Bullying's effect pervasive - study

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Workplace bullies hurt not only their victims but the colleagues who witness it, a New Zealand study has found.

The study of more than 1700 workers found a clear link between people being exposed to bullying and poor perceptions of the workplace.

"The greater exposure a person had to bullying, both directly and indirectly, the more negative their perception of the work environment was," said Dr Helena Cooper-Thomas, a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Auckland.

"Greater exposure to bullying was also associated with lower wellbeing and poorer work attitudes," she said.

Dr Cooper-Thomas, who will present the findings at a conference in Brisbane this week, says little research has been done on the effects of bullying on witnesses.

"Yet nearly 10 per cent of respondents said they had witnessed bullying," she said.

"Often people tend to think of bullying as being just between individuals - a bully and a target.

"But our research shows that people who observe bullying are also affected, and those who both observe bullying and are targets of bullies are the worst affected and receive a double-whammy effect.

"When you think of the ripple effect across a workforce from all those who are touched by bullying, the impact is significant."

She said leadership style and organisational climate had an effect.

"Those who experienced bullying tended to come from organisations where there was less constructive leadership and a more relaxed, laissez-faire management style.

"Constructive leadership negates bullying, which indicates a greater emphasis needs to be put on leadership training to ensure leaders can promote a positive work climate and they have strong processes for the oversight of their workforce."

- AAP