Why some workplaces don't work for you - Five steps to identifying the fit between organisational & personal values

Five steps to identifying the fit between the organisation's values and your personal workplace values 

Image courtesy of www.slideshare.net

Have you ever joined a new work team and for the first few minutes, hours, days, or weeks wondered if you've accidentally stepped into a new land with no reference points and are struggling to understand the group's social rituals, values, and even their language? 

Or you've started a new job in a large and well respected organisation, completed the mandatory five day induction course and after the first day in your new job gone home to your family and said, "I have no idea what people are talking about in meetings. It's all jargon and acronyms!"

Firstly, don't worry, you aren't alone! 

In transiting from a military environment to a civilian workplace I experienced culture shock for the second time in my life (the first time was when I entered the Navy at 19). I mean, people were turning up to work in jeans and t-shirts (shock, horror!), and the ICT guys wore crumpled clothes that looked like they'd just rolled out of bed (no offence guys, but have you heard of bed hair?).

This form of culture shock can be traumatic if you accidentally land in a workplace, like I did, that explicitly expressed the workplace values and behaviours of respect, collaboration and communication, while the lived experiences were very different. Actual workplace behaviours included outbursts of frustration and anger from my peers, disrespect and underhanded dealings by my supervisor with everyone, implicit aggression from co-workers, and a general fear of making mistakes, which froze everyone from making any real decisions or taking any creative risks. Or talking.

Bullying and harassment were normalised behaviours. In other words, the implicit values, behaviours and attitudes driving the organisation's culture were the antithesis of the explicit values and culture.

How can you avoid falling into this trap?

After this experience I asked myself, how do I avoid accidentally moving into an organisation that appears great on the outside, but is dysfunctional on the inside?  I've figured out a five strategies that, in combination and with a bit of analysis, will help to identify the real values operating in a workplace.

First Step

Created by Dr Lawrence, Stop Workplace Cyberbullying Pty Ltd

It's absolutely critical to figure out your own core workplace values. If you are crystal clear about your own core values, and workplace values, then it's easier to find a workplace that best suits you. This step is vital as you then generate a template of core personal values that you can use to analyse some other information described in the subsequent steps. Some of the questions you can ask yourself include:

I am at my best when [insert your example here]

I am at my worst when [insert your example here]

I am truly happy when [insert your example here]

I want to be a person who [insert your example here]

What I really love is [insert your example here]

What I really hate is [insert your example here]

So, if you find that you really love working with friendly, communicative people who enjoy asking lots of questions and are enthusiastic and creative, then your values most likely include respect, collaboration, openness, innovation and integrity. 

Create a spreadsheet and/or write your core workplace values on a piece of paper in the left column. You can use the table I've embedded and located at the end of this post.

Second Step

Google the organisation and read their annual report and other governance documents to find out the in-house and external activities management supports and encourages their staff to do. The employment agreement will also help you gain insight into the types of behaviours expected from staff. 

Write down the behaviours and activities in a spreadsheet (Feel free to use the spreadsheet located the end of this post). Any behaviours that match your values, list these under the column entitled "Matched behaviours identified through my online research." Any behaviours that don't match your values, list these under the column entitled "Mismatched behaviours identified through my online research."

Third Step.

Email and ring or talk to the recruitment officer and ask them questions. These can include: 

- What barriers do you experience as you try to accomplish your work?

- How do you work through these barriers? What processes do you use (e.g., committees, work groups, work shops)

- Are employees represented on Board meetings on employment matters? If so, how are these representatives chosen?

- What is your favourite quality that is present in your company?

- What are the goals of your organisation?

- What is the vision your organisation is seeking to achieve?

List these behaviours in your spreadsheet under one of the columns entitled "Matched" or "Mismatched" behaviours identified through my online research.

Fourth Step.

Then ask the recruitment officer for a short list of partners or sponsors, stakeholders or key clients and customers. 

Alternatively, you can identify these contacts through the organisation's website (via their annual report or other legislatively required documentation). 

