The revolutionary impact of mobile online communications on workplace behaviours and cultureDr Felicity (Flis) LawrencePhD in Educational Organisation Social Psychology,

Stop Workplace Cyberbullying Pty. Ltd.

@Disabilityemplt

#DES2016

@DrFelicityLawr3

Concurrent Session

2.15pm – 3.00pmin M9

Dr Felicity Lawrence

Founder | Stop Workplace

Cyberbullying Pty. Ltd.

www.DrFlis.com

Presentation themes:The revolutionary impact of mobile online communications on workplace behaviours and culture.

My workplace cyberbullying research

Context of mobile communications in Australian workplaces

Forecasts into and beyond 2020

Reshaping our social & workplace cultural attitudes and behaviours

A bit about me

My epiphany

Stop Workplace

Cyberbullying.

…Happier Workplaces.

…Creative People.

…reach your potential

Influenced by:

Sir Ken Robinson

Simon Sinek

Professor Joseph Campbell (1987)

Impact of negative workplace behaviours

Human beings are hard wired to be social creatures.

We need social connection, as well as food, shelter and water.

We feel social pain, such as isolation, disrespect or bullying, in the same part of the brain as we feel physical pain.

The primary function of this part of the brain is to alert us to threats to our survival.

Professor Matthew Liebermann, UCLA, Director at UCLA Department of Psychology, Psychiatry and Bio-behavioral Sciences.

*82% sending unpleasant/defamatory remarks

to or about a colleague

*79% posting negative comments

on social media about a colleague’s appearance

*69% covertly criticising colleagues

voicemail, instant messaging, social

media or SMS

*AVG Technologies international survey of 10

countries, 4000 participants, 400

Australians

Cyberbullying in Australian organisationsFirst known academic workplace cyberbullying research of

Australian government, public sector organisations.

614 participants = secretaries, CEOs, executive, middle-management & junior staff

Across local, state, federal government agencies.

1 in 5 (18.8%) suffered online slander, social isolation & insinuations of a personal nature

Over half (53.2%) experienced

task –related cyberbullying asmicromanagement, inconsistent workloads & persistent criticism

half to 72% participants

experienced or observed some form of workplace cyberbullying

…74% found the workplace

stressful

…over half reported

existing intervention & prevention strategies ineffective

…43.8% reduced productivity

…34.3% dissatisfied with their

jobs

…28% to 44% via SMS,

instant messaging, video conference software & social media websites

ContextOf the nearly 12

millionAustralians employed)

1 in 5 workers experience or observe

bullying each year

5 in 5 research participants experienced

cyberbullying via work emails & phone calls

Why is online bullying different?

Study participants

reported online

bullying as terrifying

because it was

often immediate,

anonymous,

inescapable, and

therefore

overwhelming

Cyberbullying was described by

participants as ‘terrifying’’

Image courtesy of thesis, Prevalence & consequences of negative cyber communications in the Australian public sector, Lawrence,2015

Workplace

CYBERbullying

looks & feels like…

social media sourced

information was used against them at

work

erosion of privacy

due to workplace

social media

Embarrassing work related

photos

unwanted romantic

advances at work

Secret online discussionsinitiated by colleagues

sending unpleasant or defamatory remarks

to or about a colleague via email, sms, or work social

media

heated face-to-face

exchanges can led to workplace

cyberbullying & vice versa

posting negative

comments on social media

about a colleague’s appearance

covertly criticising colleagues

voicemail, instant messaging, social

media or SMS

6 Generic Categories of Bullying:1. appearance, 2. intelligence, 3. race, 4. ethnicity, 5. sexuality, 6. or social

acceptance and rejection.

Professor Matthew Liebermann, UCLA, Director at UCLA

Department of Psychology, Psychiatry and Bio-

behavioral Sciences

Workplace

cyberbullying -

GLOBAL.

How employees’

report online

bullying and its

impact.

America40% online harassment** 50%

anonymous- 38% from a stranger

- 26% unaware of the perpetrator’s real

identity (Pew Research Centre, 2014)

1 in 10 unwanted workplace romantic

advances

UK

*20% email

*6.2% sms

14% embarrassing

workplace photos or videos by work colleague

& loaded onto social media

Spain

19% embarrassing

workplace photos or videos uploaded onto social media

NZ

93% sending

unpleasant, defamatory online

reports to or about a colleague

Germany65% online bullying led

to aggressive offline exchanges

Czech Republic

54% cyberbullying

led to heated offline exchanges

AustraliaOver half led to heated offline exchanges

8% social media sourced information against

them

6 in 10 erosion of privacy

1 in 10 embarrassing photos or videos

7% unwanted romantic advances

8% uncovered secret discussions about them

France56% cyberbullying

led to heated face-to-face exchanges at

work

AVG Technologies’ Digital Diaries study, 2013, Digital Work Life. 4,000 adults relating to

workplace cyberbullying.

*Dignity at Work Partnership, 1,072 UK workers

**Statistica,2014

Malaysia 39.7% cyberbullied in

the previous six months (Balakrishnan, 2015)

Canada 9 – 18% university staff &

academics reported cyberbullying

(Cassidy et al., 2014)

What are the

workplace

cyberbullying

statistics for

people with

disabilities?

No studies to

date.

Why is Australia ranked so low?

Online and offline

workplace, and mobile

communication

technology

The revolutionary impact of mobile online

communications on workplace behaviours and culture.

Researchers suggested as early as 2007 (year Apple

released the first iPhone) that cyberbullying had evolved

into one of the most common methods of employee

harassment.

Mobile communication technology now has the

capacity to perpetrate negative online behaviours

within work and life contexts.

