FACULTY PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION

PK30903 INDUSTRIAL COUNSELLING

SEMESTER 1 2021/2022

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC:

PROBLEM-FOCUSED COPING STRATEGIES, WORKPLACE BULLYING AND SUSTAINABILITY

OF HEIs

NAME:

NISRIN BINTI ZAIFULSHAM

MATRICS NO.:

BP20110161

TUTORIAL DAY & TIME:

MONDAY 1PM-2PM

LECTURER:

DR. SHARON KWAN SAM MEE

0
INTRODUCTION

The article that is being reviewed is entitled problem-focused coping strategies,

workplace bullying and sustainability of HEIs. This article was written by three authors which
is Amina Muazzam, Ambreen Anjum and Anna Visvizi and was published on December 2020.
This article is focusing in workplace bullying in higher educational institutions (HEIs) and the
usage of problem-focused model as coping strategies.

As we all know, issues in the workplace are unavoidable. As a result, it had a direct
impact on the workers who were immediately affected. The same can be said for HEIs, where
a recently implemented system has increased the workload for employees. Employees must
adjust to the new standard, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, where what they are
accustomed to must be adjusted. As a result, the employee was put under further stress. As
a result, problems with group dynamics, collaboration, equality, and justice arose, leading to
bullying. Bullying is described as a "continuous and deliberate misuse of power in relationships
through repeated verbal, physical, or social behaviour with the intent of causing physical,
social, or psychological harm" ('Definition of bullying | National Centre Against Bullying," n.d.).
Bullying can take many different forms, as evidenced by the definition. Meanwhile, workplace
bullying is defined as harassment that is repeated on a regular basis, carried out against a
particular person and consists of behaviour done with the conscious intent of harming the
target in workplace setting (Redman, n.d.).

As a result, this research proposes that a problem-focused approach is an appropriate

coping strategy for navigating issues that arise in the institution. This model is defined as
addressing the root cause of bullying in practical methods that address the problem that
causes the issue, hence minimising the issue or causes directly (Mcleod, 2015). To put it
another way, this model eliminates the stressor, therefore addressing the fundamental cause
of the problem and delivering a long-term remedy. As a result, this model is the ideal way to
navigate problems and issues, which is why it was picked over others. Because this is not a
new problem in the workplace, immediate action is required to avoid further consequences
such as increasing absenteeism, increased turnover intentions, and decreased productivity.

The authors' goal in this paper is to find a direct link between the volume and scope
of bullying, as well as strategies of dealing with bullying and its implications at HEIs. As a
result, they examined 400 professors from Pakistan's 12 public universities. In terms of
demographics, these data collected 200 males and 200 females were chosen for each gender.
Meanwhile, they conducted a poll of employees ranging in age from 24 to 60 years old.

1
DISCUSSION

Before moving on to coping mechanisms, the studies were evaluated using a variety
of scales to acquire insight into various items. The Workplace Bullying Scale is the first tool
employed (WBS). This scale is used to determine how much bullying the respondents have
experienced. The author of this scale not only considers work-related bullying, but also
personal bullying. It may be seen that the group dynamic encourages them to harass other
co-workers not just because of work concerns such as establishing unrealistic objectives or
deadlines, but also out of hatred or disdain for an individual. As a result, person-related
bullying includes rumours, social isolation, and other tactics.

The Workplace Bullying Strain Inventory is the next scale (WBSI). This scale is used
to analyse the impact of bullying on employees. Job strain, psychological complaint, bodily
complaint, interpersonal complaint, and behavioural complaint are the six strains identified by
the author. Job strain and physical complaint had the highest minimum between all five
strains, at 0.89. Based on the findings, it is clear that the bullying had a negative impact on
their job performance, generating a strain by causing employee to lose interest in their work
and feel dejected. Physical complaints do not indicate whether or not there is physical bullying,
such as physical fighting, but the presence of bullying has a physical effect on them, causing
them to have difficulty sleeping.

The Brief Cope Inventory Scale is the third tool that has been employed (BCIS). This
assesses the respondents' preferred coping strategies and gauges their coping style in
response to the situation. The author does not only give a problem-focused model in this
measure, but also additional coping mechanisms, indicating that the victim has taken swift
action to address the situation. This is because the victim does not simply accept the bullying
that occurs to them or remain silent about it; instead, the victim seeks assistance from others.
As a result, it demonstrates that coping methods and preferences have a tendency to coexist.
This preference can be broken into two parts: improving the situation or receiving assistance
from others.

The Turnover Intention Scale is the final measure for this experiment and study (TIS).
This measure is used to determine if respondents want to leave their company in the near
future. Cronbach's alpha for the data reported on this scale was 0.82. As a result, because
the score is near 1, which is within the range of this value, it indicates that there is a desire
to leave the organisation. This is because they have pondered quitting their current position
and would likely accept a job with similar pay.

2
 This article's findings are organised into seven tables. Each table has a unique but
related case. Table 1 illustrates a correlation between problem-focused models and descriptive
statistics between the first two scales mentioned previously. The result reveals that the inter-
correlation remains between 0 and 1. It's also worth noting that just 42 percent of all
respondents have experienced workplace bullying, while the remaining 58 percent have not.
Furthermore, female employees are more likely to be bullied than male employees, with 66
percent of female employees being tormented. Because the percentage of female victims
among the responders is fairly high, it is clear that there is discrimination against female
employees in HEIs. By this data, it is easy to mention that female is seen as punching bag in
the institution.

