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Research at UWinnipeg to help prevent workplace bullying

Dr. Karen Harlos

Dr. Karen Harlos

WINNIPEG, MB – UWinnipeg’s Dr. Karen Harlos (Professor and Inaugural Department Chair, Business and Administration) has been awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Partnership Development Grant valued at $199,995. Harlos is the Project Director for Partnering to Prevent Workplace Bullying Using International and Integrative Perspectives (2015-2018). Partner organizations include the Province of Manitoba, the University of Winnipeg, and the Manitoba Teachers Society.

“Respectful workplaces are increasingly recognized as a fundamental right. Innovative research is needed for policy, practice, and decision support to improve well-being, performance, and workplace quality,” says Harlos

Workplace bullying and mistreatment creates a risk to employee health and safety through repeated and unreasonable behaviour such as verbal abuse, unjustified criticism, excessive scrutiny, unmanageable workloads, emotional neglect, and physical violence. Economic, social, and health costs are substantial.

“Little is known about the scope and impact of this problem in Canada; most Canadian studies are cross-sectional with relatively small datasets”, explained Harlos. “Our project will examine evidence shown in other countries that some employees are at greater risk for workplace bullying than others and are more negatively impacted by it, including persons with disabilities, younger employees, and LGBT employees. Yet those most vulnerable may feel least able to seek help.”

This project uses longitudinal and multi-method approaches and brings together key researchers and professionals from academia, government, and industry to advance theory and practice. The partnership is international and interdisciplinary with co-investigators from UWinnipeg―Dr. Wendy Josephson (Psychology), Dr. Grace O’Farrell (Business and Administration) and Dr. Catherine Taylor (Rhetoric and Education) ― along with Canadian scholars from Adler University, University of Manitoba, and Western University, as well as scholars from Plymouth University (UK), Tenische University Chemnitz (Germany), and the University of Copenhagen (Denmark).

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