Bullying as a Relational Aggression

Many victims of relational aggression have been reluctant to self-report. Educators have experienced a difficult time to recognize this aggression. Bullying has been known for a long time to be a situation in which one boy threatens to beat another. Research has considered it to be a relational aggression. President Obama has been a victim of bullying as he mentioned in a White House Conference. Girls have also been reported to be using a hurtful language and social exclusion.

Bullying takes various forms like gossip, manipulation and abuse. These forms may be observed in the day to day activities. Gossip, manipulation and social isolation may be overlooked by most adults who have not realized that it is the common form of bullying. Research has found out that most children at their middle of social hierarchy at school are most likely to become bullies.

A report by a sociology professor shows that those on the top of the pecking order are too secure to be involved in bullying. These bullies use aggression as a means for maintaining their social status in the social hierarchy. After reaching at the top of the hierarchy, they no longer need to be aggressive. Teachers may not be aware of students who have the potential of becoming bullies. It only surprises them to learn that some students who appear to be innocent are bullies.

Cyber bullying is the latest wave of relational aggression. One person may send messages about another person to many people, who can then send rumors about the victim within the shortest time possible. Educators have been put in a tough spot on finding that, it is unclear on what they can do about off-campus speech other than banning the students from practicing the bullying. The school administrators should be involved in stopping this type of bullying within the school.

One of the complications is that parents do not support the schools efforts in controlling the bullying in the schools. The bullies have been supported by their parents who claim that their children are not bullies, but bright and innocent. They dont believe that they have the potential of becoming bullies. This resistance has been one of the obstacles to eliminating the cyber bullying in the schools.

The federal and the state governments have tried as much as possible to partner with other districts to support the schools in stopping this bullying. This came into force during the conference at the Washington held by President Obama.

Challenge Day has focused on building schools where every child feels safe, loved and celebrated. Clubs have been used to build and strengthen relationships aimed to stop bullying and social isolation. Such activities include, playing games and having discussions where different people get opportunities to share experiences in a very peaceful way.

They therefore get a chance to have fun and do other activities. Oprah Winfrey Show has always been involved in many programs that provide a forum where children discuss various issues affecting them in the society. They are then guided on how to handle the issues.

Schools and districts have been involved in the Challenge Day activities where children are advised on how to handle negative behaviors that may be faced in the society. If all the students, parents and teachers collaborate with other stakeholders in these efforts, bullying can be stopped in schools.

Problem of the Managing Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace

Managing bullying and harassment in the workplace is a contemporary and current issue that resonates well with many organizations in the competitive business world. This means that it is an issue that can not be avoided in any way because every organization is bound to experience it.

Bullying and harassment in the workplace is a significant issue because it affects productivity yet employees are supposed to perform to their maximum. There is no organization that can achieve its goals ad objectives with bullying and harassment in the workplace which explains why this is a very significant topic.

This means that bullying and harassments should be avoided at all costs through effective conflict resolution strategies (Randall 2001, p. 23). There is a lot of diversity in the current workplace and that is why every organization needs good management practices for success.

Employees should be motivated to be the best that they can ever be. People have different characteristics and behavior that can be explained from the diversity that we have in the society.

Cultural differences should not be taken as a hindrance by human resource managers but this can be effectively understood for long term sustainability. Organizations have been going global and this means that they will be exposed to different cultures which need a good approach to managing diversity.

This therefore explains the significance of this topic to the current competitive business world. A downward spiral can occur in a company if cultural differences are not clearly addressed by the human resource department. Managing bullying and harassment should be effectively coordinated to avoid fear and biasness (Hare 1997, p.

37).The needs of the global market are changing drastically and that is why such an issue is of great significance to our society. It is quite obvious that we have individuals who can be threatened by a difference that they dont understand and that is why harassment and bullying should be dealt with.

Diversity is powerful resource that any organization can use to its advantage. This can only be achieved with best practices and trends that can be horned and instilled in employees. Cultural assumptions need to be understood because they have been identified as the main reason behind harassment and bullying in the workplace.

There are certain behaviors that can cost time and money thereby reducing productivity which leads to bullying and harassment. This can be on the basis that a given employee did not perform his duties and responsibilities as expected.

On the other hand, there are some employees who are looked upon by their seniors which can be termed as harassment (Weed 1983, p. 67). Misinterpretations can also lead to harassment which is an aspect that has been seen as time goes by. Internal employee needs are some of the issues that revolve around managing diversity in an organization.

Workplace bullying and harassment can take various forms and this depends on the situation in question. For instance, ignoring other employees, humiliating others and gossiping can be termed as bullying and harassment. Employees are not supposed to be given meaningless tasks because everybody has a role to play in the organization.

Performance should be effectively evaluated because there are people who can do a given task by giving it their best yet this might not impress managers. A person who is being bullied can be an individual or a whole group and this is normally done by seniors or managers (Tehrani 2004, p. 72).

Employees in an organization have a specific role that they are supposed to play and this means that there might be shortcomings which should not lead to bullying. In a broad perspective, harassment revolves around unlawful discrimination which can also be seen in various forms depending on individuals who are involved. There are various grounds upon which harassment is portrayed which can be either by race, sex and religion.

Managing diversity in the workplace resonates well with bullying and harassment because it can be the ultimate solution. There are occasions where we can have verbal and emotional abuse in an organization which will also lead to harassment and bullying.

The effects of workplace bullying and harassment have been well elaborated and documented in the society. This means that nobody can deny that these two aspects should not be entertained in an organization. As a matter of fact, this is based on the negative effects that they have on an organization (Beale 2001, p. 39).