Ring these contacts, explain that you're very interested in a career at XX and that you'd love to organise a short 5-10 minute telephone chat at their convenience to discuss their business experiences with XX. Once the 5-10 minute conversation has been organised and is on the way, ask one or more of these questions:

- Where does [the organisation] fit with your business/organisation?

- How does [the organisation] support or enable you? 

- How would you describe their behaviours and value?

- Does the organisation support your efforts to accomplish your work, or do they impede your progress?

- Is there a story or example you can recall that really describes how XX supports your business?

- Write down the behaviours and activities in a spreadsheet, in the second last column next to your values, and link the behaviours with your values. 

*If some behaviours do not link with your core values, place them on the far right corner column.

Step Five.

The interview is possibly the most important indicator of the values held dear by your new organisation as this is the point where everyone is (hopefully) on their best behaviour. 

What constitutes an organisation's "best behaviour" may look and feel a bit weird (at least, from your perspective). 

For example, in one experience, the normalised behaviour in one organisation involved being placed in a disabled car park by the convenor (I thought this was probably illegal(?). While waiting for my interview I was offered a chair in the foyer and asked to read a list of interview questions while people walked in and out chatting (this appeared a bit disrespectful to me). I found myself walking into a messy and tiny interview room and being offered a broken chair (I immediately felt like asking for a new chair but felt a bit awkward at this point). I was then told that one female panel was on "loan" from another organisation due to lack of females in the executive level in that organisation (I really started to feel a bit queasy at this point).

After the interview, write down the behaviours you observed and list these against your core values - do they match your values or are they a mis-match?

Generally speaking, at the conclusion of the interview a reasonable panel will ask if you have any questions. At this point you could ask one or two of the following: 

- What would you tell a friend about your organisation if he or she were about to start working here?

- What stories do current employees tell new employees about your organisation when they join the organisation?

- What is your favourite story, the story you share most frequently, about your organisation?Who is a hero around here? Why?

- What is your favourite quality that is present in your company?

- Who succeeds in your company?

- What kinds of people fail in your organisation?

- What is your favourite question to ask a candidate for a job in your company?

Your analysis

I've created a spreadsheet/table to illustrating the points above and to assist you in your analysis. 

                                          Created by Dr Lawrence, Stop Workplace Cyberbullying Pty Ltd

Note: this table includes a "total" line at the bottom.

I've added this total line as you may find it useful to compare the total of Matched values with Mis-matched values, and then do a bit of thinking. If nothing else, this analysis will help you with a conversation with your future boss and clarify you workplace needs (and wants).

While this process isn't perfect (there is no such thing as a perfect process) it will help you to, firstly, become conscious of your personal and workplace values, and secondly, to determine why your existing workplace is fantastic, or makes you uncomfortable and finally, a mechanism that assists in locating a workplace that better suits you.

Dr Lawrence, the founder of Stop Workplace Cyberbullying, has a BA SSc and PhD in organisational social psychology. She  works with individuals and organisations as a consultant, speaker and trainer. She uses her social science expertise to enhance interactions between organisations and the people who lead and work in them by fostering new insights for diagnosing organisational problems, and build new capabilities and culture. E: felicity.lawrence@connect.qut.edu.au or Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter

Why organisational culture is a Game Changer for workplace engagement

Organisational culture: A key ingredient to staff engagement

Have you ever walked into an agency for a job interview, or maybe been asked to provide a presentation or workshop at another organisation and, as you walked through the front door you’ve unconsciously hunched your shoulders and wondered why?

Alternatively, have you ever walked into a room full of people from other organisations who have perhaps come together to develop a new policy or program, you’ve never met any of them, and you immediately feel welcome and energised, and find yourself making eye contact and smiling around the group? 

I’ve experienced both scenarios.

 

In one case I presented a training session where the mixed gender attendees all wore black or dark suits with white shirts, and refused to interact or even talk to one another except snarl at each other. Whether the workshop representatives actually meant to or not, their behaviour and work suits had created an immediate first impression and formed my view of their agency’s culture.

