Course Background

There is increasing awareness of the effect bullying and harassment can have on individual, team and organisational welfare. The CIPD has estimated that over 50% of stress cases at work involve bullying, and the increasing costs of compensation can be staggering.

High-profile successful cases such as ‘Greene v Deutsche Bank' and ‘Marjowski v Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Health Trust' underline the potential human and financial costs for any organisation.

Once a formal complaint of bullying has been made, it is extremely difficult to restore working relations so it is vitally important that managers and employees understand what might constitute bullying - and the differences from harassment.

Overview

This introduction to the subject of bullying within the workplace will enable delegates to understand the fundamentals of workplace bullying and harassment and to explore and discuss good practice in preventing or dealing with them in their own organisations.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the differences and similarities in bullying and harassment
• How to recognize signs of overt and particularly covert bullying
• Get behind the stereotypes and understand more of the psychology of the bully and the victim
• Appreciate the short and long term effects bullying could have on the victim and the organisation
• Recognise the organisational factors which might perpetuate a bullying culture within the organisation
• Create an environment of dignity and respect
• Appreciate the evolving legal context
• Know what is good practice in responding to allegations: investigating; supporting parties; managing the aftermath

Course Format

Training is delivered in a relaxed, informal and flexible manner with plenty of opportunity for questions and discussion. There is a very interactive learning process with exercises designed to stimulate interest and learning.  

Using Actors - Sometimes organisations like to ‘see' how to handle situations, and we can provide actors who very effectively demonstrate good and bad practice and encourage the participants in solving common problems. Generic or client-generated scenarios can be used.

Areas covered:

Raising awareness

• What we mean by Bullying and Harassment in the workplace
• The DVD ‘Say no to bullying' shows three case studies to enable recognition of the types of different behaviours
• Looking at examples: overt and covert. But what about teasing and workplace incivility...? 

Organisational factors

• What allows bullying behaviour to develop and thrive?
• Diagnosing your organisation's position on bullying?
• Drawing the line: strong management vs bullying

The Individual: is there ‘a type'?

• What do we know about the psychology of the perpetrator and the target?
• How do victims react and why don't they speak out?
• What is the clinical impact of bullying on individuals?

The law and the bottom line

• The legal implications for organisations
• Evolving legislation
• The position regarding individual responsibility and liability

Responsibilities

• Individual responsibilities
• Management responsibility
• General steps individuals can take

Dealing with complaints (With or without actors)

• Levels of intervention
• What determines your approach to a problem?
• Exploring ways of dealing informally with difficult situations
• Using identified situations to give individuals the opportunity to practise dealing informally with situations in a safe environment
• Understanding the full implications of using the formal complaint route

A culture of respect

• Exploring ways of creating a healthy culture