Section I: The Issue/Challenge
One issue that has been an issue in the school system is bullying. Bullying among students has increased. Kids are bullying other kids during school hours and on social media. The issue of bullying amongst the students is causing concern for teachers in the workplace. Students who are bullying exhibit many behaviors such as verbal confrontation, physical confrontation, threats, and cyber abuse on social media sites. The issue is not just in one school system but is currently an issue that is common in other schools.
The school system has put into place a rule of zero tolerance for bullying. Administrators in the school system are to take bullying seriously, and offer resources to help with the issue. The students are being taught that bullying is not taken lightly and there are consequences for this type of behavior. Students who are victims can seek help from their school counselo and get resources for coping with bullying.
Section II: The Workplace Environment
The teachers and administrative personnel are aware of bullying and what can happen to students not just physically but psychologically as well. The workplace is vigilant and closely observes all students’ actions, and officials are to take any instance of bullying seriously. The school workplace has acknowledged the issue, and has taken great steps to ensure the students’ and employees’ safety in the school environment.
Section III: Objectives and Resolutions:
The organization has for its main objective the eradication of bullying cases therein. This means that there will be zero cases of bullying reported in the institution.
Also, should there be instances of bullying that are reported, that there would be in place a standard procedure for the hearing of the case, and a set of rules that would mete out the corresponding penalties to those found guilty of bullying.
That awareness programs would be created and implemented, with these programs’ results being measurable in terms of the decline or eradication of instances of bullying.
The main factor that would influence the eradication of bullying in the institution or organization would be the creation of a culture in the organization that respects diversity such that no one is considered as inferior to others such that he or she is a target of bullying in the workplace.
Section IV: Organizational Roles
The Human Resources Department will be designated as the lead group in the creation and implementation of programs to prevent bullying in the workplace, and will also be in charge of hearing officially reported cases of bullying.
The leaders of the organization must also demonstrate that bullying will never be tolerated in the workplace, and that bullies (when proven as such) will face sanctions and penalties.
The Department Heads must likewise be vigilant in monitoring cases of bullying. Emails, memoranda, and other official forms of communication must be monitored such that those in charge are able to identify instances of bullying (Dickson, 2005).
Section V: Resources
Perhaps the greatest resource that the organization may make use of is time. Time should be allotted for the HR Department to review and tweak its recruitment policies such that potential bullies are identified as early as during the recruitment phase. Programs that could help potential bullies control themselves as well as create awareness of bullying in the workplace must be created and implemented.
The organization could also make use of the resources that are available at institutes that work towards the eradication of bullying. One such institute is the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) that is headquartered in Bellingham, Washington. WBI has a wide variety of services that range from individual mentoring and coaching to conducting training and seminars (WBI, 2015).
Section VI: Steps to Resolution
The HR Manager should first look into creating a culture that will respect diversity and that will frown on bullying in the workplace. Therefore this has to start with the recruitment policies of the company, which need to be reviewed.
Thereafter, a review of all the orientation and training programs of the company is in order. There may be modules that have concepts contrary to the concept of controlling and eradicating bullying in the workplace.
Mechanisms for documenting cases of bullying and the proper sanctions must be in place.
Programs on bullying awareness have to be created and implemented. These programs can also be integrated into the other programs of the organization.
Actual documented cases of bullying have to be heard and sanctions have to be meted out if necessary.
Section VII: Assessment
The first metric that can be used in the assessment of the programs in place is whether in fact there has been an increase or a decrease in the number of bullying cases in the organization.
Aside from this, one may also measure the success of the plans and programs in terms of the overall productivity of the organization. Have the revenues per head of the organization increased? Is employee turnover decreasing? These and other metrics may be used for this purpose (Wrench, 2013).
References
Dickson, D. 2005. Bullying in the Workplace. Anaesthesia, December 2005, 1159-1161.
Workplace Bullying Institute. History of the WBI. Retrieved 27 February 2016 from: http://www.workplacebullying.org/history-of-wbi/
Wrench, J. 2013. Workplace Communication for the 21st Century: Tools and Strategies that Impact the Bottom Line. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC Clio.
