Workplace bullying - does leadership style matter?

Yes it does matter

The style of leadership that is dominant within a workplace can have a significant influence on the level of bullying that occurs. Leadership styles at either end of the leadership spectrum are the worst for increasing the incidence of bullying. At one end of the spectrum there is autocratic or dictatorial leadership and at the other end is laissez faire leadership. Both of these styles of leadership are related to higher occurrences of bullying (Feijo, 2019). One study concluded that across the world, 70% of bullying is committed by a supervisor (Dollard et. al., 2017). This shows that any bullying prevention or reduction program must include a focus on the leadership culture within an organisation. There are however leadership styles and qualities that reduce the risk of bullying.

Autocratic leadership

Autocratic leadership is characterised by centralised decision making, close monitoring of work, minimal group input and high levels of control. This usually provides a workplace with clear direction and quick decision making but the negative to this style is that it lowers autonomy and work satisfaction. This is because employees have minimal say in how their work is done and it also creates high levels of stress. Low autonomy and high levels of stress are both precursors to conflict and subsequently bullying. 

In environments influenced by autocratic leadership employees act out of fear (fear of making mistakes and not following very prescriptive directions) which results in lashing out. Some employees will compensate for the lack of autonomy by taking control of situations themselves and this includes controlling others. The autocratic style is a controlling style of leadership and this sets the example to others about how the organisation runs itself (Trepanier et. al., 2015). Organisations that tolerate bullying from their leaders will find that bullying between colleagues will increase as well (Busby et. al., 2022).

Bullying also increases during workplace change, particularly when it is not managed well. Workplace change requires leaders to manage difficult situations such as the implementation of new structures, work processes and changes to job responsibilities. If leaders are not provided with adequate support or don’t have effective influencing and communication skills they may resort to using their formal power too readily (e.g. “You just have to do it”). This can be perceived by staff as bullying and in some cases it will be.

If the work climate is poor and managers are under pressure to meet targets, a directive or authoritarian approach to leadership is often preferred and rewarded by the organisation (i.e. “they’re a good leader, they get the job done”). This style of leadership then becomes accepted and embedded and leaders using this autocratic style will believe it’s a legitimate management behaviour (Ozer & Escartin, 2023). This is why interventions that try to reduce bullying without addressing the inherent leadership culture will most likely fail (Feijo, 2019).

Laissez-faire leadership

The laissez-faire style of leadership has been found to increase the risk of bullying by over four times (Tsuno & Kawami, 2015) compared to inclusive styles of leadership such as transformational leadership. Laissez-faire leadership is characterised by minimal supervision, decentralised decision making and limited feedback. Such a style provides positives in that it creates a high level of autonomy and flexibility and can involve high levels of trust between the manager and employee. The less favourable side to this style of leadership is that it can create a work environment that lacks direction and clarity.

The lack of intervention by the leader means role clarity and purpose for the team is diminished, and this lack of clarity and direction is one of the drivers of stress and conflict which can escalate to bullying behaviours (Feijo, 2019). In these types of environments, where leadership is absent, individuals often take control of situations to find the certainty and direction they require. They may not have the skill to manage the situations effectively and resort to directive and aggressive behaviours to assert control over the situation. A hands off style of leadership leads to bullying targets feeling like the leader doesn’t care and won’t take action, so they don’t come forward. Because no action is taken, perpetrators perceive that their behaviours will go unpunished, so if they are aware they are bullying they may feel they have permission to continue the behaviour (Ozer & Escartin, 2023).

Laissez-faire leadership may be effective when the work environment is smooth, but becomes inadequate when workloads increase or external challenges confront employees. A lack of constructive intervention by management to handle high workloads allows the bullying that evolves from a stressful workplace to continue (Agotnes et. al., 2021).

Bullying can be a precursor to job insecurity. This means that bullying targets feel less secure about their employment which heightens stress and negatively impacts mental health. Laissez-faire leadership allows the bullying to continue and subsequently feelings of job insecurity increase (Glambek et. al., 2018). Research has found that lower levels of laissez-faire leadership minimises the prevalence of bullying and minimises the feeling of job insecurity (Glambek et. al., 2018).

Transformational leadership

Transformational leadership is characterised by leaders who:

• Motivate through articulating a clear vision, 

• Stimulate others intellectually through challenging assumptions and encouraging critical thinking

• Paying attention to the individual needs of others and provide support through coaching and encouragement

• Influence behaviours by role modeling and function on strong trustful relationships

• Have a focus on development of their direct reports

Transformational leadership has been found to have a positive effect on job satisfaction and organisational effectiveness. It also improves employee optimism and reduces the risk of burnout and feelings of powerlessness (Tsuno & Kawakami, 2015).

Transformational leadership is an ethical style of leading and influences employees by role modeling the appropriate behaviours. There is evidence that positive styles of leadership, such as transformational leadership, reduce the amount of negative behaviours by creating an example of expected behavioural norms (Walsh et. al., 2018). 

Transformational leadership is also a style that sets purposeful visions about the work that a team does and motivates employees towards that vision. This practice encourages employees to think beyond themselves and work for the good of the team. This leads employees away from aggressive and negative behaviours and towards more cooperative and collaborative behaviours. 