The most common effects of workplace harassment and bullying are stress and tension which can poison the working environment. Personal relationships in an organization should not be severed in any way because people are supposed to work as a family.

This is because organizations have some common goals and objectives that are supposed to be shared by everybody. Work performance will ultimately deteriorate in an organization that has a lot of harassments and bullying.

The effects of bullying and harassment can first of all be seen on an individual level which will move to departments and ultimately the whole organization. There are managers who are always in denial that bullying can not occur in their organization because they believe that they have hired professionals.

As much as everybody knows that he/she is supposed to perform exemplarily, differences in diversity can lead to harassment and bullying. This therefore refers us back to managing diversity as the possible solution to avoid harassment and bullying. There are internationally recognized approaches to managing workplace harassment and bullying which means that there is always a solution (Clarke 2010, p. 87).

Therefore, the most difficult question should be how to go about the issue of managing workplace diversity that revolves around different cultural practices and beliefs. This is because everybody has a belonging which can be traced from his culture meaning that we can not share our origin. In the long run, every organization has always strived to ensure that diversity does not translate to conflicts in an organization.

Various individuals, managers and shareholders have appreciated the fact our society has some cultural diversity that needs to be appreciated by everybody for long term sustainability. Current trends show that every employee in an organization should send out a clear message that harassment and bullying is not acceptable.

This is the first step because harassment and bullying affects every employee and that is why it is an organizational problem (Field 2010, p. 55). As a matter of fact, exchange programs have been used across various organizations to learn how such problems can be solved.

Managers need to support their employees in coming up with the best solution to work place harassment and bullying to enhance productivity. It is unacceptable to harass an individual yet we all contribute equally to achieve organizational goals and objectives. This means that an individual who is being harassed should stand tall and denounce such issues.

Workplace diversity revolves around the general behavior of employees because everybody has his/her own preferences. It is possible for managers to build and come up with respectable and diverse workplaces through proper understanding.

This means that employees should be well understood based on their belief, preferences and general culture. As much as organizations have their own work ethics that might differ as time goes by, they should be properly instilled in individuals to manage their behavior, relationships and interest (Oade 2009, p. 70) Skills can be developed and enhanced amongst employees to deal with some of these issues because they will be in a better position to understand the root cause than the manager in charge.

Training and proper management of employees has been used time and again to understand why employees might find themselves in such a situation which should be encouraged to find long term solutions. This is because every organization should be on the forefront to promote diversity for enhanced performance.

In conclusion, workplace bullying and harassment is something that every organization will face as time goes by. This is because we can not predict behavioral patterns that employees will exhibit in their workplace. As much as this is a contemporary human resource issue, there should be no excuse as per to why every organization should be having workplace bullying and harassment.

As earlier noted, the answer lies in proper and effective management of diversity in organizations. Such issues can be stressful depending on how they have been exhibited which needs to be understood.

Cultural diversity should benefit organizations because every employee brings something new that can be used by others. In this case, open dialogue and proper understanding is the best approach to bullying and harassment in the workplace.

Reference List

Beale, D., 2001. Monitoring bullying in the workplace. New York: Routledge.

Clarke, J., 2010. Working With Monsters: How to Identify and Protect Yourself from the Workplace Psychopath. New York: Harper Collins.

Field, M., 2010. Bully Blocking at Work: A Self-Help Guide for Employees and Managers. New York: Harper Collins.

Hare, C., 1997. Work Abuse: How to Recognize and Survive It. New York: Harper Collins.

Oade, A., 2009. Managing Workplace Bullying: How to Identify, Respond to and Manage Bullying Behavior in the Workplace. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Randall, P., 2001. Bullying in Adulthood: Assessing the bullies and their victims. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

Tehrani, N., 2004. Bullying: A source of chronic post traumatic stress? San Diego: San Diego State University.

Weed, F., 1983. Conflict in Organizations. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Workplace Bullying in The Playground Never Ends

Summary of the case study The Playground Never Ends

The case study The Playground Never Ends describes a serious problem having an effect on people of all ages  bullying. With the advance of the Internet, it has become nearly impossible to avoid being bullied in both schooling and working. Statistics show that 25 to 90 percent of employees experienced being bullied at least once in their career. This figure varies from 23 percent in university staff and faculty to 60 percent in retail and up to 90 percent in healthcare institutions.

The primary reason for such spectacular figures is seen in failing to understand the concept of bullying. That is why it is vital to remember that bullying is persistent, verbal and nonverbal aggression at work that includes personal attacks, social ostracism, and a multitude of other painful messages and hostile interactions, including insulting remarks, verbal threats, humiliation, and interference with ones work (Conrad & Poole, 2012, p. 263). It is usually lasting for 18-20 months, sometimes even decades. The gravest cause, however, is the ambiguity of the definition mentioned above and the absence of a single legal approach to determining it.

Bullying has adverse negative effects on targets. They vary from losing credibility, destroying reputation, and reducing performance to the most severe psychological and cognitive consequences including posttraumatic stress syndrome and attempts to commit suicide. There were even instances of actual suicides. The bullying cycle starts with emotional abuse and, over time, it gains momentum and turns into assaults, discrimination, and racial and/or sexual harassment. The primary reason for becoming a bully is primarily seen in fear to lose authority or formal positions in an organization and have more institutional power than that of the targets.

Sources of power available to bullies, targets, bystanders, HR professionals

Everyone involved in the vicious circle of bullying has certain sources of power and other resources. For example, bullies have some weight in an organization and a team that might include either formal position or organizational power and their resource is fear to lose it. Targets usually have higher levels of knowledge and competence, but they lack the emotional strength to stand against bullies. Bystanders have the power to choose whether to join a bully or resist him and stop the abuse, but, in most cases, their only resource is ignorance.

