Bullying for big kids: MSU’s workplace bullying survey shows mixed results

By Matt Sauer, Minnesota State University Reporter

For many, the word “bullying” brings to mind images of a cackling chubby kid holding a boy upside down and shaking milk money out of his pockets, but there is more to it than that. The issue of bullying between adults in the workplace was recently addressed in a Minnesota State workplace bullying survey.

More than 1,000 employees responded to the survey, which was initiated by an effort between university President Richard Davenport and the Commission on the Status of Women. Loraleigh Keashly from Wayne State University in Detroit and Joel Neuman from the State University of New York conducted the survey. The survey’s main goal was to evaluate the current working conditions that exist on campus, as well as to determine what, if anything, can be done to improve the quality of working conditions at MSU.

Participants in the survey responded to a variety of questions and rated their experiences at their place of work.

The survey defines bullying as “all those repeated actions and practices that are directed to one or more workers, which are unwanted by the victim, which may be done deliberately or unconsciously, cause humiliation, offense, and distress, and that may interfere with job performance and/or cause an unpleasant working environment.”

This is contrasted with “workplace aggression,” which is defined as “isolated or occasional acts of negative workplace behavior.”

According to the survey, 75 percent of respondents reported satisfaction with the conditions of their workplace and 63 percent indicated they were happy with the university itself. However, 84 percent of the 805 respondents who took part in the “behavioral checklist” section of the survey reported experiencing one or more incident of bullying during their tenure as an MSU employee. Of these incidents, the three most common issues listed were rude treatment, delay of actions and not receiving praise for work.

Only 64 cases were officially filed to superiors.

The survey’s results also indicated more than 150 combined cases of racial prejudice, sexual harassment or workplace violence have occurred.

The survey also included a section for workers to report on experiences witnessing the bullying of others. According to Keashly and Neuman, 41 percent of respondents have witnessed bullying of one co-worker by another, while 32 percent have been targeted themselves. A slight majority of the bullies witnessed were female and all bullies tend to bully those of the same sex.

So what does all this say about the comfort level of students and employees at MSU?
“From what I can tell, certain supervisors are given more hours than others for reasons other than their capabilities to do their jobs,” said Beth Gripentrog, a part-time MSU volleyball referee.

Gripentrog also said sometimes unjust practices exist within university academics.

“In certain departments there are certain teachers who have an easier time pursuing their ideas for projects than others,” she said.

Regardless of the severity or situation, bullying can negatively affect everyone in a work place. According to Keashly and Neuman, even witnessing bullying can increase an individual’s vulnerability to sickness, dissatisfaction in the workplace and stress.