 

Image courtesy of fastcompany.com  

In another, I attended an annual "catch-up" session presented by the Secretary, who was articulate, funny and was sitting comfortably on a couch in front of a large group of a mixed bunch of managers and staff. When he asked for questions, people's hands literally shot up. He listened closely to each question and, on one occasion, admitted he didn't know the answer and asked the forum if anyone knew the answer.

Which organisation would you prefer to work at?

Image courtesy of knowmad.com 

Why culture is a Game Changer in workplace engagement

Organisational culture is one of the key game changers that shape a work environment and acts as an enabler for people to produce poor, or (preferably) good to outstanding business results.

Another way to look at it is, good culture allows people to feel safe enough to be at their creative best, and engage with the issues that help move forward critical programs. In these organisations, people are generally much more likely to be productive and yet demonstrate mutual respect. You probably know if your organisation has a reasonable or good culture because people generally interact politely, may feel comfortable enough to laugh while they're working, are empowered to provide feedback when asked, and/or are comfortable to raise questions directly with the boss during the regular employee “catch-up” group meetings. In other words, people are engaged and prepared to take some minor personal risks, such as showing that they're enjoying their work.

A poor workplace culture tends to create a quieter, herd environment where people stick together as a protective measure so that individuals are not cut down like tall poppies. You may suspect your organisation’s culture is poor because face-to-face group meetings with the boss or supervisor(s) may be rare, and when they do occur, only the boss and/or key managers talk, the meeting is short and quiet, and people avoid participating or interacting (except through anonymous online surveys). 

Other signs that your workplace culture may be poor and perhaps even bullying or abusive (Mattice, 2016) include:

• A general reluctance to participate in meetings and "catch-up" meetings tend to be quiet with only the boss or other managers talking or raising questions.
• Work cliques indicate those people who are more likely to be invited to, or participate at, social work gatherings.
• People use work email or other work technologies to communicate and avoid face-to-face interactions.
• An increase, or sudden jump, in staff absenteeism, confusion about job responsibilities, or constant organisational re-engineering, or goal changing.
• Frequent load outbursts that sometimes lead to abusive telephone calls, emails or sms.
• Unresolved conflict and conscious tension between employees, groups, or divisions.
• Frequent miscommunication leading to misunderstandings and aggressive online and offline behaviour.
• Productivity decreases.
• Practical jokes or sarcasm are ignored, despite clearly upsetting the recipient.
• High achievers suddenly receive average to poor performance evaluations, relocate within the agency, or  leave.

As I’ve said in other posts, culture can be a barrier to resolving face-to-face workplace bullying, where organisations characterised by a hierarchical structure and management style may be unaware that their culture is a bullying one (Boucaut, 2003). 

In this sense, culture is perceived as an enabling tool that can be used or abused by powerful organisational groups, such as the executive or middle management, to shape the values, attitudes and behaviours of other less powerful organisational members. In large organisations, culture is expressed through explicit and implicit rules. 

Four types of workplace culture

Collaborative. Is your office environment one in which team members band together in open dialogue? Is there an attitude of shared ownership and a passion for problem-solving? Or are your team members isolated and insular, working privately and not together?

Creative. Would you characterise your work-space as one in which innovation is valued and fostered? Do your team members feel comfortable bringing up new ideas or experimenting with the way things are done, or do they all follow tradition, to “the way we’ve always done things”?

Controlled. Do you have an extremely formal, rules-based workplace,where people feel like they have to do things in a certain way or else face dire consequences? Does your workplace emphasize dependability and hierarchical authority?

Competitive. Are your team members working to outdo one another, to bring in the best results on the company’s behalf? Is there a “survival of the fittest” mentality in your workplace culture? Is your organization unified by a zeal for winning, however you may define that term?

How to diagnose your workplace culture.

Culture audits can be used to assess workplace culture and may include tools such as: (a.) culture walks, observation in the workplace; (b.) culture interviews or focus groups of employees; (c.) individual employee culture interviews; (d.) culture surveys, often developed internally based on collected information; and/or (e.) commercially available instruments.

