Debate Issue: Take a Stand
Is Workplace Bullying Serious Enough to Warrant Legal Action?
Workplace bullying is abusive behavior used to assert one’s power over another. One survey shows that more than one-third of employees have been victims of some kind of workplace bullying behavior. In many cases, the bullies are the supervisors of the organization. Yet while some countries have laws against workplace bullying, the United States does not.
Many believe employees should be legally protected from workplace bullying because bullying is harmful to employee health. Victims of bullying suffer from symptoms including depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Bullying permeates the environment of the workplace, causing bystanders to feel its unpleasant effects and creating a toxic workplace. Others, however, believe antibullying laws would limit managers’ ability to manage since they would constantly be afraid their management styles could be perceived as bullying. Also, critics of such a law argue that bullying is hard to define, making such a law difficult to enforce. Instead, they are in favor of internal ways to combat bullying, including conflict resolution, harassment awareness, and sensitivity trainings.
1. Bullying in organizations can be harmful to employees and therefore warrants legal action.
2. Laws against bullying are not feasible as they are hard to define and have the potential to limit managers’ ability to manage.
Bullying is associated with a hostile workplace where someone (or a group) considered a target is threatened, harassed, belittled, verbally abused, or overly criticized. Bullying creates what is referred to as a “hostile environment,” but the concept of a hostile environment is generally associated instead with sexual harassment. Regardless, bullying can cause psychological damage that may result in health-endangering consequences to the target. For example, workplace bullying is strongly associated with sleep disturbances. The more frequent the bullying, the higher the risk of sleep disturbance. Other physical symptoms include depression, fatigue, increased sick days, and stomach problems. As Table 3-3 indicates bullies can use a mix of verbal, nonverbal, and manipulative threatening expressions to damage workplace productivity. Approximately 72 percent of bullies in the workplace outrank their victims. If managers do not address bullying behaviors in the organization, then what starts out as one or two bullies may begin to spread. It has been found that employees who have been bullied are more likely to find it acceptable to bully others.
Table 3-3
Actions Associated with Bullies
1. Spreading rumors to damage others
2. Blocking others’ communication in the workplace
3. Flaunting status or authority to take advantage of others
4. Discrediting others’ ideas and opinions
5. Use of emails to demean others
6. Failing to communicate or return communication
7. Insults, yelling, and shouting
8. Using terminology to discriminate by gender, race, or age
9. Using eye or body language to hurt others or their reputations
10. Taking credit for others’ work or ideas
Source: Based on Cathi McMahan, “Are You a Bully?” Inside Seven, California Department of Transportation Newsletter, June 6, 1999.
There is currently no U.S. law prohibiting workplace bullying. However, 27 states have introduced the Healthy Workplace Bill to consider ways to combat bullying. Workplace bullying is illegal in many other countries. Some suggest employers take the following steps to minimize workplace bullying:
· Create policies that place reprimand letters and/or dismissal for such behavior.
· Emphasize mutual respect in the employee handbook.
· Encourage employees who feel bullied to report the conduct via hotlines or other means.
In addition to the three items mentioned, firms are now helping employees understand what bullying is by the use of the following questions:
· Is your supervisor requiring impossible things from you without training?
· Does your supervisor always state that your completed work is never good enough?
· Are meetings to be attended called without your knowledge?
· Have others told you to stop working, talking, or socializing with them?
· Does someone never leave you alone to do your job without interference?
· Do people feel justified screaming or yelling at you in front of others, and are you punished if you scream back?
· Do human resources officials tell you that your harassment is legal and you must work it out between yourselves?
· Do many people verify that your torment is real but do nothing about it?
Bullying also occurs between companies that are in intense competition. Even respected companies such as eBay have been accused of monopolistic bullying. The Justice Department accused eBay of having a secret agreement with Intuit to avoid hiring workers from each other’s companies. The Justice Department believes this agreement served to limit competition and hinder employment opportunities. eBay settled for $3.75 million. In many cases, the alleged misconduct can not only have monetary and legal implications but also threaten reputation, investor confidence, and customer loyalty.
3-3cLying
Earlier in this chapter, we discussed the definitions of lying and how lying relates to distorting the truth. We mentioned three types of lies, one of which is joking without malice. The other two can become troublesome for businesses: lying by commission and lying by omission. Commission lying is creating a perception or belief by words that intentionally deceive the receiver of the message—for example, lying about being at work, expense reports, or carrying out work assignments. Commission lying also entails intentionally creating “noise” within the communication that knowingly confuses or deceives the receiver. Noise can be defined as technical explanations the communicator knows the receiver does not understand. It can be the intentional use of communication forms that make it difficult for the receiver to actually hear the true message. Using legal terms or terms relating to unfamiliar processes and systems to explain what was done in a work situation facilitate this type of lie.