One of the factors that causes transformational leaders to reduce the incidence of bullying is that it creates a greater perception of safety within a workplace (Nielsen, 2013). Employees feel that their manager has their best interests in mind in respect to:

• An overall commitment to safety

• Being adequately trained to deal with their environment

• Open communication on safety issues and staff are involved in relevant discussions

• The perception that safety is more important than production

• Zero tolerance for bullying and harassment and that incidences are dealt with promptly.

When using a transformational style of leadership, managers should be conscious they are not driving employees too hard, as this can be a consequence of motivating employees to strive to do their best. This can lead to an increase in stress within the workplace, and in high stress environments transformational leadership has been found to have no impact in alleviating bullying (Agotnes et. al., 2021). 

Bullying behaviours have been found to oscillate on a daily basis showing how quickly conflict can escalate to become bullying, so it is important that organisations act quickly and show bullying is not condoned. This practice of acting quickly on negative behaviours gives assurance to employees that their well being is a priority and subsequently has a positive effect on their psychological health (Dollard et. al., 2017).

Leadership quality

A general measure of leadership, referred to as leadership quality, provides a model that has been found to mitigate negative behaviours such as bullying. When staff feel upset or stressed at work, which can happen as a result of workplace change, they are less likely to be subjected to negative behaviours such as bullying if they are working in an environment influenced by high quality leadership (Holten et. al., 2016). Leadership quality is measured by (Hoel & Giga, 2006):

• How much confidence employees have in the manager’s abilities

• How much autonomy the employee is allowed by their manager, which is an indicator of trust

• How much their manager values being given feedback. The more they value feedback the higher the quality

• How much staff are consulted in decisions that affect them

• How sensitive the manager is to how an employee feels

• How much the manager resists the use of their hierarchical power to make decisions

Lower levels of leadership as measured by these factors have resulted in employees experiencing higher levels of negative behaviours, including bullying. Those leaders that rated highly in the characteristics listed above also demonstrated a range of leadership strategies to deal with different situations, indicating that the management of bullying is reliant on a range of leadership skills, not just one key skill or approach (Holten et. al., 2016).

Summary

How workplaces deal with bullying is a test of leadership. One study found that employees who had experienced bullying predicted low opinions of organisational leadership and support three months later (Gardner et. al., 2017). One study found that non-victims within a team that had high levels of bullying reported greater dissatisfaction with the team leaders or manager (Baillien and De Witte, 2009). The implications from this is that employees expect support when they encounter bullying and if this doesn’t occur it undermines the credibility of the leadership of that organisation. The effects flow on to those who are not direct victims of bullying and have negative impacts on wellbeing, job satisfaction, burnout and productivity. 

No style of leadership is perfect, nor should any style be totally avoided, but styles that align closely to transformational leadership, will lessen the risk of bullying and other negative behaviours in the workplace.

References 

Ågotnes, K. W., Einarsen, S. V., Hetland, J., & Skogstad, A. (2018). The moderating effect of laissez‐faire leadership on the relationship between co‐worker conflicts and new cases of workplace bullying: A true prospective design. Human Resource Management Journal, 28(4), 555-568.

Baillien, E., & De Witte, H. (2009). Why is organizational change related to workplace bullying? Role conflict and job insecurity as mediators. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 30(3), 348-371.

Busby, L., Patrick, L., & Gaudine, A. (2022). Upwards workplace bullying: A literature review. Sage Open, 12(1), 21582440221085008.

Dollard, M. F., Dormann, C., Tuckey, M. R., & Escartín, J. (2017). Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and enacted PSC for workplace bullying and psychological health problem reduction. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 26(6), 844-857

Feijó, F. R., Gräf, D. D., Pearce, N., & Fassa, A. G. (2019). Risk factors for workplace bullying: a systematic review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(11), 1945.

Gardner, D., Bentley, T., Catley, B., Cooper-Thomas, H. D., O'Driscoll, M., Roche, M., ... & Trenberth, L. D. (2017). Organisational strategies to manage workplace bullying. Journal of Health, Safety and Environment, 33(1).

Glambek, M., Skogstad, A., & Einarsen, S. (2015). Take it or leave: a five-year prospective study of workplace bullying and indicators of expulsion in working life. Industrial health, 53(2), 160-170.

Holten, A. L., Hancock, G. R., Mikkelsen, E. G., Persson, R., Hansen, Å. M., & Høgh, A. (2017). The longitudinal effects of organizational change on experienced and enacted bullying behaviour. Journal of Change Management, 17(1), 67-89.

Özer, G., & Escartín, J. (2023). The making and breaking of workplace bullying perpetration: A systematic review on the antecedents, moderators, mediators, outcomes of perpetration and suggestions for organizations. Aggression and violent behavior, 69, 101823.

Trépanier, S. G., Fernet, C., & Austin, S. (2015). A longitudinal investigation of workplace bullying, basic need satisfaction, and employee functioning. Journal of occupational health psychology, 20(1), 105.

Tsuno, K., & Kawakami, N. (2015). Multifactor leadership styles and new exposure to workplace bullying: A six-month prospective study. Industrial health, 53(2), 139-151.