The author also discovered that 12% of respondents can cope with bullying using
coping mechanisms, 30% of respondents have bullying-related stress, and 4% of respondents
have turnover predictability. Because of the varied use of coping mechanisms, this data
demonstrates that only a small percentage of respondents are significantly impacted by
bullying. Because of the high percentage of stress caused by bullying, it can also be seen that
coping mechanisms such as the problem-focused approach are often adopted.

According to the following table, work-related bullying is the reason of 18% of

respondents experiencing stress. Meanwhile, 30% of the strain is allocated to both types of
bullying. It is clear that there is no such thing as personal bullying because it is comparable
to workplace bullying. As a result, it is clear that, in addition to the 18 percent reported, other
employees are subjected to further bullying, which is related to their personal lives. As a result,
personal-related bullying accounts for only 3% of employee turnover intentions. The results
suggest that the model used in this study matches the situation based on multiple indexes.

One of the goals of this research is to see if there is a direct link between the magnitude
and scope of bullying in HEIs and the model used. Workplace bullying, according to the data,
has the greatest direct impact on its burden. Fortunately, the problem-focused model coping
mechanism has a positive proportion of 0.34, compared to 0.18 from bullying stress. It
demonstrates that, while this model does not address the majority of bullying cases, it does
show a positive association, and the data demonstrates that, at the very least, this model
does not allow bullying strain to have a lot larger number than it should. This demonstrates
that the problem-focused methodology is quite effective in dealing with workplace bullying.
As a result, there is a direct link between these two items, which meets the survey's goal.

3
IDEA

The authors had already mentioned a few limitations of their study in their publication.
Respondents are solely public HEIs, and variables are not addressed in this study because the
data is acquired through self-reporting. I agree with one of the limitation, in that they should
also conduct research with private HEIs. To incorporate this organisations, they may look into
the differences or similarities in workplace bullying between these two organisations. By doing
so, we can get a better picture of workplace bullying and determine whether the root of the
problem is widespread across all organisations or if it is solely due to the mechanisms in place.

Aside from that, I'd want to point out that there is no indication of the type of bullying.
As previously said, bullying can take many forms, including verbal, emotional, and
psychological. It is preferable to specify the type of bullying so that it may be determined
whether the model utilised is appropriate for the situation. For example, if the bullying is
verbal, the focused-problem paradigm is ineffective since additional measures are required.
Although different sorts of bullying have the same effect, once the bullying has gone too far,
new actions must be implemented.

Second, I'd like to see a study that distinguishes between executive and non-executive.
This allows us to determine whether bullying occurs between executive and non-executive or
only between employees of the same rank. This is because workplace bullying can plainly
demonstrate bullying based on one's authority and misuse of it. Meanwhile, personal-related
bullying, such as spreading rumours, social isolation, and other forms of harassment, may
occur among employees of the same rank. However, if it occurs between executive and non-
executive, it can provide a clearer picture of how employees in that organisation act and why
employee turnover or strain is so high.

PROBLEM-FOCUSED COPING STRATEGIES

As previously stated, this essay uses problem-focused coping strategies for workplace
bullying. However, I've noticed that there isn't much information available about how this
model is employed as a coping method. The authors only mention the data that suggest a link
between this model and the problem at hand. As a result, it's unclear whether they're using
this model because they don't have a counsellor, because they have organisational
constraints, or because they have a theoretical framework from which counsellors develop.

4
 This model might be considered as a coping strategy because it requires quick
action. Despite the fact that workplace bullying has been going on for a long time, it is not
being reported or taken seriously, thus the problem persists and could become much worse.
As a result, the administrations want to resolve this problem as soon as possible before the
employees' stress levels skyrocket. This paradigm is also employed because it does not
exclusively address work-related issues. Bullying in HEIs is separated into two categories:
work-related bullying and person-related bullying, as previously mentioned. As a result,
problem-focused models are preferable to other models. Furthermore, this model is
appropriate since the model utilised is relatively straightforward, requiring only the formulation
of an existing problem, the generation of a solution, and the development of an action plan
(Kwan, 2021).

CONCLUSION

To conclude, all of the research's objectives have been met. Because this coping
technique is successful in dealing with this issue, workplace bullying has a favourable link with
the problem-focused approach. Furthermore, the author has conducted extensive research
into the implications of workplace bullying, demonstrating once again the urgency with which
this issue must be addressed.

Bullying must be addressed swiftly, as it will have a significant negative impact on the
organisation if left unaddressed. This page only discusses effects such as decreased
performance, various sorts of strain, and the likelihood of employee turnover. The institution,
on the other hand, will take a bigger hit because it will have to train new staff, which will add
to the expense of recruiting and training them. Furthermore, the issue of bullying may result
in an unfavourable public image and publicity (Gordon, 2020). As a result, the issue of bullying
must be addressed as soon as possible.

I hope that, as a result of the authors' excellent research, workplace bullying will
become less of an issue, and that all organisations will learn from it so that the worst
consequences may be avoided. Also, workplace bullying issue will be more in limelight and
not being ignored.

5
REFERENCES

Definition of bullying | National Centre Against Bullying. (n.d.). NCAB.

https://www.ncab.org.au/bullying-advice/bullying-for-parents/definition-of-bullying/

Gordon, S. (2020, March 10). How workplace bullying negatively affects the victim and profits.
Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-the-effects-of-workplace-
bullying-460628

Kwan, S. (2021, October 25). Lecture 5 Models of Workplace Counseling [PDF slide].
blob:https://web.telegram.org/df1160c1-4ac5-482e-83f1-44794e9bf74d

Mcleod, S. (2015). Stress management. Study Guides for Psychology Students – Simple
Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/stress-management.html

Redman, B. (n.d.). The effects on mind & body of bullying in the workplace. Small Business –
Chron.com. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/consequence-racial-harassment-
workplace-19016.html