Vertical vs horizontal bullying: A need of socio-interactive ethical trainings at workplace

Scand J Psychol. 2021 Feb;62(1):88-94. doi: 10.1111/sjop.12651. Epub 2020 Dec 14.

Abstract

Bullying at workplaces is a growing problem associated with several antecedents and outcomes of psychological disorders. Extant literature shows the relationship of victimization with the owning-up curriculum to confront bullying, but so far there is little research to cure the issue of bullying through ethics and there is no study to check the impact of ethical lessons and exercises in training materials to curb bullying at workplace. The current paper is based on a literature review of aggression and bullying, and chiefly addresses the HR practices in rescuing the people from peer victimization. Conceptually segregating supervisor-subordinate (vertical) and peer-peer (horizontal) bullying psychology, this paper attempts to see what possible corrective steps can be taken by senior managers, supervisors and psychologists to resolve this critical problem through interior capacities. In this paper, we have developed three propositions for conducting a future empirical investigation in connection to a cohort study. By addressing the counterproductive/deviant behavior, the present report is likely to be beneficial for psychology scientists and HR practitioners in noticing and resolving the bullying issues at the workplace for the well-being of employees.

Keywords: Bullying; Ethics; counterproductive behavior; psychology; social responsibility; training material.

MeSH terms

  • Bullying / psychology*
  • Cohort Studies
  • Crime Victims / psychology
  • Humans
  • Morals
  • Peer Group*
  • Workplace / psychology*