However, one of the simplest ways of diagnosing your workplace culture is to start asking questions such as:

• What would you tell a friend about your organisation if he or she were about to start working here?
• What barriers do you experience as you try to accomplish your work? 
• What is the one thing you would most like to change about this organisation?
• Who is a hero around here? Why?
• What is your favourite quality that is present in your company?
• Who succeeds in your company?
• What kinds of people fail in your organisation?
• What is your favourite question to ask a candidate for a job in your company?
• What are the goals of your organisation?
• What is the vision your organisation is seeking to achieve?
• Do the organisation's policies and procedures support your efforts to accomplish work or do they impede your progress?
• What stories do current employees tell new employees about your organisation when they join the organisation?
• What is your favourite story, the story you share most frequently, about your organisation?

Dr Lawrence, the founder of Stop Workplace Cyberbullying, has a BA SSc and PhD in organisational social psychology. She  works with individuals and organisations as a consultant, speaker and trainer. She uses her social science expertise to enhance interactions between organisations and the people who lead and work in them by fostering new insights for diagnosing organisational problems, and build new capabilities and culture. E: felicity.lawrence@connect.qut.edu.au or LinkedIn or Twitter

Social revolution: Are mobile technologies blurring work-home lines?

Mobile technologies and the social revolution 

Is mobile technology changing workplace behaviour?

Image courtesy of solutions.greenvilleonline.com

This important question, is human kind facing a social revolution through mobile technologies, is one that is now being asked across the world. And no wonder... 

- According to workplace researchers (Kraft, 2006) mobile technologies are seen as a catalyst for changing the social rules governing our workplaces, and blurring previously clear demarcations between work and home.

- Since 2007, the accepted view is that “computing doesn't belong just in cyberspace”, it happens in the real world, anywhere and at any time (Grossman, 2007).

- John Sundberg, a key founder of Kinetic Data, wrote in March 2015 that the impact of new technologies on our social and work environments is so fundamental that we are looking at a new era.

Are we looking at a culture change?

Image courtesy of www.centives.net

Some of us remember the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. I'm not sure I paid a huge amount of attention at the time as I didn't realise the real potential of this mobile device.

What this relatively small device represented was the first “handheld, walk-around computer” (Grossman, 2007).

It has created the opportunity for what is now described as globalised “mass connectivity” that has “enabled human generated data, and now machine generated data, to flood through our global networks…” (Livingstone, 2015) and transform our work and home lives.

The “cultural change wrought by the internet has been profound.” (Williams, 2015, p. 12). 

Social revolution and disruptive technology

Workplace researchers now assert that mobile, online communications is transforming (or even disrupting), how humans think, communicate and socialise with one another (Hinduja & Patchin, 2013; Oliver & Candappa, 2003; Wang, Iannotti, Luk, 2010; Williams & Guerra, 2007; Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004). 

And the funny thing is, we don't even realise, unless we read something and thing about it, that  this change is happening to us and our social environment and culture.

If you read studies by workplace cyberbullying researchers (some are definitly worth the read! take a look at my thesis : - )), you will learn that the lines between the physical and virtual worlds are now so blurred (Monks & Coyne, 2011) that workplace participants (employers and employees) feel permanently connected to work irrespective of the time of day. 

Technology is both enhancing, and transforming, our private and workplace behaviour (Tidwell & Walther, 2002) on both a conscious and subconscious level. 

This feeling of being constantly accessible to one another, and being accessible 24/7 to work through mobile technologies, is being viewed as a catalyst for changing the social rules governing our workplaces and undermining previously clear work - private life demarcations (Kraft, 2006).

It is important to realise that this transformation has human social psychology implications, particularly around accepted social norms, as the new technology increasingly enables people to instantaneously broadcast thoughtless or malicious online comments that can quickly escalate with dire consequences (Cross, Shaw, Hearn, Epstein, Monks, Lester, & Thomas, 2009; Li, 2007). 

Workplace implications 

Image courtesy of www.themeetingmagazines.com

The UK's Business Computing World recently released an article that stated  "every once in a while, a [technological] development so fundamental and profound ...that it reorients the profession."

