Why Nurses Eat Their Young: Should you have a civility policy?

Nurses eat their young

Sheridan-Leos defines lateral violence in nursing as a form of workplace bullying common among healthcare workers, often described with the idiom “nurses eat their young” (Sheridan-Leos, 2008, p.399). Lateral violence and workplace bullying can manifest in behaviors such as “non- verbal innuendo, verbal affront, undermining activities, withholding information, sabotage, infighting, scapegoating, backstabbing, failure to respect privacy, and broken confidences” (Sheridan-Leos, 2008,p.399). As someone who has worked in healthcare, both in hospitals and nursing homes for the past twenty years, I can attest to the presence of lateral violence in the workplace. The question is, why does it happen and what can be done to prevent it?

DeMarco & Roberts posit that “oppression theory proposes that nurses perceive themselves as powerless and oppressed in the healthcare setting. As an oppressed group, nurses feel alienated and have little control of their practice. This leads to a cycle of low self-esteem and feelings of powerlessness “(as cited in Sheridan-Leos, 2008, p.399)”.??These feelings of powerlessness manifest in frustration which is then expressed in negative behaviors. The fact that the negative behaviors are vented towards a powerless, yet unprotected, group, as perceived by the aggressor, is evidence that the frustration is caused by a power imbalance that the aggressor is experiencing. As such, workplace bullying cannot be addressed without first addressing non-bullying issues such as communication within power structures.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) defines bullying as “unwelcome behavior that occurs over a period of time and is meant to harm someone who feels powerless to respond” (Nagele-Piazza, 2018). Bullying is a common action in the workplace and is experienced by an estimated 61 percent of U.S. employees (Nagele-Piazza, 2018). It is also shockingly legal. Bullying is only illegal when it crosses the line into harassment or violence.?

The key difference being that “harassment is about protected characteristics, and workplace bullying is not” (Mattice, 2015). Even without a legal backing, organizations ought to have an anti-bullying policy so as to provide a safe workplace free from unwanted and unwelcome behaviors. Of note, since bullying is not illegal, it is likely to be a behavior that is tolerated in some organizations, and in some even encouraged. Reports of bullying can often be dismissed as victims being too sensitive, or not having “what it takes to make it in this business”.??Bullying carries a stigma in that it is often deserved or a right of passage, such as hazing. Due to this stigma, as well as the lack of legal power, organizations may be susceptible to a bullying culture.

My recommendations to organizations are as follows. First, bullying policies should outline a set of procedures relative to investigation, reporting, and independent review of results. By requiring independent review of results, organizations can be assured that investigator bias can be ruled out. Second, in addition to a workplace bullying policy, organizations should create a workplace civility policy.??A civility policy would outline acceptable behaviors by all staff.??Staff who act uncivil in the workplace, whether directed towards a protected or unprotected group could then be held accountable without the stigma of bullying.?

????????????Workplace bullying is an issue without legal recourse. As such, organizations may not place as great an emphasis on bullying policies as they would otherwise place on sexual harassment and harassment policies. Oppression theory can identify why bullying occurs within healthcare scenarios, but response and prevention is up to the employer to implement. Supporting bullying policies with a workplace civility policy may reduce the stigma of bullying and reduce negative behaviors.?