Identifying and re-imagining the paradox of workplace bullying advice

ABSTRACT

The present study contributes to the growing body of research on workplace bullying by examining the advice targets receive along with their interpretations of its usefulness. Based on an analysis of interviews with 48 individuals from a variety of occupations, we identified a paradox of workplace bullying advice where targets described themselves as offering the same advice to other targets they had received, even though they believed following the advice either would have made no difference or made their own situations worse. We address the paradox by considering the possibility that urging individual targets to ‘remain calm’ and ‘stay rational’ overestimates the difference a single individual can make, downplays the significance of strong emotional responses to bullying, and constrains the ability to think and act with greater freedom.

KEYWORDS:

• Workplace bullying
• advice
• paradox
• emotion
• collective resistance

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Kathy Miller and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.