This changing environment has arguably developed new or refreshed roles and responsibilities for employers who have a duty of care to provide employees with a safe working environment (West, Foster, Levin, Edmison, & Robibera, 2014). This is concerning since the potential for online harassment and bullying in the workplace is growing along with the influx of mobile technologies.

In March 2015, John Sundberg, a key founder of Kinetic Data, wrote that the impact of new technologies on our social and work environments is so fundamental that we are looking at a new era, with mobile access overtaking desktop usage, and a new generation (millenials) who have grown up with mobile technologies are now entering the workforce expecting workplace software and applications to be easy to use, social, and mobile.

Sunderber suggests workplaces consider the four practical steps to adapt to the "wave of change crashing over IT and business operations" today:

  Redesign processes from the internal customer perspective. - See more at: http://www.businesscomputingworld.co.uk/evolution-or-revolution-where-is-technology-at-today/#sthash.i2EIHCco.dpuf

1. Redesign processes from the internal customer perspective.

2. Implement new delivery models such as enterprise request management (ERM) for service requests and schedule-based (like Apple Genius Bars) service delivery. 

3. Adapt to revolutionary developments using gradual change. 

4. Recognise the need for business change, not just adaptation by IT.

Dr Lawrence has a BA SSc and PhD in organisational social psychology and works with individuals and organisations as a consultant, speaker and trainer. She uses her social science expertise to enhance interactions between organisations and the people who lead and work in them by fostering new insights for diagnosing organisational problems, and build new capabilities and culture.

E: felicity.lawrence@connect.qut.edu.au or LinkedIn or Twitter

Redesign processes from the internal customer perspective. Rather than designing processes for the convenience of service-delivery groups, begin with the objective of a “delighted customer” then work backward. Automate processes and strip out redundant steps and manual efforts wherever feasible along the way, to optimise efficiency and accuracy.
2. Implement new delivery models such as enterprise request management (ERM) for service requests and schedule-based (like Apple Genius Bars) service delivery. Both approaches improve the service experience, particularly for mobile and remote workers.
3. Adapt to revolutionary developments using gradual change. Despite the rapid scope and pace of changes in user expectations, big-bang “rip and replace” responses are not always the best approach; not only is replacement of core management and control systems enormously costly, it also inevitably means unforeseen delays and business disruption. Instead, utilise agile service request management and “lightweight” business process automation (BPA) to design, test, modify, deploy, measure and optimise new processes gradually, starting with the most common or painful and incrementally increasing the portfolio of services offered over time.
4. Recognise the need for business change, not just adaptation by IT. Increasing expectations for consumer-like technology and experiences impact departments and functions across organisations, not only IT groups. IT is in ideally positioned, however, to assist other functional groups in adapting to evolving employee expectations, for example by extending the concept of IT service catalogs across the enterprise, to HR, facilities, finance, and other shared services groups. The tools deployed should empower business process owners anywhere in the organisation to design and optimise their own task workflow processes, with minimal technical assistance needed.
It’s clear is IT groups need to shed the image of being “defensive, late, overpriced, uninformed and unhelpful.” IT leaders and their teams must adapt to these changes, and others, while continuing to provide the business with “guide rails” in areas like cloud computing and BYOD (for security and cost reasons). And the emphasis needs to be on collaboration rather than control. Evolution or revolution—where do you think technology is at today?
- See more at: http://www.businesscomputingworld.co.uk/evolution-or-revolution-where-is-technology-at-today/#sthash.i2EIHCco.dpuf

Can good organisational design stop online & offline bullying?

Why training programs don't seem to stop workplace online and offline abuse and bullying

Have you ever been at work, perhaps sitting in a meeting, and finding yourself suddenly watching a display of interpersonal incivility, aggression or bullying and wondered why it was happening?

Vingette

Shortly after arriving at a large government organisation, I was invited to the division's bi-annual meeting with all EL2 and Band 1 managers. In the first morning session, two EL2s started shouting abuse at each other, in fact, one individual got out of his chair. It seemed clear in listening to the shouting that at least one of the protagonists was very obviously extremely frustrated while other appeared very bored, and slightly amused.


