Workplace Health Saf

Organizations use policies to set standards for employee behaviors. Although many organizations have policies that address workplace bullying, previous studies have found that these policies affect neither workplace bullying for targets who are seeking assistance in ending the behaviors nor managers who must address incidents of bullying. This article presents the findings of a study that used critical discourse analysis to examine the language used in policies written by health care organizations and regulatory agencies to regulate workplace bullying. The findings suggest that the discussion of workplace bullying overlaps with discussions of disruptive behaviors and harassment. This lack of conceptual clarity can create difficulty for managers in identifying, naming, and disciplining incidents of workplace bullying. The documents also primarily discussed workplace bullying as a patient safety concern. This language is in conflict with organizations attending to worker well-being with regard to workplace bullying.20152017-08-24T00:00:00ZKL2 RR025015/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/United StatesT42 OH008433/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States3T42OH008433/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States5KL2RR025015/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/United States26223898PMC5570575878