What are the steps to resolution taken by key stakeholders following a case of workplace bullying: A scoping review.
Kassandra Gagnon, François Courcy, Frédéric Mallette and 1 others
PMID 40831268WHAT IT FOUND
Many documented ways to resolve workplace bullying worked poorly or not at all, and 45.8% of the approaches were left to the victim to do alone.
Leaving the job or separating the two people were the only approaches reported to help.
Key findings
01Nearly half of the resolution methods identified (45.8%) were carried out by the victim alone, with no other stakeholder stepping in.
02Reported outcomes of the interventions were mixed - some helped, some had no effect, and some made the victim's situation worse. Only leaving the organisation and separating the victim from the bully were reported as positive results.
03The authors propose a five-step resolution process and stress that once bullying is reported, action must be prompt, because the longer a case runs the greater the harm to the victim and the organisation.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
Most of the included studies (18 of 24) were qualitative, and the review was not designed to test whether any intervention actually works. Many included articles left out basic information: they often did not describe the steps taken or even define the intervention, which the authors say made the analysis harder. The five-step process is the authors' own proposal. They state plainly that it is theoretical and has not yet been tested in real workplaces. The studies came mainly from Northern Europe, the United States and Oceania, so the findings may not apply to other cultures or organisations. North America was underrepresented. The studies often did not report the type or size of industry, so it is unclear which workplaces the model suits.
Declared interests
The first author received a scholarship from the Research Chair in Mental Health and Work. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the most common responses to bullying help. Mediation and filing a complaint were the most used interventions, but the review reports that many of these efforts changed nothing or made the victim's situation worse, and only leaving the job or separating the two people was reported as a positive result.
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