Not Acceptable: An Exploration of Workplace Bullying

Author(s) : Marijke Moerman

Not Acceptable: An Exploration of Workplace Bullying

Book Details

  • Publisher : Karnac Books
  • Published : June 2025
  • Cover : Paperback
  • Pages : 160
  • Category :
    Forthcoming
  • Category 2 :
    Organisational Psychology
  • Catalogue No : 97987
  • ISBN 13 : 9781800133235
  • ISBN 10 : 1800133235
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A well-written, easily accessible, and informative book for those who want to understand the meaning of and effects caused by bullying in the workplace. It is a useful tool for those who support others and is an indispensable guide for individuals who experience or have experienced bullying behaviour at their place of work.

A succinct and easy to read description of bullying behaviour in the workplace, this book provides focused background information about the challenging ‘interpersonal’ and intrapersonal’ relationships of the bullying drama. The text is presented in three parts: Part I: The bullying phenomenon, Part II: Narratives of those affected by workplace bullying, and Part III: Bullying and the law.

Part I focuses on the complex and multifaceted dynamics of workplace bullying. The environment in which bullying can take place with emphasis on the bully, the target/victim, and the bystander. The different types of bullying, the effects on employees, and the consequences on the organisation are discussed.

In Part II, the real narratives of six individuals who have experienced workplace bullying are presented. Their account is followed with a reflection and commentary by each participant. Since the voices of the bullied are seldom heard, it is important to appreciate and understand the impact of bullying behaviour at work through the narratives of the six participants who all give a meticulous account of their own experiences. These full and often painstaking accounts shed light on the impact of seemingly insignificant behaviours and the difficulty therein to raise concerns. The hidden complexities of workplace bullying behaviour are laid bare.

As the legal aspect in relation to workplace bullying may not initially enter a therapy session or a discussion by others surrounding a bullying episode, it may at some point arise when an adverse situation is taken further and ends in an industrial tribunal. Therefore, in Part III, employment laws with respect to discrimination and harassment, are discussed across comparable jurisdictions. The book ends with some useful websites and recommended reading.

This work is highly recommended for managers, supervisors and leaders, be it in the public sector (e.g. healthcare and education) or the corporate world, and also therapists and management consultants. It is also a must-read for those who have experienced or are experiencing bullying at work to show them they are not alone and give them tools to deal with the repercussions of such behaviour.

Table of Contents


Acknowledgements
About the author
Preface
Background

Part I: The bullying phenomenon
1. Introduction to the bullying phenomenon

2. Overt and covert bullying
- Examples of overt bullying
- Examples of covert bullying
- Manager – bully: Intentional/non-intentional

3. The workplace power and control wheel
- Background of the workplace bullying power and control wheel
- Application of the workplace power and control wheel
- Evidence in support of the bullying workplace power and control wheel
- Using intimidation
- Using emotional abuse
- Using isolation
- Minimising, denying, and blaming
- Using others
- Using employer privilege
- Using economic abuse
- Using coercion and threats
- Concluding

4. The bully
- The bully defined
- The bully’s target
- Becoming a victim

5. The empathy trap

6. The bystander

7. The consequences and impact of workplace bullying
- The consequences of workplace bullying
- The impact of workplace bullying

8. Psychological impact of workplace bullying
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Post-traumatic embitterment disorder
- Post-traumatic growth

9. Managing bullying in a working environment

Part II: Narratives of those affected by workplace bulling
10. Introduction to the narratives

11. Catherine’s experience of bullying behaviour at work
- Comments

12. Ingrid’s recall of being bullied in an academic research setting
- Comments

13. Niall’s recall of being bullied at work
- Niall reflecting
- Comments

14. Morag’s journey through a bullying episode at work
- Morag’s reflection and further pondering on this episode in her working life
- Comments

15. Steph: A bystander’s story
- Steph reflecting
- Comments

16. Emma, the therapist, from a bystander’s point of view
- Emma’s reflection
- Comments

Part III: Bullying and the law
17. Introduction to the law

18. Legislation in the UK

19. Legislation beyond the UK
- European countries, a selection
- The Netherlands
- France
- Germany
- The Nordic countries
- Commonwealth countries, a selection
- Canada
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Major powers
- Russia
- China
- Japan
- United States of America
- The bottom line

References
Useful websites
Recommended reading
Index

About the Author(s)

Marijke T. Moerman has worked as a person-centred therapist with clients in the mental health field and in private practice. She spent many years researching the phenomenon of workplace bullying, which took on a form of urgency after she experienced the devastation of her own episode of being bullied in her place of work. Since then, she has designed and delivered workshops and published on the subject.

Her book, Not Acceptable: An Exploration of Workplace Bullying, is a succinct and accessible text which was a direct outcome of her own experience and written in the hope it will serve others with similar experiences and to support practitioners, and others, who work with victims of workplace bullying.

She earned her BSc in social science (psychology) from the Open University and her MSc in counselling from the University of Abertay in Dundee. She gained a doctorate in counselling studies in 2011 from the University of Manchester, with a thesis entitled “Working with Suicide: The Impact on the Person-Centred Counsellor”. Marijke found this both challenging and rewarding.

When Marijke is not writing on her next subject of interest, you might find her indulging in spending time with her grandchildren, volunteering in the local museum, spending time with friends, and travelling abroad.

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