Response to work place bullying

Students’ Name
Response to Workplace Bullying
Institution

Introduction
Workplace bullying is a form of repetitive health-harming mistreatments to a target (s) by the perpetrator(s) within the same working environment. The bullying gets initiated by persons by a wise choice of target, location, timing, and methods to successfully achieve their motive. It is taken to be abusive conduct that humiliates, threatens or intimidates someone. It also involves work interference and verbal abuse. Any bully at workplace aims at controlling the target (D’Cruz, 2010).
Responding to workplace bullying
To best respond to and manage workplace bullying, one should move in quick enough after realizing there exist any problem. The degree of workplace bullying response varies with the number of persons and parties involved and the workplace structure. First, there should be attempts to resolve the problem from within the workplace despite whether or not a workplace bullying occurred (D’Cruz, 2010). In the case where internal processes fail to address the issue efficiently, complainants should refer to external agencies. To efficiently respond to workplace bullying, one should follow the below-outlined steps.
The person or agency responding to the situation should start by identifying whether the behavior qualifies as bullying. Determination of whether the issue is an act of harassment helps in the development of an appropriate response mechanism.
It is a requirement to determine whether the situation requires minimization of risk the ongoing harm.

One should take measures to minimize safety or health of the parties involved and especially the target. Such actions may see task reassigning, granting leave, and separating parties involved.
Gather information to have a clear understanding of the situation. To respond to a bullying issue, one should gather enough information to understand thoroughly the parties involved and the behaviors in question. Such information only exists with other people who participated or observed the act in question.
Determine whether to resolve the mater safely at team or parties level. Helping individuals involved reach an amicable resolution and ensuring the ceasing of the behavior happens by use of a no-blame approach.
Finally, access if the matter requires a more in-depth investigation. Determining the complexity and severity of the subject enables one to decide whether the issue needs investigation or not.
Other options exist of resolving the issue. For example, a bullied person may decide to self-manage the situation by telling the other party to keep off his irrational behavior and asking the party to stop the practice. However, if one feels insecure in approaching the offending party, he should seek assistance from his manager, supervisors, union representative, safety and health representatives, or from the human resource manager. It is worth noting that anyone asked to represent an individual should employ a non-confrontational approach while still maintaining discretion (D’Cruz, 2010).
Conclusion
Workplace bullying has adverse effects on the target by causing psychological and physical health problems. Such problems include stress, panic, anxiety, higher blood pressure, and even ulcers. More so, bullying at workplace affects the victim job performance regarding decision making, lower productivity, and low self-esteem among others. Therefore, workplace bullying is a behavior that needs address soonest as they occur.

References
D’Cruz, P., & Noronha, E. (2010). The exit coping response to workplace bullying: The contribution of inclusivist and exclusivist HRM strategies. Employee Relations, 32(2), 102-120.