Bullying needs to be able to be defined in behavioral terms so that a workplace bullying policy can move from a concept to an opera-tional reality. If bullying could be behaviorally defined, the behav-iors could be useful for measuring the occurrence of bullying in a workplace as well as training employees with regard to the kinds of workplace behavior that is not acceptable.

Generate behaviors that illustrate, in your judgment, examples of workplace bullying. In other words, what behavioral incidents would represent examples of workplace bullying? How could these behavioral examples be used in an organization? Share your examples and suggested uses with the rest of the class.

As discussed in this chapter. violence in the workplace can take a variety of forms. One form that can be relatively sub-tle but that can wreak havoc in the workplace is bullying. Just what is bullying? In general, workplace bullying might be described as abrasive or intimidating employee behavior. The Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute defines bullying as repeated, health-harming mistreatment that could include ver-bal abuse; threatening, humiliating, or offensive behavior; or work interference. If this type of treatment was directed at a member of a pro-tected class, the bullying could be found to be illegal discrimi-nation. However, if the victim is not a member of a protected class, antidiscrimination law will not offer any protection, at least in the United States. Canada, Australia, and Europe have passed antibullying laws. Workplace antibullying legislation has been introduced in at least 16 states, but none have been passed into law. A federal antibullying law would protect every-one, not just certain subgroups of employees. Critics fear that antibullying legislation could result in liability for employers and a huge number of lawsuits. They also argued that bullying cannot be defined precisely enough, which makes it difficult to outlaw. Although it may be difficult to define, a recent survey found that 37 percent of employees feel that they have been bullied at work. Research has also found that workers who have been bul-lied tend to be less satisfied with their jobs, have greater anxiety, and are more likely to quit their jobs. Some accountants have also reported in a recent limited survey that they are more likely to alter numbers in reports when they are pressured by bullies.

Although bullying may not be in violation of federal or state law, organizations that want to be an employer of choice and have effective work teams and a high level of productivity shouldn't tolerate it. Goodwill of Southern California provides an example of what an organization can do to prevent or stop workplace bullying. Goodwill established an interpersonal mis-conduct policy as a means to operationalize its strategic values of respect, integrity, service, and excellence. Goodwill's policy states that interpersonal misconduct is an individual's behavior that bullies, demeans, intimidates, ridicules, insults, frightens, persecutes, exploits, and/or threatens a targeted individual and would be perceived as such by a reasonable person. Goodwill is targeting patterns of this type of behavior, rather than focusing on isolated incidents. The organization has terminated employees who have violated the policy.