HR professionals have little authority in solving the problem because they cannot fire bullies, but they have the resource of life experience that should be used in determining whether a particular case is bullying or demanding leadership style and taking steps to create a safe and healthy environment in the workplace. These sources are interrelated because altogether they determine whether an organization will reach the desired high level of performance since the atmosphere of trust and openness in a team with the focus on cooperation and no space for fear of being bullied is, in fact, a key to success.

Final thoughts

I must say after reading this case study that it affected my mindset. I never really thought that people experience being bullied in the working place. I believed that once an individual graduates from school, his or her life changes. However, I missed the fact that a bully or a target is not a stage of life, but a type of personality, so shifting places does not actually help solve this problem if a person does not change internally.

I believe that there is a crucial necessity of taking legal steps to cope with this challenge. Because the figures of bullying are astounding, there is a must for adopting a single legal approach to defining the concept and determining the responsibility for choosing to become a bully and affect others lives. What I realized is that neither a bully nor a target can consider themselves professionals because a true professional should create the atmosphere that would benefit their organization, and the emotional stress caused by bullying definitely does not.

Reference

Conrad, C., & Poole, M. S. (2012). Strategic organizational communication in a global economy (7th ed.). New York, NY: Wiley-Blackwell. Web.

The Meaning of Cyber Bullying

Introduction

The meaning of cyberbullying is to embarrass intimidate or in other words, it is the humiliating or treating of an individual using modern communication technology. The purpose of doing this is to acquire power and control over the humiliated person. It is not recommended because it is all about the abuse of power.

Cyberbullying is characterized by the following signs

  • Spending a lot of time on a computer
  • One wants to be private in the room when using the internet or computer that is being secretive about things on the internet.
  • Failure in the performance in the school work
  • One loses appetite for food and wants to be on the computer every time. This is followed by the stomachache and then finally the fear.

In research recently, that 80% of teens were exposed to cyberbullying after researching on 5,000 teens. It was shown that the star wars kid was the most downloaded male image on the internet in the year 2004. (Elizabeth, 2006)

The growth in technology is not bad but it depends on how we use it. When one allows technology to be abused by children, the seed of this evil thing will grow beyond repair.

The Effects of Cyber Bullying

Cyberbullying has more negative effects on teens than positive ones. The changes in the behavior, emotional harm, change in sexual behavior, physical effects among others.

Cyberbullying has led to peer aggression. Threatening messages can make teens accuse each other verbally or they can torture others through physical means like kicking, hitting among others.

As observed by Sharon and Richard (2006) these will destroy the relationship between teens and so cyberbullying should be stopped. Relation aggression through teasing, spreading rumors verbal insults, video planning, and cyberbullying has led to negative relations between the teens. The teens spread rumors in messages through the internet about other teens and so it should be stopped. The teens who would bully others and are reported to the heads of the school are likely to be suspended or expelled from the school and this will affect their learning. Also, the victim of humiliation or threatening material may circulate exposing someone to rape threats, photographs of a victim who have added to pornographic images can affect the school or even the victim can run away from school.

The other effect is safety. Cyberbullying has been threatening some teens making them feel insecure always. For example, if one receives a text message being threatened of rape, killing, etc, it makes one feel insecure when walking, sleeping, or playing around. (Kenneth, 2005)

Cyberbullying has also led to distress, stress, and strain which has exposed many teens to use drugs like alcohol and marijuana. This has made many teens run away from home, cheat on school tests, skipping schools, and can finally even lead to the death of the victim through suicide.

Cyberbullying is also addictive. Many teens spend long hours on computers or in a cyber cafe, watching pornographic videos, spreading rumors through text messages, looking for pen pals on the internet and thus has affected their health by losing appetite for food, it has also caused some fear through threatened message causing stomachache as a result of stomach ulcers.

Emotional harm caused by cyberbullying has also led to embarrassment to some individuals. This embarrassed or uncomfortable victim feels low which finally leads to power imbalances. The teens who bully others through the internet feel superior to the teens that are being victimized thus leading to power imbalances between the teens. (Kenneth, 2005)

Thus for these reasons, cyberbullying should be stopped among teens and adults to prevent all the impacts caused by it like emotional effects, physical torture, death, drug abuse, poor performance in the schools, and also victims running away from their homes.

Some solution measures should be put in place in the institutions, the society, and on teens at large.

Solutions

The solution to cyberbullying especially among teens lies in the hands of the parents, schools, government, and advertisement or business sectors. Parents must be open to their affected children by talking to them about the subject. The parents should also put the computer in an open space to avoid the child being in private places. The school, on the other hand, should have policies that dont allow the child to access the sites which can encourage cyberbullying of the child, the teachers should also educate their students about cyberbullying.

In the business sector, businessmen should advertise their products responsibly and avoid certain sites which can affect the child or the society.

The government should have laws to encourage education on bullying the government should also fund anti-bullying programs. The teens can also help in preventing cyberbullying by rejecting the cyber during messages, encouraging their friends to stop these trends they should report to cyberbullying report to a responsible adult.

References

Elizabeth, A. Bully prevention, New York: Crown press, 2006.

Ken, R. Bullying in the school, Aust council for education Research, 1996.

Kenneth, S. The ABCs of Bullying Prevention, London, Oxford University Press, 2005.

Sharon, Y. and Richard, C. Technology and Education, New York: Emerald group publishing, 2006.

