Project Overview
This project is grounded in the stories of people who have experienced workplace bullying. Through in-depth, one-on-one conversations with 14 participants, I listened as they described what happened to them, how it affected them, and how their organizations responded—or failed to respond.
Recognizing that some experiences are difficult to express in words alone, I also invited participants to create visual reflections capturing their emotions. 4 participants chose to create artwork, which is featured in the gallery section of this website.
"This work is about responsibility. No one should lose their livelihood, dignity, or sense of self for speaking up."
Research Questions
This study was guided by three central questions:
- How do targets of workplace bullying make sense of their experiences? What meaning do they assign to what happened, and how does that meaning evolve over time?
- How do organizational responses shape targets' sensemaking? What messages do organizations send—intentionally or unintentionally—about whose experiences matter?
- How do bystander responses influence targets' understanding of their experience? What role does silence, support, or intervention play in how targets interpret harm?
Theoretical Framework
This research draws on sensemaking theory to understand how targets interpret and assign meaning to their experiences. When something unexpected or harmful happens, people engage in sensemaking—asking questions like "What is happening?", "What does this mean about me?", and "What kind of organization is this?"
Sensemaking
The cognitive and emotional work targets do to understand what is happening. They ask: "What is happening to me?" "What does this mean about me?" "What kind of organization is this?"
Sensegiving
How organizations actively shape how employees interpret their experiences through policies, leadership behavior, and cultural norms. Much of this sensegiving is unintentional.
Sensebreaking
When an employee's fundamental assumptions about their workplace collapse—when expectations about fairness, protection, or justice are shattered.
Epistemic Injustice
Harms that occur when individuals are wronged specifically in their capacity as knowers—when their credibility is unfairly discounted or they lack language to name their experience.
Epistemic Injustice
This research also draws on philosopher Miranda Fricker's concept of epistemic injustice—harms that occur when individuals are wronged specifically in their capacity as knowers. Two forms are particularly relevant:
- Testimonial injustice: when a person's credibility is unfairly discounted. Participants repeatedly described seeking help and being told that what they were experiencing was a "personality conflict," "miscommunication," or simply "drama."
- Hermeneutical injustice: when individuals lack shared interpretive resources to make sense of their experiences. Many participants lacked access to shared language or interpretive frameworks that would allow them to name what was happening as workplace bullying.
Key Insights
Organizations Shape Meaning
When leaders instructed targets to "get along," reframed bullying as mutual conflict, enforced policies inconsistently, or prioritized institutional self-protection, they were not remaining neutral. Instead, they communicated powerful messages about whose experiences mattered, what kinds of harm were recognizable, and what risks accompanied speaking up.
Bystander Support Matters
Whether quiet or explicit, bystander support mattered. Even when it did not lead to intervention, it reduced isolation, buffered psychological harm, and helped participants maintain a sense of self when institutions failed to act.
Systems Often Protect Themselves
What stood out was not simply the absence of support, but the active role organizations played in reinforcing harm. Participants did not describe neutral systems that failed due to oversight or misunderstanding. Instead, they described systems that closed ranks, protected managers, and prioritized stability, reputation, and risk management over human impact.
Institutional Abandonment Causes Deep Harm
The deepest harm participants described did not stem from the bully alone, but from institutional abandonment and the silence of others. Being left alone—socially, emotionally, and professionally—produced what many described as moral injury: a profound rupture in trust, belonging, and faith in the organization. Several participants said that the failure of leadership and the silence of others hurt more deeply than the bullying itself.
A Framework for Change
By applying sensemaking, sensegiving, and sensebreaking to workplace bullying, this study extends a framework that is not only useful for explaining harm after it occurs, but for identifying pathways for prevention, intervention, and response. If bullying is sustained through sensegiving and reinforced through sensebreaking, then meaningful change requires disrupting these patterns.
Acknowledgments
This project would not have been possible without the courage and honesty of the individuals who shared their stories and artwork. To every participant: Thank you for trusting me with your experiences and for allowing your voices and Art to shape this work. Your strength and insight gave meaning and purpose to every part of this journey.
I am deeply grateful to Dr. Mariglynn Edlins, Director of the Doctor of Public Administration (DPA) program at the University of Baltimore, whose mentorship, compassion, and guidance have shaped both my research and my growth as a scholar.
I also extend heartfelt thanks to Dr. Gary Namie, Founder and CEO of the Workplace Bullying Institute, whose groundbreaking work and personal encouragement helped inspire me.
Special thanks to my family for their patience, encouragement, and belief in this mission, and to the supportive community surrounding the Workplace Bullying Institute for continuing to make space for healing and change.
Finally, to all who continue to speak out against workplace abuse and work toward more compassionate organizations, this project is for you.
Explore the Project
Dive into the artwork, research findings, and resources that emerged from this study.