No-one said anything; we all sat and watched, and waited for one of the division’s leaders to step in and stop the abuse.

Courtesy of www.deviantart.com

After a short period (probably about 30 seconds or so) the horrified Band 2 got to his feet and asked both individuals to please stop arguing. After a short cessation, the argument recommenced. One of the Band 1s got to his feet and quietly said “Look, that’s enough. If you need to take this off line to work this out then I’ll help mediate, but this is not the place or time to have this conversation.” Both individuals quietened down, but the rest of the day was pretty much taken up with a buzz of conversation about the argument, what had set it off, and who was siding with whom. 

I honestly actually can’t remember if any work was done that day – I’m sure it was, however I do remember quite a bit of discussion that occurred at my table regarding the fight. Apparently, a number of hostile and potentially abusive emails and telephone calls had been shared between the two protagonists over the proceeding months about a particular issue (both individuals lived and worked in different states). The hostile online communications had then escalated into a face-to-face shouting match pretty much the moment they both sat in the same room together.

Training is traditional aimed at the individual and their behaviour

Workplace bullying research has found that online aggression escalates offline behaviours, and vice versa (AVG Technologies’ Digital Diaries study, 2013), while these types of workplace behaviours tend to arise as a consequence of what is not done rather than what is done (Rayner & McIvor, 2008).

Organisations have traditionally invested many resources, time and effort into developing well written and articulate anti-bullying policies that are then used as the corner stone for a range of good leadership and management, communication, resilience, respect and civility, and anti-bullying courses. Such programs tend to focus on building employees’ awareness and understanding about how to detect and mitigate negative workplace behaviours. 

Some of these training modules will describe and teach the types of workplace behaviours that are expected, how to recognise and deal with workplace conflict, employees’ legislated rights to work in a bully and harassment free work environment, and the impact of aggression and bullying behaviours on well-being, job satisfaction and productivity.

Generally speaking, these training modules represent a tool-kit “take-away” that the employee can later pull out and use when seeking to advocate and model respectful workplace behaviours.

Such training programs, and tool-kits, have the capacity to be perilous to employees, particularly for individuals returning to workplaces that are characterised by normalised negative behaviours, such as verbal incivility, hostility and abuse. In such cases, the freshly inducted individual who, in isolation, attempts to model or initiate the changed behaviours in their group or team may find themselves on the receiving end of increased levels of aggressive and bullying workplace behaviours from perpetrators who, frankly, would like to maintain the status quo and the control.

One of the reasons these workplace resilience, respect, leadership, or anti-bullying programs lack the leverage to change anything across the organisation is due to the assumption that negative workplace behaviours will reduce if individuals, in isolation, are taught to identify harassment, aggression and bullying, are clear about their employment rights, and can therefore confidently respond to the behaviour. Generally speaking, traditional intervention programs are built on the premise that workplace aggression and bullying arises as a consequence of poor interpersonal skills and lack of resilience by individuals.

However, research has confirmed this assumption is flawed (Salin, 2003; Pearson & Porath 2005; Rayner & McIvor, 2008; Fevre, Lewis, Robinson, & Jones, 2012; Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf, & Cooper, 2011).

Who trains the organisation?

Targets of workplace abuse, bullying and harassment are in fact more likely to be frustrated by the organisation’s response mechanisms, particularly those measures developed to protect the target from further abuse. Indeed, organisations are generally perceived as being unable or unwilling to develop or implement such measures and processes.

Organisations can change their responses by developing an integrated approach that cross all strata within the organisation, where the “individual, job, organisational and societal levels [are] required to tackle workplace mistreatment” (Hodgins & McNamara, 2014, p.65). This model aligns with current research that has found employee well-being is a by-product of “interacting influences that include the physical and psychosocial environment, including aspects of the design and management of work and its social and organisational contexts. Bullying and incivility are complex organisational problems, although manifesting at the level of individual behaviour” (Hodgins & McNamara, 2014, p.65).

Dr Lawrence has a BA SSc and a PhD in organisational social psychology and works with individuals and organisations as a consultant, speaker and trainer. She uses her social science expertise to enhance interactions between organisations and the people who lead and work in them by fostering new insights for diagnosing organisational problems, and build new capabilities and culture.

