What is not bullying?
Sometimes distressing behaviours are not examples of bullying, even though they are unpleasant and often require action by an employer or manager. There are some common situations that can be confused with bullying.
Reasonable management action
It is important to differentiate between bullying and an employer’s legitimate authority to direct and control the way work is done. It is reasonable for employers to allocate work, and for managers and supervisors to give fair and reasonable feedback on a worker’s performance.
This can include setting performance goals and deadlines, allocating work, rostering work hours, deciding not to select a worker for a promotion or informing a worker about unsatisfactory work performance or inappropriate behaviour.
Examples of reasonable management action
a) Mira works with six other people in a busy office. The work is routine and shared evenly across the team. Mira regularly falls behind in her work. To help her develop her administrative skills and improve her performance, Mira’s manager asks her to attend a two-day training course. Mira feels embarrassed and singled out even though her manager assures her that her job is not under threat.
b) Tony works on permanent night shift in a 24-hour business operation. Recently, his employer decided to implement rotating shifts for all staff. Tony told his supervisor he would prefer to stay on night shift, but was advised that this is no longer an option and he will need to move to the rotating roster along with everyone else. Tony is unhappy and feels hard done by.
Conflict at work
People are bound to have occasional differences of opinion and these are a normal part of working life. Disagreements can leave people feeling upset but they should not be confused with bullying behaviour. However, if it’s left unresolved, conflict may develop into a bullying situation.
Single acts
If a person is subject to a single incident of unreasonable behaviour, it’s unlikely to be bullying. However, the incident shouldn’t be ignored as it may have the potential to escalate into bullying. Addressing the behaviour before it is repeated is the best way to manage the situation.
Other situations
Just as there are a broad range of behaviours that can be bullying, there are many that won’t be. For example, being abrupt with someone because you’re busy, not inviting someone to a non-work related social event and personal disputes outside of work.
Example of a non-bullying situation
Paula approached her manager, Fiona, to complain about a situation where she thought she’d been bullied. Fiona asked Paula to tell her what had happened. Paula had been sitting in the staff lunch room when a work group was celebrating a colleague’s birthday. Paula was offended at not being asked to join the group and have some cake. Fiona advised her that the group’s behaviour was not repeated or unreasonable, so it was not bullying.
