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The Contested Terrain of Power in Workplace Bullying

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Pathways of Job-related Negative Behaviour

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Workplace Bullying, Emotional Abuse and Harassment ((HWBEAH,volume 2))

Abstract

Complex manifestations of power, as complex as the nature of power itself, are clearly at play in workplace bullying. Hutchinson, Vickers, Jackson and Wilkes (2010b, p. 25) warn that reliance on “commonly accepted assumptions and frameworks about workplace bullying have provided limited insight into the phenomenon, while potentially masking inappropriate manifestations of power within institutions”. As the scholarship of workplace bullying and harassment moves forward, so too does the realization that critical perspectives of both power and culture and their reproduction are essential in order to successfully challenge bullying in the workplace. Recent scholarship in the field has led to much deeper understanding of the inherent complexity of power dynamics in bullying (Branch, Ramsay, & Barker, 2013; D’Cruz & Noronha, 2013; Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf, & Cooper, 2011). This critical perspective is necessary in order to analyse the complex, relational and mutually constitutive nature of power that is present in workplace bullying. Bullying is not an individual problem; it stems from the types of exercises of power that are learned, facilitated and legitimated in the culture of the workplace. Individuals and organizations are producers, consumers and reproducers of power together. To separate these in attempting to understand bullying is futile, as both are deeply interwoven and interdependent. This chapter will examine the theoretical basis of power and its role in workplace bullying.

Kate van Heugten was part of the section editor team for this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Patricia Mannix-McNamara

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  1. Patricia Mannix-McNamara
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Correspondence to Patricia Mannix-McNamara .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Organizational Behaviour Area, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

    Premilla D'Cruz

  2. Organizational Behaviour Area, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, India

    Ernesto Noronha

  3. Research Centre for Work and Organizational Studies Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven, Brussels, Belgium

    Elfi Baillien

  4. School of Management Massey University, North Shore MSC, Auckland, New Zealand

    Bevan Catley

  5. University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Karen Harlos

  6. Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Annie Høgh

  7. Department of Psychology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    Eva Gemzøe Mikkelsen

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Mannix-McNamara, P. (2021). The Contested Terrain of Power in Workplace Bullying. In: D'Cruz, P., et al. Pathways of Job-related Negative Behaviour. Handbooks of Workplace Bullying, Emotional Abuse and Harassment, vol 2. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0935-9_3

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