Bullying and Its Impact on My Life

Childhood and adolescence are usually considered a time of happiness, undisturbed by the problems that adults could face. However, children often encounter matters that are special for that age, as well as for the social environment in the school. At the same time, young people are still vulnerable, having not yet developed the appropriate methods of overcoming the challenges. One such problem is bullying, which is widely spread in nearly all childrens groups and communities; I have experienced it since early childhood as well. In this essay, I will discuss that bullying has impacted me in a bad way throughout my whole life; however, when I started standing up for myself, I got stronger and better.

During my school years, I was a patient and quiet person, compared to most of my classmates. I preferred to stay alone instead of participating in social activities; I maintained the independence of thought and social position. These qualities were not admired by others, who often could not understand my behavior, considering it strange. Something that cannot be understood is usually perceived with hostility; this was why I became a victim of my classmates bullying.

For a long time, I was suffering without finding a way of coping with this problem. Bullying was the cause of my permanent depression, up to suicidal thoughts. Although I always liked to study, I eventually started to skip school being not able to face the challenges of aggression of my peers. It continued until I decided to work on myself, becoming stronger and learning to stand up for myself.

As I liked to read, I thought that there could be some sources, for example, in psychological literature, where I could find information related to my problem. I was not mistaken; in a short time, I found articles and books on psychology that were analyzing the problem of bullying and provided possible ways to deal with it. In them, the authors were discussing resilience, an individuals ability to overcome and thrive under adverse conditions (Garner & Boulton 200). I was impressed knowing how common this problem is, and how many children and adolescents suffer from it; I realized I was not alone.

The books were arguing that it is insufficient knowledge of bullying that makes the victims develop maladaptive behavior patterns. Thus, I started to read about it and analyze the material, adapting it to my cases. For example, I learned about a variety of coping strategies such as seeking social support, talking with the bully, bullying others with the bully, and taking no action (Garner & Boulton 200). Some of them were more appropriate to use in my situation; one such method was seeking social support. Very often, I made new friends whom I considered supportive, and, with the help of them, I became more self-confident. It was a matter of self-value; very soon, I learned to stand up for myself and openly face the bullies I was previously avoiding. My new friends and my knowledge were the factors that helped me to encounter aggression, both direct and indirect.

Thus, I presented the factor that influenced me and the way I reacted to it. Bullying was a problem that affected the quality of my life, in its social and psychological aspects, since my childhood. For a long time, I was helpless in dealing with it; however, education became the factor that helped me to find proper methods to overcome the problem. The challenge that I faced became a driver for my progress and developing new qualities.

Work Cited

Garner, Ian W., & Michael J. Boulton. Adolescents Unambiguous Knowledge of Overcoming Bullying and Developing Resilience. Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention, vol. 9, no. 2, 2016, pp. 199207. doi:10.1080/19411243.2016.1162761.

Bullying Among Adolescents Problem

Bullying is one of the most pressing problems in modern society. In particular, this phenomenon affects the younger generation. It is defined as a violent action of a negative nature that is directed at a certain person or several individuals in order to obtain a sense of superiority and honor. It is also noted that bullying arises as a confrontation against misunderstanding and feelings of uselessness and loneliness. Furthermore, teenagers who experience these emotions and consider themselves outcasts of society show especially immoral behavior and cruelty. Moreover, young people use this form of protest as a way to display the strong feelings they are experiencing, such as suffering and inner pain. Hence, they try to get rid of negative feelings by transferring the accumulated aggression to others. Therefore, studying the problem of bullying, its factors of influence, and the application of developmental theories are critical for finding ways to combat it effectively.

The main characteristics of a teenager who shows cruelty to others is the stigma of a difficult child. Often, children who resort to using bullying as an emotional release are either outcasts of society or leaders of a group of people similar to them in behavior. It is noted that alienation from society can significantly aggravate an abusers emotional and psychological state and can contribute to the development of even more violent behavior. It is also worth noting that in the absence of obvious mental deviations in a teenager, it is possible to use various measures to change behavior (Reisen et al., 2019). This can be done with the help of specialists in the field of psychology or with the assistance of teachers. It is of critical importance to involve parents in this process, whose role is vital.

Influence Factors

Many studies have noted that cruelty towards other people is an abnormal way of acting. Therefore, this way of interacting with society is a deviation in cognitive and psychological development (Lisdahl et al., 2018). Often, the main factors that influence the formation of bullying tendencies are problems in the family of teenagers and the traumatic personal experience. As a result, there is a inclination that young people show a cruel attitude towards weaker and unprotected members of society.

In addition, considering the above information, it can be concluded that a teenager who pours out resentment and aggression on others has critical problems with the emotional aspect of the personality. Of particular importance in this context is the fact that in adolescence the human psyche is especially susceptible to various influences. This has a direct impact on the incomplete development and understanding of the idea of social and moral values and norms.

Family Patterns and Social Relationships

One of the main reasons for children to resort to emotional and physical abuse is parental irresponsibility and neglect in upbringing. Therefore, bullies are those young people who did not receive enough attention and education in childhood and may have been victims of the abuse. Moreover, children who bully others are characterized by the presence of psychopathies and character accentuations. This is all due to the fact that their parents, not knowing how to deal with teenagers, resort to using excessive power, control or manipulation. By these actions, the guardians can suppress the childs personality and unknowingly turn them into a bully.

Another factor that affects the unformed consciousness of adolescents is the peer pressure, which is especially high at this age. In adolescence, people are motivated by the desire to establish a particular respectable and strong position in society. Additionally, many young people resort to suppressing and infringing the unprotected and weak people to build such a position among their peers..

Social and Developmental Theories

The first theory that can be applied to this problem is the theory of social action. This concept assumes that people change their actions in accordance with social contexts. Moreover, the theory considers how such context will affect other people. It can be effectively applied to the problem of bullying among adolescents under study, as it makes an attempt to understand human actions by considering motives, previous experience and social context. Thus, in order to understand why a child resorts to cruelty towards others, it is necessary to look at their environment, especially the relationships within family.

