Workplace Bullying Sensemaking Model

Understanding the Model

This model illustrates how workplace bullying unfolds within organizational culture and how targets make sense of their experience. It reveals two interconnected dynamics: the sensemaking journey of the target and how organizational culture, organizational response, and bystander response shape that process.

At the center of the model is the target's meaning-making process. Culture, the bullying incident, and responses from the organization and bystanders all converge to shape how the target makes sense of their experience. Targets ask themselves:

• "What is happening to me?"
• "What does this mean about me?"
• "What kind of organization is this?"

Click on the numbered markers below to explore each element of the model in detail.