Inter-personal and Organisational Aggression in Human Services Following a Community Disaster
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10895668 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kate Van Heugten (0000-0001-5692-1448, University of Canterbury, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1682-1699 |
| Publication date | 2018-09-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal of Social Work (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0045-3102 • E-ISSN: 1468-263X |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjsw/bcx121 |
| OpenAlex | W2767873725 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 19 |
Constructionist grounded theory research was undertaken with forty-three participants from human service organisations after several major earthquakes in New Zealand in 2010 and 2011. This revealed that many participants had experienced increased workplace aggression. Three distinct forms of aggression emerged from the analysis of the data. The first form consisted of emotional outbursts by distressed colleagues; participants generally considered these outbursts to be expectable and understandable reactions to trauma. The second form of aggression more readily fit traditional conceptualisations of workplace bullying; participants expressed dismay about the behaviour of fellow workers or managers who appeared to opportunistically and aggressively advance their personal professional status in the disaster aftermath. The third form of aggression aligned with recent conceptualisations of organisational or ‘depersonalised’ bullying; some organisations appeared to take advantage of the disaster aftermath to oppressively accelerate the pace of neo-liberal reforms of human services. Whilst traditional definitions of workplace bullying have tended to focus on person to person aggression, this focus obscures the importance of broader organisational, socio-economic and political power dynamics that sustain workplace oppression. Interventions based on inter-personal analyses are limited in their effectiveness; increased awareness of bullying in context is necessary to developing more effective multilevel interventions.
Aggression · Context (archaeology) · Intimidation · Oppression · Political science · Politics · Psychological intervention · Public relations · Sociology · Workplace bullying · Occupational Health and Safety Research · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice · Workplace Violence and Bullying
Situational Analysis
Toward a Politics of Disaster
Adverse health effects of high-effort/low-reward conditions.
The Discovery of Grounded Theory
Bullying and Emotional Abuse in the Workplace
Depersonalized Bullying at Work
Human Service Organizations in the Disaster Context
Communication Research and Media Science in Europe
The impact of methodological moderators on prevalence rates of workplace bullying. A meta‐analysis
The place of the literature review in grounded theory research
Bullying as Circuits of Power
The Language and Organization of Bullying at Work
Disaster politics
The mechanisms of job stress and strain
| Highly cited | No |
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