Trustee Evans:
I cannot create a resolution to be voted on. But you, as Trustee, can. I respectfully request your support and sponsorship of a resolution to end workplace bullying in Etna Township. You could ask for rules and guidelines to be added to the Township Policy; guidelines and help are available, and national and local experts are available to help. The Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI), for one. Gary Naime, PhD is the president who works with bullying victims and testifies as an expert. I spoke with him about a month ago. He may be available.
Additionally, Bennett Tepper, PhD (Ohio State University) is an expert on abusive supervision and has published many papers on the topic. We also have two more experts close by, Kusy and Holloway, at the University of Antioch (near Springfield). Mitch Kusy has helped create communities of respectful engagement, facilitated large-scale organizational change, and engaged teams through assessment and team-designed actions—all focusing on improving organizational culture and long-term return on investment.
From a just published meta-study (40 studies) on workplace bullying:
Workplace bullying and toxic leadership deplete psychological resources, reducing job performance and organizational citizenship behavior. According to the conservation of resources theory, psychological capital functions as a crucial psychological resource to influence the organizational citizenship behavior of employees who experience workplace bullying (Chen, et al, 2024).
From 2017 Robert Sutton:
“Nasty people don’t just make others feel miserable: they create economic problems for their companies.”
I have to take you at your word that you want the best for the township: I write this after reviewing your bio on the etnatownship.com/administration page. Quoting you, “I do not view myself as a politician, but someone serving my fellow residents.” I know you mean all residents, right? To your credit you did take “I love Etna and its people”, or words to that effect from an earlier iteration. Probably too much, eh?
If you are not concerned with workplace bullying and toxic leadership, simply say so. This is one of the deficient existing relationships you say you will work toward. So if you are not just a politician (which you poo-poo in your admin page) let’s take steps to end the toxic bullying towards the other elected officials, residents, vendors, and developers.
Being a leader isn’t just about a fancy title; it is about creating an environment where people (employees and constituents) feel safe, respected, and supported. Constant bullying and online bullying defeat everything your admin page promotes.
Please consider my proposal.
Jon Hanson. Etna Ohio
December 21, 2024
cc: Gary Burkholder, Roz McKee, and Jackie Cotugno via email
References:
Chen, Y.-C., Chien, Y.-T., & Chu, H.-C. (2024). Associations between workplace bullying, psychological capital, and organizational citizenship behavior: A meta-analysis with structural equation modeling. WORK, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10519815241291683
Çoban, C. (2022). The dark side of leadership: A conceptual assessment of toxic leadership. Business Economics and Management Research Journal, 5(1), 50-61.
Hodgins, M., MacCurtain, S., & Mannix-McNamara, P. (2020). Power and inaction: why organizations fail to address workplace bullying. International Journal of Workplace Health Management, 13(3), 265-290.
Milosevic, I., Maric, S., & Lončar, D. (2020). Defeating the toxic boss: The nature of toxic leadership and the role of followers. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 27(2), 117-137. [More specifically, we show that the primary intent of toxic leaders is to conceal a lack of relevant competence and maintain a position of control at the exclusion of other organizationally relevant objectives. To achieve their intent, toxic leaders engage in upward and downward-directed influence attempts that create ambiguity and confusion, thus increasing the toxicity of the context and interfering with others’ ability to perform their work.]
Sutton, R. (2017). Memo to the CEO: Are you the source of workplace dysfunction? The McKinsey Quarterly, Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/memo-ceo-are-you-source-workplace-dysfunction/docview/2371899436/se-2
Tepper, B. J., Simon, L., & Park, H. M. (2017). Abusive supervision. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4(1), 123-152. [focuses on Victim-target perceptions of Abusive supervision]
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