E: felicity.lawrence@connect.qut.edu.au or LinkedIn or Twitter 

Workplace cyberbullying and Natural Justice

How to make procedural fairness and natural justice work for you when you're dealing with anonymous workplace cyberbullying

Image courtesy of www.slideshare.net

Research into the concept of perceived organisational support (POS), or employees' perceptions as to "the extent to which the organization values their contributions and ...well-being" indicated a mediating effect between high POS levels and lowered staff resignations, workplace harassment and bullying. One of the strongest antecedents of POS is procedural fairness.  

Procedural fairness is also known as natural justice.

How does natural justice apply to me at work?

Natural justice imposesa code of fair procedure, and regards every Australian citizens' right to an unbiased and fair hearing (audi alteram partem). It imposes a legal requirement on potentially adverse government decision-making processes and can therefore apply to decisions regarding matters such as the cancellation of a licence or benefit, employee dismissal, disciplinary sanctions, or the publication of a report that damages a person’s reputation.

Procedural fairness is often viewed as a crucial element reflective of an organisation's corporate values of mutual respect and ethical behaviour, and supports the decision making process for potentially adverse employment matters such as workplace bullying investigations and breaches of the code of conduct etc.

Procedural fairness relates to (1). distributive justice - fairness of outcomes, (2). procedural justice  - fairness of processes, and (3) interactional justice - fairness in interpersonal dealings. It is perhaps no surprise to anyone that employees’ perceptions of organisational justice influences work behaviours (reflected through work attitudes, performance and job satisfaction).

Can procedural fairness, or natural justice, assist employees dealing with workplace cyberbullying matters, particularly anonymous online bullying?

Image courtesy of www.unazonageek.com 

Dear diary, how I defended myself against a workplace cyberbully by using the principles of natural justice

Samm accepted the promotion of senior project manager in a high profile organisation, which prompted the incumbent acting manager to leave for a job in another agency. Within the first month, internet postings appeared accusing Samm of landing the job by sleeping with her new boss, including explicit photos showing the back of a woman’s head with a hairstyle similar to Samm’s. Other posts, together with anonymous emails, started appearing on a daily basis, ostensibly from Samm’s former colleagues alleging Samm’s sexual proclivities and linking them to past work performance ratings. An anonymous website emerged, together with the allegations, photos, posts and emails. Samm felt powerless and defenceless, yet decided not to respond, judging this would only inflame matters.

Image courtesy of bullyvaccineproject.com

However, Samm’s reticence resulted in an unforeseen outcome. Her new boss, colleagues and staff believed her lack of response indicated managerial weakness and implied the allegations were credible. Consequently, Samm was cold-shouldered. Samm’s professional reputation was being hacked by an ICT savvy group.

Sam decided to defend herself so that her side of the story was heard (natural justice). 

Firstly, Samm recorded the posts, emails and website commentary including dates and times and reported the abuse to the police under the Crimes Act, regarding internet stalking, or publishing of material, to or about a person by post, telephone, fax, text message, email or other electronic communication. Police resources can track down anonymous cyberbullies. She then asked the agency’s ICT area to block the emails, and asked them to help her with her online privacy settings. Samm followed this up by reporting the abuse (together with the recorded material) to her agency’s HR area and asked if they could investigate the matter as the behaviour violated the organisation’s code of ethics and State WHS legislation. Lastly, Samm contacted the Internet service providers and asked them to trace and remove the abusive content as it violated the providers’ anti-abuse policies.

Finally, Samm asked her new boss to arrange a corporate meeting so she could set the record straight with her co-workers. Her boss was happy to comply as the cyberbullying was tarnishing his reputation as well as the organisation’s reputation.

