Date of Award
12-2017
Culminating Project Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Educational Administration and Leadership, K-12: Ed.D.
Department
Educational Administration and Higher Education
College
School of Education
First Advisor
John Eller
Second Advisor
Roger Worner
Third Advisor
Kay Worner
Fourth Advisor
Nicholas Miller
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Keywords and Subject Headings
adult bullying, workplace bullying, conflict management, professional development
Abstract
The Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) defined bullying as a, “repeated, health-harming mistreatment by one or more people of an employee by means of verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, humiliation, work interference, sabotage, exploitation of a known vulnerability, or a combination of any of all of these” (2013, WBI U.S. National Survey). According to a 2010 WBI national survey, “An estimated 54 million Americans report being bullied at work” (2013, WBI).
The purpose of this study was to determine if quality professional development or training had been provided to Minnesota principals, assistant principals, and licensed administrators related to identifying and addressing workplace bullying and the effectiveness of such training.
The study employed a mixed-methodology, which included the use of a closed-ended response survey and follow-up interviews. The research focused on the participants’ confidence level in identifying and addressing workplace bullying. The research questions also provided the researcher with information on if the participants had received any formal training or had an interest to receive professional development focused on strategies to identify and address workplace bullying. As data were gathered and analyzed, various demographic information was collected which allowed the researcher to make correlations based on years of experience as an administrator, school staff size, geographic location of the school, and the participants’ gender.
The study contributes to the current body of research knowledge by providing new research on supporting the need for more professional development in the area of adult bullying in the workplace, the need/desire from school administrators to obtain additional professional development on strategies to communicate more directly with staff regarding the creation of a positive climate and culture within an educational organization and that workplace bullying exists in many different forms and locations.
Recommended Citation
Rustman, Emily, "Bullying in the Workplace: Are principals, assistant principals and licensed administrators confident identifying and addressing adult bullying?" (2017). Culminating Projects in Education Administration and Leadership. 32.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/edad_etds/32