The moral understanding stage theory can also be a useful tool when considering the problem of bullying. It examines how young people develop morality and moral reasoning (Sengsavang & Krettenauer, 2019). The theory implies three levels of this process and connects the formation of morality with cognitive development. In relation to bullying, this theory can be applied as a tool to change the behavior of the adolescent. It will help analyze how children develop standards of right and wrong behavior in their society and follow social and cultural norms. Hence, the study of the cognitive component of the formation of adolescent consciousness and the idea of morality is an essential tool for combating bullying.

Therefore, the problem of bullying is often found among the younger generation. In most cases, it arises because of a protest against society and intense emotional experiences. Moreover, the appearance of this negative behavior is influenced by the atmosphere in the family and a possibly traumatic experience. The theory of social action and the moral understanding stage theory can be applied to solve the problem. They will help to understand better how social factors affect the development of adolescents and find a more effective solution to the problem of bullying.

References

Lisdahl, K. M., Sher, K. J., Conway, K. P., Gonzalez, R., Ewing, S. W. F., Nixon, S. J., Tapertg, S., Bartschh, H., Goldsteini, R. Z., & Heitzeg, M. (2018). Adolescent brain cognitive development (ABCD) study: Overview of substance use assessment methods. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 32, 80-96. Web.

Reisen, A., Viana, M. C., & Santos-Neto, E. T. D. (2019). Bullying among adolescents: Are the victims also perpetrators?. Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, 41, 518-529. Web.

Sengsavang, S., & Krettenauer, T. (2019). Moral development in the family. The Encyclopedia of Child and Adolescent Development, 1-11. Web.

Nurse Bullying: Unprofessional Conduct

Bullying in workplaces comprises of deeds that directly bring forth emotional effects directed to a person over a given period. It is prevalent in the healthcare sector and acts as a menace to peer associations. It also impacts the rates of attrition and turnover in nursing (Meires, 2018). Bullying can be exhibited in the form of physical and verbal threats, social seclusion, aggressive behaviors, and suppression of applicable care information.

From the case study, Raymond was a specialist who undertook his assignments diligently with passion and professionalism. His exceptional skills made the hospital administration make him in charge whenever on duty. Raymond was well aware of his competence, however, the nurses found it rather disturbing. In countering this, the coworkers of Raymond secretly stage-managed a hit back action without his knowledge. The act hit hard on Raymond as a prank against him was organized, executed, and made known within the hospital from support staff to the entire nursing unit.

Organizational behavior encompasses molding the conduct of staff in an institution. The facility administration was not able to notice the growth of the bullying act to rectify and influence in line with organizational goals. Additionally, Raymonds colleagues opted to teach him a lesson rather than raising the issue with the hospital management. Therefore, it has set a working environment that has not aligned all the staff on optimum service delivery.

Social capital and dominance theories can be used for a clear illustration of the behavior of Raymonds workmates. Raymond can be described to be open to the other nurses, but upon sharing the condition of his wife, they took advantage of it and instigated a prank on him. Additionally, the coworkers used their big number in planning and executing the vengeful act of teaching Raymond a lesson.

In combatting bullying, it would be essential to train all personnel on the proper techniques of handling criticism and conflict, and institute a policy on zero-tolerance to workplace bullying. The biased nature of Raymond, as well as negative retorts, embarrassments, and rolling of eyes by colleagues as he was speaking, amounted to bullying. Some of the behavior in workplaces that amount to bullying include critics, pranksters, sabotage, cliques and gossips (Ball, 2020).

I experienced a similar scenario while in healthcare; whenever I undertook an activity, there was this colleague who always redid the task in his own way. I reported the issue to the management, there was a separation of duties, and thereafter a smooth workflow ensued.

Notably, bullying leads to concerns over the welfare of the patient, while the bullied staff tend to underperform due to anxiety. Consequently, there is lowered productivity, morale, and loss of talented professionals leading to a reduced turnover of the organization (Einarsen et al., 2020). The management contributes to the bullying actions through their overreliance on single staff for feedback at the expense of the majority, and not establishing and enforcing bullying policy.

In this case study, the eminent unethical concern is the revealing of the patient diagnosis information by Raymond to the other nurses without his wifes approval. There is also privacy invasion and exposure by fellow staff dthe prank. The behavior of the supervisor and nurses is likely to coerce Raymond to leave the hospital. Consequently, there will be lower turnover as most patients who were used to Robert will not seek services from the facility.

The happening of the foregoing case study is an instance of the numerous bullying cases in the nursing profession. In my opinion, all professionals ought to co-exist harmoniously amongst themselves. They should also adopt amicable strategies in resolving conflicts between them. In addressing the problem, healthcare should intervene a crisis meeting for all staff and stakeholders where the management will outline the beneficial strategies for combatting the unethical code of conduct. All members should be involved in the formulation process, and their opinions will be put into consideration.

References

Ball, P. (2015). 10 Types of workplace bullying and how to stop it. Care@Work.

Einarsen, K., Nielsen, M., Hetland, J., Olsen, O., Zahlquist, L., & Mikkelsen, E. Koløen, J., & Einarsen, S. (2020). Outcomes of a proximal workplace intervention against workplace bullying and harassment: A protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial among Norwegian industrial workers. Frontiers in Psychology, 11.

Meires, J. (2018). Workplace incivility  The essentials: Heres what you need to know about bullying in nursing. Urologic Nursing, 38(2), 95.

