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Impact of Workplace Bullying on Employees’ Mental Health and Self-Worth

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The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being

Abstract

This chapter will highlight the detrimental effects of workplace bullying which includes the range of problems like absenteeism, loss of productivity, stress, mental health issues, and suicides. Over the years, workplace bullying, incivility, teasing, mistreating, and harassment have become widespread and need to be addressed. Bullying can range from being harmless to impolite demeanor and abusive conduct to other more damaging forms of torment where one weak person humiliates, threatens, or intimidates another person by keeping him or her on tenterhooks. Workplace bullying exists in organizations between the boss or a person with authority and his subordinate or between the co-workers. It manifests in many forms leading to mental stress, unproductivity, loss of talented resources, and harming the self-esteem of the targeted individual. Many organizations have policies to curb bullies but find it hard to detect bullying as the bullies smartly carry on within the lines of the organization. This chapter will explore and understand the concept of workplace bullying and the reasons that basically lead to this behavior. It is quite essential for workplaces to nip workplace bullies at the budding stage to ultimately promote a healthy workplace environment. The chapter will further discuss the policies regarding workplace bullying across the world. On the whole, this chapter will deliver an encompassing outlook over the concept of workplace bullying and its impact on employees’ mental health and self-worth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LJIMBA, Gujarat Technological University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

    Susmita Suggala

  2. Amrut Mody School of Management, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

    Sujo Thomas

  3. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

    Sonal Kureshi

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  1. Susmita Suggala
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  2. Sujo Thomas
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  3. Sonal Kureshi
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Correspondence to Sujo Thomas .

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  1. Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA

    Satinder K. Dhiman

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Suggala, S., Thomas, S., Kureshi, S. (2021). Impact of Workplace Bullying on Employees’ Mental Health and Self-Worth. In: Dhiman, S.K. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_30

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