At that meeting Samm asked people to imagine that they’d accepted a job for which an incumbent employee had been considered, and to imagine that on their arrival their reputation was trashed by anonymous online postings, emails and website commentary where the only recourse was to sit tight or escalate the flaming. “How can I convince you I’m telling you the truth? All I can say is that these cyberbullying posts and emails are baseless lies.” Sam talked about the actions she had undertaken to defend herself, with help from the police, Internet providers, and the agency's ICT area. Samm’s honesty, authenticity and courage created a circuit breaker and helped co-workers to think objectively about the situation. Many apologised to Samm for making assumptions and recognised that this type of workplace cyberbullying could potentially happen to them.

Vignette courtesy of Dr Curry "Beating the workplace bullying" and amended by Dr Lawrence to suit Australian audiences.

Dr Lawrence has a BA SSc and a PhD in organisational social psychology and works with individuals and organisations as a consultant, speaker and trainer. She uses her social science expertise to enhance interactions between organisations and the people who lead and work in them by fostering new insights for diagnosing organisational problems, and build new capabilities and culture.

E: felicity.lawrence@connect.qut.edu.au or LinkedIn or Twitter 

How to deal with workplace cyberbullying

Cyberbullying at work can be highly stressful, create job dissatisfaction and lead to reduced well-being and productivity.

While an international definition of workplace cyberbullying has yet to be recognised, researchers generally agree that workplace bullying using technology is the capacity of abusive and/or defamatory content to rapidly go viral, and hurt, embarrass or defame the target(s). 

Perpetrator(s) have the capacity to use technology to hide their identity and remain anonymous, thereby creating a power imbalance. In these instances, removing posts, images or videos from anonymous websites can take time to remove. 

Given its capacity to follow people from work to home, job to job, workplace cyberbullying has an even greater potential to impact a target’s well-being, reputation and job security 

A 2013 international business survey across 10 countries and 4000 participants found workers generally defined workplace cyberbullying as the dissemination of embarrassing work-related photos, and the sometimes covert posting of negative or unpleasant criticisms about a colleague’s appearance or work abilities through voicemail, instant messaging, social media or sms. 

Unwanted romantic advances, stalking, and secret online discussions about colleagues were also described.

 

Image courtesy of jeannecolemanlaw.com

Critically, cyberbullying was also reported as escalating workplace confrontations and leading to heated face-to-face or online exchanges.

Without intervention, negative workplace behaviours will always escalate up through a violence continuum, with percolating, low-levels of discourtesy and disrespect generating into forms of online and offline intimidation, harassment and bullying, and ending in retaliation, cyber assault or physical aggression (Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf, & Cooper, 2011). 

“Without intervention, the violence continuum will always escalate, always” 

Rosie Batty, 2015 Australian of the Year, 
QandA, 2015, February 23

Interrupting disrespectful, abusive, and harassing workplace behaviour is reliant on authentic and reliable managerial support and resolution processes (Caponecchia & Wyatt, 2011), and is dependant on an organisational culture and climate that’s built on civility, respect and collaborative interpersonal workplace relationships (Mattice, 2015).

However, employees suffering workplace cyberbullying do have options.

You can either ignore the communications, or consider one of the following points listed below.

In considering this list, I strongly recommend also liaising with your ICT area or branch and/or supervisor:

• unfriend or block the person
• change online permissions so you can view and/or manage defamatory statements or photos before they’re broadcast
• update online privacy settings to manage who has read access to your posts 
• report the person to your manager or supervisor, workplace ICT area, or external website or online service, and/or
• if you know the person is not malicious and you have a good work relationship, politely and courteously ask them to stop.

If you find yourself dealing with an anonymous perpetrator(s) you may choose to:

• again, manage your account(s) privacy settings and permissions
• discuss the problem with friends and colleagues for support
• change your username, accounts or delete your profile through your workplace ICT area
• withdraw from the online collaboration forum
• stop attending the offline events or places, and/or
• report the problem to law enforcement.

Dr Lawrence has a BA SSc and a PhD in organisational social psychology and works with individuals and organisations as a consultant, speaker and trainer. She uses her social science expertise to enhance interactions between organisations and the people who lead and work in them by fostering new insights for diagnosing organisational problems, and build new capabilities and culture.

E: felicity.lawrence@connect.qut.edu.au or LinkedIn or Twitter