POWER MISUSE: AN ANTECEDENT FOR WORKPLACE BULLYING
POWER MISUSE: AN ANTECEDENT FOR WORKPLACE BULLYING

Summary/Abstract: Workplace bullying often involves an abuse or misuse of power. Bullying includes behavior that intimidates, degrades, offends or humiliates a worker, often in front of others. Bullying behavior creates feelings of defenselessness in the target and undermines an individual’s right to dignity at work. Workplace bullying represents persistent behaviors that are both overt and covert. Indeed, as a phenomenon, workplace bullying is now better understood with reasonably consistent research findings in relation to its prevalence; its negative effects on targets, bystanders and organizational effectiveness; and some of its likely antecedents. Workplace bullying is a problem facing employees and employers in Africa, however little has been said about. This paper is aimed at shedding an insight into the contemporary concept and to discuss the role that power relations play in this type of unethical behavior at work. Drawing on well-established theories and findings of various researchers, the concept of workplace bullying is systematically linked with how it can evolve into mental health problems. Since this concept is relatively new in Nigeria, the paper aims at creating an awareness of a social problem at work. It is believed that this paper will stem up further interest in the area and future empirical research will be reported.

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