Bullying: A Concern for Modern Communities and Educational Establishments

Introduction

Bullying is usually associated with aggression and abuse of power. It can occur regardless of social status or income; however, there lies a direct connection between bullying incidents and poor parenting. A significant number of these incidents occur within educational establishments. Bullying takes many forms, such as physical, verbal, relational aggression, cyberbullying, prejudicial, and sexual harassment. Appropriate parenting styles, however, can produce effective defensive tools for children to protect themselves from bullying.

Parents can thus, educate their children to create their own safe environment for healthy development, both physical and mental, guaranteeing the absence of abusive behavior or victimization.

Main body

Today, bullying is one of the essential concerns for society and education establishments. According to the statistics, every fifth student is being bullied at school, and every third student experienced cyberbullying (Bullying Statistics). The consequences of this problem can be psychological and physiological (Rajendran et. al., 2016). They can be immediate, for example, an injury, or they can be revealed years later. Bullying can trigger a feeling of insecurity in children, when they develop a distrust of people, including the family, and depression caused by isolation from society (Moore et. al., 2017). Physical consequences of bullying, such as bruises, traumas, and pain, can be noticed at once; however, such effects as stress, headache, and insomnia can occur much later, having a significant negative impact on the quality of life (Rajendran et. al., 2016). Psychological consequences can include depression, anxiety, self-harming, aggression, victimization, etc (Moore et. al., 2017). It can negatively influence a childs future social life, causing loneliness and the inability to socialize with others.

Choosing the appropriate parenting style can contribute to a childs mental and physical self-defense. Parents are role models; therefore, it is crucial to demonstrate an example for them (Rajendran et. al., 2016). For instance, submissive people who remain passive and accept or do not react to injustice are more likely to have their children bullied since their behavior likely reflects their parents actions (Moore et. al., 2017). Therefore, parents who possess submissive qualities should take a moment to view themselves in their childrens eyes and adapt to the appropriate parenting styles that educate values such as integrity and pride, thereby deterring the possibility of child victims.

Bullying and Parenting

Children who grow up in healthy family environments are bullied less often (Nocentini et. al., 2019). This is related to the appropriate parenting style which has likely emphasized ethical values, along with personal life experiences that were introduced and explained by parents to their children for the purpose of demonstrating appropriate lessons. Such children rarely suffer from victimization; thus, it is harder to bully them. Moreover, victimization is not always a consequence of bullying; sometimes, it is a premise (Nocentini et. al., 2019). Moreover, children often can experience bullying inside the family when one or both parents show inappropriate action with abusive behavior (Rajendran et. al., 2016). This type of parenting can cause extreme deterioration and affect physical and mental development in the future.

Parenting style is the primary tool in preparing children for future life. Most of the problems that occur with people daily can be connected to the lack of parenting during their childhood (Moore et. al., 2017). Bullying is a problem not only for students in school but also for college students. Moreover, adults can be bullied by their colleagues, superiors, and others. Regardless of age, the problem originates within their early years in their families (Moore et. al., 2017). This is why a parent must choose the appropriate parenting behavior so that their children can learn how to manage stressful situations.

Various types of Bullying in the Modern Environment

In modern society, bullying is no longer a problem in educational facilities. It also extends to every aspect of life. People can experience different types of bullying, such as physical bullying, verbal bullying, relational aggression, cyber-bullying, prejudicial bullying, and sexual bullying (Rajendran et. al., 2016). Physical bullying is using ones body for abuse, which includes kicking, beating, slapping, etc (Rajendran et. al., 2016). It is one of the most common types of bullying. Usually, those involved in physical bullying, at some point, were victims as well (Nocentini et. al., 2019). Another example is verbal bullying, which consists of using verbal insults, threats, teasing to the extent when it is incredibly humiliating and offensive for a victim (Rajendran et. al., 2016). Relational aggression is negatively affecting other peoples relationships by manipulating them (Rajendran et. al., 2016). This type is common among children whose parents remarried or possessive friends who are jealous. Each of these aspects demonstrates the variety of abuse that may be felt as a result of bullying.

Cyberbullying is one of the most popular forms of abuse nowadays. Many young people use social media for self-expression (Rajendran et. al., 2016). For instance, they post photos, share comments, share their lifestyles, etc. Bullies utilize the internet as a means of posting insulting comments, sending abusive messages, or posting humiliating pictures and videos. To make matters worse, tracking the source of the abuse has become increasingly less possible.

Another kind is prejudicial bullying, which is based on stereotypes, such as racial, cultural, gender, etc. It usually occurs in traditional and deeply religious communities (Rajendran et. al., 2016). The main concern is that children with prejudice for such differences typically grow up with the idea of their supremacy and continue to educate the next generation in the same way. Prejudicial bullying is interconnected to sexual bullying, which is indicative of ones sexuality (Rajendran et. al., 2016). It includes sexual orientation, choice of clothing, or merely body structure. Similar to prejudicial bullying, sexual bullying is also typical for traditional and religious communities.

Effective Parental Styles for Protecting Children

Appropriate parenting is the key to childrens healthy development and prevents them from being bullied. It is essential to communicate with them so that children can learn how to detect the problem and solve it without any interference from the family (Nocentini et. al., 2019). Parents also must remember that even overprotection can result in more bullying. The most effective way to teach kids how to resist bullies is a parental example in different social situations. If parents are bullied by other people, there is a higher chance that their children would be bullied as well. Therefore, the most appropriate parenting style would be teaching in a natural environment.

