Organisational culture and psychosocial hazard review approach to harassment and bullying

Client Objective

To improve the culture within this team and to reduce claims of harassment and bullying.

Situation and Challenge

The organisation had received claims of both harassment and bullying within the department.

There was a culture of low trust and openness within this team and across the organisation. There was also high turnover in this team for employees who were newer to the organisation, which made it difficult for the organisation to retain new talent.

People Solutions had provided some other services to this organisation and, being specialists in organisational psychology and having experience and expertise with in-depth cultural and psychosocial risk and hazard reviews, we were asked to come in to complete and review and provide recommendations to the organisation.

The challenge for the consultants was to create an environment where employees felt comfortable and safe enough to express their true feelings and experiences within the team and broader organisational culture.

There was also an urgency to change things now having a greater understanding of what was occurring from internal reviews, as well as reluctance and resistance to have an external party come in to investigate.

Solutions

We conducted an initial scoping meeting with both their HR representatives and the executive involved in the initial investigations. From here, it was decided that one-on-one interviews would be the best method for gathering data as it would allow the consultants to gain trust and create openness with the individuals involved.

The ultimate aim was to understand how team members communicate and work together and to provide recommendations to assist the group in the future.

We then designed an interview protocol, with questions that probed into a range of areas, including:

• Individual and team behaviour and effectiveness (trust, commitment, conflict and communication, decision-making and accountability)
• Role and team design (resources, job control, job demands and support)
• Psychological safety
• Engagement
• Their sense of achievement and well-being at work

Our methodology for this project was based on the following model:

Before launching into interviews, we conducted an introductory session with the team as a whole, to introduce ourselves and give some background and context around why we had been brought in, what we would be talking to them about, and to reassure them of confidentiality. This session also gave them a chance to ask questions and alleviate any fears they had about participating.

Result

We conducted individual interviews with nearly all team members. The results of these interviews were pulled together into a report, highlighting key themes and findings, as well as recommendations for changes to make.

High-level results included:

• There was a culture of high emotional and work demands, reactivity and unpredictability of leaders and their behaviours, with little support and feedback. Some roles had minimal control and decision-making authority, with many decisions needing to be signed off by executives.
• A lack of clarity around roles and team expectations (who is responsible for doing different tasks).
• The physical layout of the work environment wasn’t conducive to work, including a mismatch of disciplines and roles together.
• Significant and quick growth and change for the organisation, resulting in a need to mature as an organisation and a lack of appropriate policies, systems and processes in place.
• Senior leaders who were inspiring and motivating, but also ego and power-driven, and set unrealistic expectations without the support to set employees up for success.

Some of our recommendations included:

• Aligning reward and recognition with outcomes, rather than time or visibility at work
• Defining team and role structure, as well as clear job descriptions.
• Development of team standards and expectations, as well as trust and understanding
• Coaching for key leaders within the team

While there was initial resistance from the leaders of this area to have an external party come in to review this team culture and psychosocial risk and hazards, they found the information beneficial and implemented some of the recommendations, particularly around team and meeting structure as well as the physical layout of team members. Further, leadership coaching with implemented for key leaders and senior people within this team. People Solutions were engaged for other services such as team development, mediation, and assessment for selection purposes.