Bullying and harassment at work is often seen as a problem between individuals with little attention being paid to the ways in which the culture of the organisation may facilitate and even perpetuate the problem. This is a serious and costly oversight.

Very few cases of bullying and harassment reach the grievance stage as targets have doubts about the effectiveness of the complaints process and are fearful of the consequences in terms of their careers and relationships with others. This means that the number of official grievances is dwarfed by the number of actual bullying/harassment incidents. Survey findings suggest that anywhere between 10% and 20% of staff, depending on the occupation, have experienced bullying/harassment in the last year. This has serious implications both for the individual, in terms of health and wellbeing, and for the organisation in terms of increased sickness/absence, reduced productivity, increased staff turnover, increased costs dealing with grievances/tribunals, stifled creativity and loss of reputation. Treating each case as an isolated incident may work in the short term, but it is much more effective to identify and deal with the underlying causes of such problems.

A number of the articles presented here look at policy issues, culture, strategy, complaints, links between bullying and harassment and stress, and the way in which organisational culture and the pressures of modernisation and change present challenges for managers and staff. If you would like to see articles addressing any particular issues of bullying and harassment please let me know and I'll give it serious consideration.