Lying by commission can involve complex forms, procedures, contracts, words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, or refuting the truth with a false statement. Forms of commission lying include puffery in advertising. For example, saying a product is “homemade” when it is made in a factory is lying. “Made from scratch” in cooking technically means that all ingredients within the product were distinct and separate and were not combined prior to the beginning of the production process. Many food and cleaning supply labels use the word “natural” to imply that its ingredients are healthier, organic, or nongenetically modified. In reality, the word “natural” is not regulated and does not have to mean any of these things.
Omission lying is intentionally not informing others of any differences, problems, safety warnings, or negative issues relating to the product or company that significantly affect awareness, intention, or behavior. A classic example of omission lying was in the tobacco manufacturers’ decades-long refusal to allow negative research about the effects of tobacco to appear on cigarettes and cigars. When lying damages others, it can be the focus of a lawsuit. For example, prosecutors and civil lawsuits often reduce misconduct to lying about a fact, such as financial performance, that has the potential to damage others. A class-action lawsuit was filed against Ticketmaster for charging what customers thought were order processing and UPS delivery fees that actually turned out to be profit centers for the firm. Manipulating financial reports to inflate earnings is also a form of omission lying that can result in fraud.
The point at which a lie becomes unethical in business is based on the context of the statement and its intent to distort the truth. A lie becomes illegal if it is determined by the courts to have damaged others. Some businesspeople may believe one must lie a little or that the occasional lie is sanctioned by the organization. The question you need to ask is whether lies are distorting openness and transparency and other values associated with ethical behavior.
3-3dConflicts of Interest
A conflict of interest exists when an individual must choose whether to advance his or her own interests, those of the organization, or those of some other group. The three major bond rating agencies—Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch Ratings—analyze financial deals and assign letters (such as AAA, B, CC) to represent the quality of bonds and other investments. Prior to the financial meltdown, these rating agencies had significant conflicts of interest. The agencies earned as much as three times more for grading complex products than for corporate bonds. They also competed with each other for rating jobs, which contributed to lower rating standards. Additionally, the companies who wanted the ratings were the ones paying the agencies. Because the rating agencies were highly competitive, investment firms and banks would “shop” the different agencies for the best rating. Conflicts of interest were inevitable.
To avoid conflicts of interest, employees must be able to separate their private interests from their business dealings. Organizations must also avoid potential conflicts of interest when providing products. The U.S. General Accounting Office found conflicts of interest when the government awarded bids on defense contracts. Conflicts of interest usually relate to hiring friends, relatives, or retired military officers to enhance the probability of getting a contract.
3-3eBribery
Bribery is the practice of offering something (often money) in order to gain an illicit advantage from someone in authority. Gifts, entertainment, and travel can also be used as bribes. The key issue regarding whether or not something is considered bribery is whether it is used to gain an advantage in a relationship. Bribery can be defined as an unlawful act, but it can also be a business ethics issue in that an industry or even national culture may include such payments as standard practice. Related to the ethics of bribery is the concept of active corruption or active bribery , meaning the person who promises or gives the bribe commits the offense. Passive bribery is an offense committed by the official who receives the bribe. It is not an offense, however, if the advantage was permitted or required by the written law or regulation of the foreign public official’s country, including case law.
Small facilitation payments made to obtain or retain business or other improper advantages do not constitute bribery payments for U.S. companies in some situations. Such payments are often made to induce public officials to perform their functions, such as issuing licenses or permits. In the United Kingdom these facilitation payments are illegal. Ralph Lauren Corp. employees gave Argentine customs officials dresses, perfume, and cash to accelerate the passage of merchandise into the country. Over $580,000 was paid. This amount was not considered to be facilitation payments—they were considered to be bribes. When discovered, Ralph Lauren reported the bribery and cooperated with an investigation. As a result of their cooperativeness, they were not prosecuted under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. However, they agreed to pay $1.6 million to resolve the investigation.
In most developed countries, it is generally recognized that employees should not accept bribes, personal payments, gifts, or special favors from people who hope to influence the outcome of a decision. However, bribery is an accepted way of doing business in other countries, which creates challenging situations for global businesses. Bribes have been associated with the downfall of many managers, legislators, and government officials. It is also not limited to rogue employees—approximately 53 percent of the bribery cases reported involve bribes that had been authorized by managers.
When a government official accepts a bribe, it is usually from a business that seeks some advantage, perhaps to obtain business or the opportunity to avoid regulation. Giving bribes to legislators or public officials is both a legal and a business ethics issue. Federal as well as state antibribery laws exist. It is a legal issue in the United States under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to bribe a foreign official. This act maintains it is illegal for individuals, firms, or third parties doing business in American markets to “make payments to foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business.” Companies have paid billions of dollars in fines to the Department of Justice for bribery violations. The law does not apply only to American firms but to all firms transacting business with operations in the United States. This could also mean firms do not necessarily have to commit the bribery in the United States to be held accountable. For instance, Alcoa paid $384 million to settle allegations that it had paid bribes to a Bahraini state-controlled smelter.
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