Subject category:
Ethics and Social Responsibility
Published in:
2002
Length: 18 pages
Data source: Field research
Abstract
The case tells the story of teacher victimisation in a UK state-funded school. The events described at the school take place in a context of considerable changes within the education system, pressure to achieve better performance and greater work demands within society generally. The case presented is not extreme but perhaps characteristic of much victimisation in general. Harassment of this kind has reportedly reached endemic levels, particularly in public sector organisations where direct government pressure to modernise and become more effective is so evident. The case is designed to inform a debate around the ethical, moral and institutional aspects of a pervasive work practice where, in the United Kingdom at least, there is currently little scope for redress. The case can specifically be used to look at: (1) the phenomenon of work victimisation: its dynamics and preferable boundaries in terms of acceptable work pressure as against deliberate victimisation of an employee; (2) institutional protection of rights, or the lack of it, for victims of bullying; (3) moral issues raised by the existence and acceptance of workplace bullying; (4) potential remedies and solutions to a pervasive problem with considerable, harmful consequences for organisations and individuals; and (5) wider questions about the exigencies of ''global capitalism'' and their implications for the individual.
About
Abstract
The case tells the story of teacher victimisation in a UK state-funded school. The events described at the school take place in a context of considerable changes within the education system, pressure to achieve better performance and greater work demands within society generally. The case presented is not extreme but perhaps characteristic of much victimisation in general. Harassment of this kind has reportedly reached endemic levels, particularly in public sector organisations where direct government pressure to modernise and become more effective is so evident. The case is designed to inform a debate around the ethical, moral and institutional aspects of a pervasive work practice where, in the United Kingdom at least, there is currently little scope for redress. The case can specifically be used to look at: (1) the phenomenon of work victimisation: its dynamics and preferable boundaries in terms of acceptable work pressure as against deliberate victimisation of an employee; (2) institutional protection of rights, or the lack of it, for victims of bullying; (3) moral issues raised by the existence and acceptance of workplace bullying; (4) potential remedies and solutions to a pervasive problem with considerable, harmful consequences for organisations and individuals; and (5) wider questions about the exigencies of ''global capitalism'' and their implications for the individual.