Reference: Borstoff, Graham & Marker, 2007

Research: by

current estimations,

100% of the Western

world will be

connected by the

internet by 2020.

1Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016; Office for National Statistics, 20092Statistics Canada, 20093Madden & Jones, 20084Borstoff, Graham & Marker, 2007

The revolutionary impact of mobile online communications on workplace behaviours and culture.

Technological innovations have hugely impacted society.

The computer & the internet, credit/debit cards, and mobile

hand held devices such as the iphone, iPad and tablets.

How we stay in touch – sms, email, social media, overseas family, & travel

How we work – work from home options

How we pay our bills – how much cash do you carry with you now? Online EOFY tax.

How we access information – Google has become the 21st century oracle.

How we relax and play - books, news, gossip, learning, traveling (language barriers)

How we look after ourselves – virtual medical care, WiFi enabled home care, physical & online security

1970s technology

1980’s technology

1990s technology

2000s technology

How we now communicate

The revolutionary impact of mobile online

communications on workplace behaviours and culture.

Nearly 100% of Canadian public sector

organisations use email for work purposes2

62% of American employees are described

as‘networked workers’ - employees who use

internet or email in their workplace3.

The revolutionary impact of mobile online

communications on workplace behaviours and culture.

Internet usage:

2015: nearly 13m Australians subscribed to the

internet

2013: 36m UK adults accessed the internet every

day

2009-101: 90% of Australian and UK businesses

access to the internet.

Now and

into the

future

How technology is changing our

workplaces

Social media

Social (collaborative)

Cloud

Mobile1

Millennials’ work changes: flexible, friendly, collaborate2

1. http://www.cognology.com.au/technology-reshaping-way-work/

2. http://www.cognology.com.au/millennials-changing-work/

What this means for future workplaces

Holacracy – ‘going holacratic’ – goodbye to management

HR replaced by finance, big data & analytics

Boom in working from home, café, park options

Flexible working conditions lead to increased worker satisfaction in their company, communication & interactions, and management’s concern for their well-being

Shrinking physical organisational footprint

Workspaces are designed as interaction & collaboration areas

Normalising toxic workplace culturesBy Associate Professor Christine Porath - An Antidote to incivility (2016, April)

When I was 22, I scored what I thought was my dream job.

I moved from the snowy Midwest to sunny Florida with a group of fellow former college athletes to help a global athletic brand launch a sports academy.

But within two years I and many of my peers had left our jobs.

We had fallen victim to a work culture rife with bullying, rudeness, and other incivility that was set by a dictatorial head of the organization and had trickled down through the ranks.

Employees were at best disengaged; at worst they undertook acts of sabotage or released their frustration on family members and friends.

By the time I left, many of us were husks of our former selves.

An Antidote to incivility (2016, April) Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2016/04/an-antidote-to-incivility?platform=hootsuite

Christine Porath is an associate professor of management at Georgetown University, the author of Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace (Grand Central Publishing,

forthcoming), and a coauthor of The Cost of Bad Behavior (Portfolio, 2009).

Good workplace cultures provide safe environments where

people can take risks, be creative and make mistakesSimon Sinek

Supportive managers improve the work environment and make it more

satisfying by providing job support, constructive feedback and encouraging

personal development.

Coomber and Barriball, 2007; Lee and Cummings, 2008

Reference: Kevin Rui-Han Teoh, Iain Coyne, Dwayne Devonish, Phil Leather, & Antonio Zarola , (2016),"The interaction between supportive and unsupportive manager behaviors on

employee work attitudes", Personnel Review, Vol. 45 Iss 6 pp. Permanent http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/PR-05-2015-0136

People are …looking for the experience of being alive. Professor Joseph Campbell

Creativity is as important as literacy…to be creative you actually have

to do something. Sir Ken Robinson

Respectful Cultures Index – Dr Flis

1. Engage senior leadership team – assess culture (is it working for

you?).

2. Engage CEO – assess agency costs arising from negative culture

and behaviours.

o e.g., lost time in recruiting, training, re-positioning targets &

dealing with bullies & traumatised targets, psychological injury

claims, insurance costs, lost clients & lost reputation.

3. Develop and implement an employee-specific, corporate-wide

Respectful Workplace Policy – developed by asking all

organisational staff ‘how do you want to be treated at work?’

(online & offline).

Respectful Cultures Index cont.4. Create a Values Contract from the behaviours identified

from the Policy. Identify links between the Values Contract the organisation’s official values.

5. Branch, root and tree action plan -‘infect’ the behaviours articulated through the Policy and Values Contract throughout all governance processes e.g., performance appraisals, committee terms of references, managers’ contracts, L&D training, reward & recognition traditions.

Use creative ‘stretch goals’ with the more achievable SMART planning – inspire people.

Respectful Cultures Index cont.6. “Ladders of Reflection” training and education (Philosopher

Donald Schön)

7. Mentor program to quickly instil an understanding of organisational processes. Sourced internally & externally, options of more than one mentor.

8. Organisational health checks – 3600 surveys to review behaviour and opportunities for improvement.

9. Implement an employee developed grievance process.

10. Refresh regularly or after drastic re-organisation or re-engineering process.

References: Osatuke. K., Leiter, M., Belton, L., Dyrenforth, S., & Ramsel, D. (2013). Civility, Respect and Engagement at the Workplace (CREW): A National Organization Development Program at the Department of Veterrans Affairs,

Journal of management Policies and Practices, 1(2), Retrieved from www.aridpd.org/jmpp

Catherine Mattics (2015). Seeking Civility. Retrieved from www.CivilityParnters.com

Questions?

Thank you

www.DrFlis.com