–8. doi:10.1097/01.NAJ.0000344039.11651.08. PMID 19112267.
^ Lewis, Malcolm A. (2006). "Nurse bullying: Organizational considerations in the maintenance and perpetration of health care bullying cultures". Journal of Nursing Management 14 (1): 52–8. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2934.2005.00535.x. PMID 16359446.
^ Spence Laschinger, Heather K.; Leiter, Michael; Day, Arla; Gilin, Debra (2009). "Workplace empowerment, incivility, and burnout: impact on staff nurse recruitment and retention outcomes". Journal of Nursing Management 17 (3): 302–11. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2009.00999.x. PMID 19426367.
^ NHS nurses 'bullied by managers' BBC News 11 October 2003
^ Trossman, S (2008). "Behaving badly? Joint Commission issues alert aimed at improving workplace culture, patient care". The American nurse 40 (5): 1, 6, 12. PMID 19024048.
^ Martin, William (2008). "Is Your Hospital Safe? Disruptive Behavior and Workplace Bullying". Hospital Topics 86 (3): 21–8. doi:10.3200/HTPS.86.3.21-28. PMID 18694856.
^ Kerfoot, KM (2008). "Leadership, civility, and the 'no jerks' rule". Medsurg nursing 17 (6): 441–2. PMID 19248414.

That'e the full list from the wikipedia article.

I'm sure we're all ears...

Dear Suze,

You're absolutely correct. Most people, including
employers, know the difference between conflicts
at work and true cases of bullying.

Here's an example of a true case, with tragic
consequences that forced the state of Victoria
to take action:

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2011/s3183259.htm

Dearest Antiseptic, did I or did I not agree with you that there are bullies within the nursing profession?
So why are you still arguing about that?

No argument here, Suze. I'm pleased that you've come to the view that the reference I provided is somewhat informative.