Parental interventions, such as nurturing, discipline, teaching, monitoring, managing, should be implemented appropriately and only if necessary, to establish trust between parents and children. Too strict or too lenient parental styles must be controlled to avoid the production of oppressors and oppresses. Unequal application of these styles has the potential to harm the parent-child connection (Nocentini et. al., 2019). Therefore, it is crucial to teach and monitor children but still, let them have some freedom.

Conclusion

The issue of childhood bullying and its direct connection to the parenting style creates many difficulties for society. Parents should teach their children how to identify and avoid bullies with minimum damage, but most importantly, they must appropriately show the example that produces favorable results. It is essential to have complete trust in the family so that children can rely on their parents help and understanding. Therefore, parents must ensure their childrens ability to deal with bullying if it happens to them.

References

Bullying statistics. (2020). Web.

Moore, S. E., Norman, R. E., Suetani, S., Thomas, H. J., Sly, P. D., & Scott, J. G. (2017). Consequences of bullying victimization in childhood and adolescence: A systematic review and meta-analysis. World Journal of Psychiatry, 7(1), 60. Web.

Nocentini, A., Fiorentini, G., Paola, L. D., &Menesini, E. (2019). Parents, family characteristics and bullying behavior: A systematic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 45, 4150. Web.

Rajendran, K., Kruszewski, E., &Halperin, J. (2016). Parenting style influences bullying: A longitudinal study comparing children with and without behavioural problems. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(2), 188-195. Web.

Bullying During Orientations in the Universities

Introduction

Orientations are a great way to familiarize students with a university and help them join student life. Such events have long been considered instrumental in providing new students with the basic knowledge that can enhance the integration process. Moreover, there are certain psychological aspects to orientations, as they encourage team building and establishing new connections. Nevertheless, orientations may feature certain drawbacks, such as bullying performed by senior students. In the present essay, I argue that this issue should be addressed in a way that does not stop involving senior students in orientations.

Main body

Firstly, senior students can provide new students with the basic knowledge they might need to start feeling at home. For example, senior students can share essential hints concerning the education process and various issues related to bureaucracy, organization, and sports. University is so much more than pure studies for most people. Therefore, new students should not be deprived of access to high-quality firsthand experience.

Secondly, some people claim that new students should be protected from bullying that can affect their attitude to studies. For example, seniors might convince first-year students that they will fail a course because they are not clever enough. Nevertheless, the most often reported form of bullying is criticism, belittling, or humiliation related to academic performance (Pörhölä et al., 2020). Thus, stopping seniors from participating in orientations will not eliminate the most common issue that triggers bullying, as no one knows new students academic performance.

Most importantly, most senior students tend to be enthusiastic about assisting new students. The relaxed atmosphere that encourages them to study and participate in various activities is usually created by peers, not professors and staff members. For example, relationships established between senior students and new students can prove helpful for future excellent performance. Seniors might become friends and advisors of freshmen who understand their feeling better than anyone else. Moreover, providing an opportunity for senior students to interact with new students in an informal style reduces the chances of bullying throughout the year.

Conclusion

To conclude, there are various ways to address the issue related to bullying during orientations. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that the best way to overcome all such challenges is to allow only the most empathetic senior students to participate in orientations. Moreover, some staff members may be asked to assist in the organization of orientations. Thus, they will ensure that a pleasant atmosphere is maintained during the entire event.

Reference

Pörhölä, M., Cvancara, K., Kaal, E., Kunttu, K., Tampere, K., & Torres, M. B. (2020). Bullying in university between peers and by personnel: Cultural variation in prevalence, forms, and gender differences in four countries. Social Psychology of Education, 23(1), 143169. Web.

Bullying in Poverty and Child Development Context

Introduction

Fundamentally, poverty defines the low socioeconomic status that deprives people of the ability to access vital resources such as food, clean water, clothing, and accommodation. However, the modern context of poverty also includes the deprivation of proper health care, education, and social security (Okalow, 2021). While poverty remains a significant issue in any social and age group, the issue is particularly detrimental to children, as they are at a greater risk of facing poverty and poor social and health outcomes in adulthood (Pac et al., 2020). The aim of the present paper is to investigate how Bullying, as a factor associated with poverty, affects child development.

Issue Description

Bullying is considered a severe social issue among youth worldwide. According to the national initiative Stop Bullying (2021b), Bullying can be defined as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance (para. 1). Bullying can manifest in a variety of ways, including physical abuse, verbal assaults, threats, spreading misinformation, and leaving the victim out of the group, and make them feel marginalized and unwanted. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2017) report, nearly 20% of the youth population aged 12-18 reported being victims of Bullying in the preceding twelve months (p. 6). The severity of the issue concerns the fact that bullying behaviors do not exclusively affect the victims, causing some irrational behavior in bullies and bystanders as well. Thus, according to Stop Bullying (2021a), the victims of Bullying develop the risks of psychological traumas, health issues, and a decrease in academic performance, whereas bullies and bystanders are at risk of early engagement in self-destructive behavior such as drinking, using illicit drugs, various misdemeanors, and mental health issues.

When speaking of the correlation between Bullying and poverty, the national statistics do not reveal supportive data. The National Center for Education Statistics (2017) claims physical appearance and gender to be more significant precursors of Bullying. However, various studies conducted worldwide demonstrate the interrelation between socioeconomic adversities and victimization. The most important factor in the context is the fact that bullying behaviors embraced by children with socioeconomic issues include both bullying and being bullied.

