A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO WORKPLACE BULLYING IN THE K-12 PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL SETTING A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION OF AURORA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION BY BETH PLACHETKA MARCH 17, 2014 2 College of Education Aurora University Ed.D. Program Aurora University Accepted by the faculty of the College of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Education in the College of Education, Aurora University. Doctoral Committee Faith Wilson Ed.D Chair Fred McKenzie, Ph.D Member Ronald Banaszak, Ph. D Member Maribeth Juraska, Ed.D Member March 17, 2014 Date iii ABSTRACT A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO WORKPLACE BULLYING IN THE K-12 PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL SETTING By BETH PLACHETKA Committee Members: Faith Wilson, Ed.D, Chair Fred McKenzie, Ph.D, committee member Ronald Banaszak, Ed.D, committee member Maribeth Juraska, Ed.D, committee member This qualitative study investigates and describes the lived experience of and meaning applied to the phenomenon of workplace bullying in the K-12 educational setting using system theory as the framework. Descriptors of the participants: bully, target and witness, are operationalized as well as the mental, emotional, physical, social and financial impact and the impact on teacher performance. Twelve self-identified targets or witnesses were chosen from a pool of 57 respondents who completed an online survey delineating the characteristics and impact of workplace bullying. Scenarios of the participants’ experiences offer insight into the emotional experience of the participant while participant interviews reveal the reality of workplace bullying in the K-12 public educational setting as well as the characteristics of targets, bullying behaviors, reality of the personal and professional impact on the individuals and the educational system. Five major theme clusters emerged in relationship to this phenomenological study: the Significance of Professionalism which considers the professional role of the bully and iv the target; Isolation which describes the experience of segregation that is imposed on or chosen by the target: Longing for Responsiveness describing the intense hope to be heard and helped , Clutching for Closure/Will It Ever End through which the target searches for meaning in the experience and for any aspect of the experience that had been within his/her control and System Survival and/or Sustenance, the manner in which the system maintains its identity despite trauma to individual members. Keywords: workplace bullying; schools; bully; target; system theory v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank each member of my committee. Faith Wilson, Ed.D for accepting the role of chair midway through the process, and who provided the structured responses that were needed; Ron Banaszak, Ph.D, who chaired the process though the proposal , helped motivate the process, and moved the process from “stalled” to “almost done”; Fred McKenzie, Ph.D, who supported the process from the beginning and offered a social work perspective, and Maribeth Juraska, Ed.D who provided final support and encouragement. Thank each of you for your guidance, wisdom, encouragement and support. In addition, I would like to thank my family: Rick for the opportunity to set and achieve this goal and for telling me to “do my homework”; Pam, Kristin, Mike and your spouses, Eric, Victor and Gabby as well as my grandchildren: Evan, Lauren, Ava, MacKenzie, Benjamin, Madilyn for your patience while I completed the process. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter page 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................... 4 Methodology of the Study .................................................................... 6 Significance of the Study ...................................................................... 8 Research Question ................................................................................ 8 Assumptions ......................................................................................... 9 Limitations ............................................................................................ 10 DeLimitations ....................................................................................... 11 Summary ............................................................................................... 11 Definition of Terms .............................................................................. 12 2. Literature Review .............................................................................................. 16 Theoretical Framework ......................................................................... 16 Definition and Description .................................................................... 17 Conceptualizing Bullying ..................................................................... 18 Global References ................................................................................. 18 Frequency ............................................................................................. 19 Definition of Bullying ........................................................................... 19 The Development Process of Workplace Bullying ............................... 30 Addressing Bullying ............................................................................ 38 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................... 42 vii Chapter Page 3. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................ 46 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 46 Theoretical Framework ......................................................................... 47 Qualitative Research ............................................................................. 50 Phenomenological Study Design .......................................................... 51 Population and Sampling ...................................................................... 54 Investigative Techniques and Data Collection/ Researcher Bias .......... 56 Data Analysis ........................................................................................ 59 Assumptions ......................................................................................... 60 Limitations ............................................................................................ 61 Delimitations ......................................................................................... 62 Human Participants Protections ............................................................ 62 Human Participants Protections ............................................................ 62 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 64 4. FINDINGS ................................................................................................. 65 Overview ............................................................................................... 65 Participant Profiles ................................................................................ 66 Themes ................................................................................................. 94 Summary ...................................................................................... 111 5. DISCUSSION .......................................................................................... 114 Overview of Study ....................................................................... 114 Limitations ................................................................................... 116 Research Question Discussion ..................................................... 117 Summary ...................................................................................... 125 viii Chapter Page REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 127 APPENDICES ................................................................................................. 134 ix LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Categories of Bullying ............................................................................. 19 2. Sample Participant Quotes with the Derived Meaning ............................ 96 x LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX page A. PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT ........................................................... 135 B. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ..................................................................... 150 C. INFORMED CONSENT FORM .............................................................. 149 D. REFERRAL SOURCES ..................................................................................... 152 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The prevalence of workplace bullying in society is evident in its depiction in all forms of mass media: movies, television, radio, online, and literature. Horrible Bosses (2011), chronicles the experiences of three individuals who have been bullied at the workplace and the popular series The Good Wife, featured an episode titled “Wrongful Termination” depicting workplace bullying that resulted in a worker committing suicide (Humphrey & Abrahams, 2011). A search of Amazon.com using the keywords “workplace bullying” resulted in a list of 935 titles. A Google search using the terms “workplace bullying”