Relationship between bureaucratic structure and workplace bullying

Abstract

Bureaucratic organizations have existed throughout the years, assuming different qualities based on the society and cultural norms that surround them. However, its main features have remained intact: a pronounced formal hierarchy, stringent rules and procedures, specialization, impersonality, and merit-based authority. These characteristics highlight the gap between administrators and subordinates and lead to fundamental imbalances in power, which may contribute to an environment rife with possible situations in which bullying can develop. Since the study is in a Philippine setting, the ways in which organizational members interact with one another are embedded with Filipino values and traits. A quantitative descriptive approach was implemented in the study. Questionnaires were disseminated in one of the departments of a Filipino governmental institution. The study concluded that there was no relationship between the organizational structure and exposure to workplace bullying. While it was found that bullying was not prevalent in this particular setting, the negative acts the respondents were most subjected to were nonblatant acts or indirect aggression. Workplace bullying, or referred to as the "silent epidemic", requires further studies since it has deep emotional and psychological effects on people which poses significant consequences on employee welfare, and on a general scale, the organizational workflow-specifically efficiency and productivity.