For the past years, scholars found interest in defining what type of bullying behavior was more popular with children coming from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Thus, for example, the study by Knaappila et al. (2018) demonstrates that children with socioeconomic adversities are significantly more likely to become engaged in corresponding behaviors. Similar findings were presented by Pervanidou et al. (2019), claiming a low socioeconomic status contributes to childrens victimization by peers. The overall family background is also a significant variable in victimization. As demonstrated in research by Schmiedeberg and Schumann (2019) and Jiang (2020), poverty should not be directly considered as a cause of complicated child development. Instead, poverty should be seen as a trigger for mediating peer victimization, which leads to mental health problems and poor outcomes in adulthood. Hence, it may be concluded that the severe issue of Bullying triggered by poverty in childrens families has a drastic impact on child development and social adaptation in the long term.

Child Development

In order to understand the specifics of child development, it is necessary to address the extent to which the environment impacts ones perception of self and reality. The most efficient theoretical framework, in this case, would be the theory of bioecological systems presented by Bronfenbrenner (Hayes et al., 2017). According to this concept, a childs cognitive and emotional development is predetermined by the interaction of different ecosystems, namely, microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. In other words, childrens cognition develops through direct interaction with family, peers, educational establishments, and wider society. In this scenario, poverty within the family acquires various considerations from state legislation, social perception, peer pressure, and the familys struggle to combine proper childcare and labor.

Social and Cultural Significance of Poverty

For many years, the concept of poverty has been surrounded by prejudice and stigmatization both within family units and wider society. The studies indicate a significant correlation between ones ethnic affiliation and a predisposition to poverty (Churchill & Smyth, 2017). Such a phenomenon may be explained by the fact that poverty is frequently regarded as a generational and even genetic issue, and the years of stigmatization and marginalization of ethnic minorities in terms of social acceptance and employment result in hereditary poverty fueled by bullying at a young age. As far as the US context is concerned, it is reasonable to assume that increasing social polarization and capitalistic model predomination empower the bias of poor people being unwilling to work and fight for economic independence. With 1 in 7 Americans being considered poor, nearly half of the poor population accounts for Native American and Black populations, empowering ethnic prejudice and income gap (Poverty USA, n.d.). As a result, income polarization, prejudice, and the culture of poverty become the factors that promote the marginalization of poverty and economic adversity.

Resilience and Systems Theories

The resilience theory is a concept of rapid recovery and individual development after experiencing traumatizing or challenging situations such as family issues, health disparities, or low socioeconomic status. The primary assumption of this theory is that people suffering from a challenging environment are motivated and determined to break the circle of misfortune and prove social biases wrong. The strength of this theory concerns its explicit support of human abilities to develop coping mechanisms to overcome adversity. However, the line between resilience and denial or psychological trauma is rather blurry and requires social workers intervention.

As far as the systems theory is concerned, its primary assumption tackles the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Thus, in the context of social work practice, the systems theory demonstrates how a certain characteristic of an individual may be traced back to the early stages of their development and environment. While it is beneficial in terms of the psychoanalytical approach to social work, it may slow down the process of present social work. While the systems theory may rationalize and traceback poverty and oppression as a whole in terms of its impact on a specific family and individual, resilience theory accounts for the reasons for either conformity or avoidance of the issue within the society.

Risk and Protective Factors

Having adjusted the framework of Bronfenbrenner, one may assume that the major categories of risk and protective factors should include family, school, and wider society. In this framework, the primary risk factors would include peer pressure caused by low socioeconomic status, lack of parental supervision and communication, low self-esteem caused by marginalization from social groups and stigmatization of poverty in society, Bullying, and poor health status. The protective factors, on the other hand, might be effective communication with parents and the presence of social support and bullying prevention programs at school.

Concluding Remarks

Children raised in poverty are extremely vulnerable in terms of their interaction with the environment, as they usually lack both parental and peer support. Thus, the primary task of a social worker is to promote the functioning of social justice programs aimed at preventing inequality, prejudice, and Bullying on school premises. Moreover, it is recommended to develop a framework of holistic support for families living in poverty in order to promote economic equality within the state, as income polarization and social injustice remain the root problems of child development challenges and Bullying.

References

Churchill, S. A., & Smyth, R. (2017). Ethnic diversity and poverty. World Development, 95, 285-302. Web.

Hayes, N., OToole, L., & Halpenny, A. M. (2017). Introducing Bronfenbrenner: A guide for practitioners and students in early years education. Routledge.

Jiang, S. (2020). Psychological well-being and distress in adolescents: An investigation into associations with poverty, peer victimization, and self-esteem. Children and Youth Services Review, 111, 104824.Web.

Knaappila, N., Marttunen, M., Fröjd, S., Lindberg, N., & Kaltiala-Heino, R. (2018). Socioeconomic trends in school bullying among Finnish adolescents from 2000 to 2015. Child Abuse & Neglect, 86, 100-108. Web.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2017). Student reports of bullying: Results from the 2017 school crime supplement to the national crime victimization survey [PDF document]. Web.

Okalow, S. (2021). What is poverty? Its not as simple as you think. World Vision Canada. Web.

Pac, J., Garfinkel, I., Kaushal, N., Nam, J., Nolan, L., Waldfogel, J., & Wimer, C. (2020). Reducing poverty among children: Evidence from state policy simulations. Children and Youth Services Review, 115, 105030. Web.

Pervanidou, P., Makris, G., Bouzios, I., Chrousos, G., Roma, E., & Chouliaras, G. (2019). Bullying victimization: Associated contextual factors in a Greek sample of children and adolescents. Psychiatrike= Psychiatriki, 30(3), 216-225. Web.

Poverty USA. (n.d.). Facts. Web.

Schmiedeberg, C., & Schumann, N. (2019). Poverty and adverse peer relationships among children in Germany: A longitudinal study. Child Indicators Research, 12(5), 1717-1733.

Stop Bullying. (2021a). Effects of bullying. Web.

Stop Bullying. (2021b). What is bullying. Web.