Bullying in the Workplace
According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, there are more than 60 million victims of workplace bullying within the United States, and the figure keeps on rising (Legg & Raypole, 2019). Workplace bullying poses a threat to the individual(s) being bullied as well as the organization where the bullying is taking place. A keen evaluation of work environments will show that workplace bullying is real, and it exists even in the most unlikely workplaces. I intend to show the impacts of workplace bullying with the hope that organizations, where bullying has been normalized, will be able to manage the issue to protect their workers and their company. The argument I have raised is connected to my major, Business Administration, and concentrates on Human Resource. As a business administrator, it is my responsibility to oversee business operations. This means that I am in a better position to identify actions that resemble bullying in the workplace and use my expertise to resolve them.
The three possible key points for this issue are as follows. One, bullying affects the performance of a worker and significantly lowers their productivity at the workplace. Low self-esteem and inability to make sound decisions can be detrimental to their work output. Two, bullying poses health risks – both physical and psychological – to the targeted individual such as anxiety panic, increased stress levels, and ulcers, among others (Legg & Raypole, 2019). Three, bullying can affect the company as a whole by lowering its profitability, which may prove costly to the organization. These key points support my main argument by showing how workplace bullying can impact workers as well as their organization.
My audience for the essay is workplace managers, particularly business administrators, as they are in charge of overseeing operations in the workplace. The potential challenges I may encounter in supporting my argument with this audience is the lack of expertise, which my audience already has. If anything, they will think of themselves as being in a better position to school me because they are already in the job market and thus have more experience.
My goal in terms of this essay is to persuade my audience that workplace bullying exists and that evaluating work environments would save the workers and the entire organization from the greater impacts of this issue, such as humiliating legal battles and loss of skilled personnel. To achieve this goal, I will need to have concrete evidence about my argument. Showing an understanding of the problem is the first step. Afterward, I will need to present the facts in a logical way that captures the attention of my audience, without making them feel incompetent. I believe that doing this will successfully help me persuade my audience.
One of the potential resources that will undoubtedly support my argument is case studies, which I can source from the Internet. These are stories of individuals and organizations that have experienced workplace bullying and the impacts of the issue. The case study/studies used will be aligned to my key points and will help provide more evidence, thereby reinforcing my argument. Another potential resource is medical reports showing the health impacts of workplace bullying for the victims. Using information from these reports, I will be able to show evidence of the health risks of workplace bullying, and this will also strengthen my argument.
The first point is that bullying affects the performance of a worker and significantly lowers their productivity at the workplace. The potential resources that will support this point are case studies. The second point is that bullying poses health risks – both physical and psychological – to the targeted individual, such as anxiety panic, increased stress levels, and ulcers, among others. The resources that will support this point are the medical reports. The third point is that bullying can affect the company as a whole by lowering its profitability, which may prove costly to the organization. This point will also be supported using case studies.
My argument is that workplace bullying exists and has negative impacts on the workers as well as the organization. The key points are the aspects of my argument that would be effectively supported by evidence. Merely mentioning the key points will not persuade my audience. For instance, stating that workplace bullying causes health risk will require me to provide sufficient evidence that shows how the issue has affected the health of the victims in the past and even in present times. The same goes for the other two key points. I believe that supporting these points with evidence will boost my efforts in persuading the target audience.
References
Legg, T. J., & Raypole, C. (2019). How to Identify and Manage Workplace Bullying. Healthline. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/workplace-bullying