IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/woemps/v25y2011i1p5-18.html

Workplace bullying and the employment relationship

Author

Listed:
  • David Beale
  • Helge Hoel

Abstract

Previous research strongly indicates that the perpetrators of workplace bullying in Britain are mainly managers. Contrary to the predominant view in workplace bullying literature and despite cost implications for employers, this article proposes an agenda for future empirical research focused on whether employers may also benefit significantly from bullying. It outlines a definition of workplace bullying, key debates and prescriptions suggested in previously published literature for management to contest and prevent it. When bullying is perceived in terms of managerial control of labour and the core concepts of the labour process – an approach not previously embraced in the established psychological and social psychological analyses of the issue – bullying is better understood as an endemic feature of the capitalist employment relationship. Existing secondary material and future research possibilities are then explored and discussed, with some conclusions that are aimed to take the research in this field in new directions.

Suggested Citation

  • David Beale & Helge Hoel, 2011. "Workplace bullying and the employment relationship," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 25(1), pages 5-18, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:25:y:2011:i:1:p:5-18
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017010389228
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017010389228
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0950017010389228?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Helge Hoel & David Beale, 2006. "Workplace Bullying, Psychological Perspectives and Industrial Relations: Towards a Contextualized and Interdisciplinary Approach," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(2), pages 239-262, June.
    2. Richard Hyman, 1997. "The Future of Employee Representation," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 309-336, September.
    3. Wolfgang Streeck, 1987. "The Uncertainties of Management in the Management of Uncertainty," International Journal of Political Economy, M.E. Sharpe, Inc., vol. 17(3), pages 57-87, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Premilla D'Cruz & Ernesto Noronha, 2014. "Workplace bullying in the context of organisational change: the significance of pluralism," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 2-21, January.
    2. Orly Benjamin & Sarit Nisim & Galit Segev, 2015. "Corporate Social Responsibility as Shaped by Managers’ Role Dissonance: Cleaning Services Procurement in Israel," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 209-221, August.
    3. Geoff Plimmer & Sarah Proctor-Thomson & Noelle Donnelly & Dalice Sim, 2017. "The mistreatment of public service workers: identifying key risk and protective factors," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(5), pages 333-340, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guglielmo Meardi & Melanie Simms & Duncan Adam, 2021. "Trade unions and precariat in Europe: Representative claims," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(1), pages 41-58, March.
    2. Chris F. Wright, 2017. "Employer Organizations and Labour Immigration Policy in Australia and the United Kingdom: The Power of Political Salience and Social Institutional Legacies," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(2), pages 347-371, June.
    3. Elizabeth Quinlan & Susan Robertson & Ann-Marie Urban & Isobel M Findlay & Beth Bilson, 2020. "Ameliorating Workplace Harassment among Direct Caregivers in Canada’s Healthcare System: A Theatre-Based Intervention," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(4), pages 626-643, August.
    4. Hyman, Richard, 2001. "The Europeanisation – or the erosion – of industrial relations?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 751, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Elizabeth Quinlan & Susan Robertson & Tracey Carr & Angie Gerrard, 2020. "Workplace Harassment Interventions and Labour Process Theory: A Critical Realist Synthesis of the Literature," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 25(1), pages 3-22, March.
    6. Bentley, Tim A. & Catley, Bevan & Cooper-Thomas, Helena & Gardner, Dianne & O’Driscoll, Michael P. & Dale, Alison & Trenberth, Linda, 2012. "Perceptions of workplace bullying in the New Zealand travel industry: Prevalence and management strategies," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 351-360.
    7. Bradon Ellem, 2021. "Labour and megaprojects: Rethinking productivity and industrial relations policy," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 32(3), pages 399-416, September.
    8. Eleanor Kirk, 2018. "The (re)organisation of conflict at work: Mobilisation, counter-mobilisation and the displacement of grievance expressions," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 39(4), pages 639-660, November.
    9. Alan Tuckman & Jeremé Snook, 2014. "Between consultation and collective bargaining? The changing role of non-union employee representatives: a case study from the finance sector," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 77-97, January.
    10. Paul Marginson & Manuela Galetto, 2016. "Engaging with flexibility and security: Rediscovering the role of collective bargaining," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 37(1), pages 95-117, February.
    11. Ralph Darlington, 2018. "The leadership component of Kelly’s mobilisation theory: Contribution, tensions, limitations and further development," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 39(4), pages 617-638, November.
    12. John T. Addison & Claus Schnabel, 2011. "Worker Directors: A German Product that Did Not Export?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 354-374, April.
    13. Christian Lévesque & Gregor Murray, 2010. "Understanding union power: resources and capabilities for renewing union capacity," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 16(3), pages 333-350, August.
    14. Patrick Emmenegger & Lina Seitzl, 2019. "Collective Action, Business Cleavages and the Politics of Control: Segmentalism in the Swiss Skill Formation System," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(3), pages 576-598, September.
    15. Rae Cooper & Chris Briggs, 2009. "`Trojan Horse' or `Vehicle for Organizing'? Non-Union Collective Agreement Making and Trade Unions in Australia," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 30(1), pages 93-119, February.
    16. Declan Fahie & Gerry Dunne, 2021. "Standing by or Standing Up? —How Philosophy Can (In)form Our Understanding of Bystander Behaviours in Workplace Bullying Dynamics," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-10, March.
    17. Brewster, Chris & Mayne, Lesley & Tregaskis, Olga, 1997. "Flexible working in Europe," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 133-151, July.
    18. Lee, Jong-Woon, 2013. "The In-House Contracting Paradox: Flexibility, Control, and Tension," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 161-174.
    19. Alessandro Arrighetti & Eleonora Bartoloni & Fabio Landini & Chiara Pollio, 2022. "Exuberant Proclivity toward Non-Standard Employment: Evidence from Linked Employer–Employee Data," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 75(4), pages 1024-1053, August.
    20. Emmett Caraker & Henning Jørgensen & Mogens O Madsen & Kelvin Baadsgaard, 2016. "Representation without co-determination? Participation and co-determination for semi-professional shop stewards in the collective participation system in Denmark," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 37(2), pages 269-295, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:25:y:2011:i:1:p:5-18. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.