Think back to a time you experienced a personal verbal attack or witnessed a peer being bullied. Maybe it was the person that simply drove you nuts because they spent most days complaining about anything they could sink their teeth into.

How did it affect your mood? Did you notice a change in behavior or attitude of others caught in the line of fire? How was the situation remedied?

The history of negativity inside organizations is long and one that’s difficult to pinpoint let alone solve for especially if it’s coming from the top. But the damage is devastating. Take a look at the figure below gleaned from a study on Workplace Bullying, Aggressive Behavior and its Effects on Job Satisfaction and Productivity (PDF). By the way, the dissertation is well done and a quick read if you have an interest and time for 156 pages on the subject.

Figure 1: Theoretical model for bully behavior.

The research indicated that negative effects of bullying behavior on an organization include loss of employee morale; a high level of absence for depression, anxiety, and physical ailments; decreased productivity and profit; high attrition; loss of customers; a poor reputation in the industry; negative media attention; legal action; and workplace violence. (Einersan et al., 2003; Namie and Namie, 2003.)

If that’s not a business case for tackling this issue, I don’t know what is.

Aside from business, first and foremost, if you or anyone in you know is struggling with bullying or aggressive behavior at work, get help. Talk to someone you can trust and if necessary, start looking for another job. Signs show improvements in the job market but even with the economy, your self-worth is much too valuable to be exposed to, or a victim of a severely toxic culture. With that in mind, I scoured for resources and they were countless so I included some search results here. Mostly articles, books, blog posts and advice from career coaches and other professionals but it's a start. 

I did find one resource for Workplace bullying in the US and North America. The site's somewh at archaic but includes relevant articles, links, a hotline and even a section for students.

One last read worth exploring, is this interview with author Peter Frost by The Harvard Business School, discussing the effects of this epidemic in his book titled Toxic Emotions at Work and what you can do about them.

Finally, if you’re a business leader or someone in a position to influence leadership and know your company has a problem, take action.  This issue's been overlooked and brushed aside for far too long and it's a battle well worth fighting for. If you're interested in how to manage employee behaviors and hold them accountable for their actions, click here.