Harassment and Bullying when using Email, SMS, Facebook in Workplace Research Paper

Harassment and Bullying when using Email, SMS, Facebook in Workplace - Research Paper Example This study also denotes employers’ inadequate capacity to deal with cyber bullying due to constant evolution of communication platforms and sensitivity of intertwined political and personal issues, particularly in regard to social networking and instant texting. Nevertheless, the paper denotes measures, guidelines and standards that can be adopted in a work environment to curb cyber bullying and bolster a firm’s productivity. Bullying at the work environment is not a new phenomenon. However, following the continued advancement of technology, and particularly in digital communication, bullying is adopting new platforms. For instance, employees if not properly managed can easily convey negative messages about their co-workers via email, short message service (SMS) and other social media conduits like Twitter and Facebook. With the current levels of development, malevolent gossip regarding an employee can be transmitted to others across the internet within an instant, thus reaching a broad audience not just within the organization, but to external targets as well. Such hurtful, and most often false rumors, can adversely affect the subject’s working capability, reputation and even his or her future career. It is also crucial to note that any person can post the negative comments online and once this is done, it is difficult to dispute the information or even remove it. Another noteworthy aspect is that, cyber bullying is not limited to conventional working places and work hours. This is because of the rise in number of laptops and other mobile communication gadgets, such as internet enabled phones and computer tablets (Privitera and Campbell, 2009, pp. 398-400). As a result, cyber bullying traverses the physical and time limitations of an ordinary workplace, and workers can post negative messages even in the comfort of their homes. Failure to address cyber bullying at the workplace would lead to the unnecessary loss of productive employees, hen ce inability to utilize social media to foster the organization’s performance. Cyber Bullying Incidences The conveyance of negative information within or outside the workplace, by employees with malign intent has led to the increasingly worrying cases of cyber bullying (Hinduja and Patchin, 2007). Outlined herein are some of the most common forms of employee harassment via the internet and other contemporary communications channels: Conveyance of spiteful or intimidating SMS communications or emails to a certain worker’s cellular phone or computer address, respectively. Electronic or mobile communications, which are characterized by unpleasant content like explicit pictures, comments or jokes that seek to mock an individual’s religion, sexual preference or ethnicity. Mobile or electronic messages which seek to provide feedback or propose correction to a certain person, with the sole aim of demeaning the individual or shaming him or her publicly. Malevolent or me nacing comments regarding a particular person put up on social sites of blogs. Distribution of offensive and embarrassing videos or photographs of a person, which in most cases may be falsely acquired through manipulation. Displaying desktop wallpapers or screen savers that feature offensive content, with the aim of shaming a specific person. Even though cyber bullying bears numerous similarities with the conventional modes of harassment, it has the capability to escalate faster and with elevated aggression. This is because perpetrators of the

Compare and contrast the responses of Japan, China, and India to Essay

Compare and contrast the responses of Japan, China, and India to Western Imperialism - Essay Example China sort of made the rules and had the technology and was powerful, so they were able to fend off Western intervention for a long time. But when their defenses finally broke down in the nineteenth century, China collapsed. Japan fended it off almost entirely. That's why Japan is the one area of the Third World that developed. That's striking. The one part of the Third World that wasn't colonized is the one part that's part of the industrialized world. That's not by accident† (Chomsky, 1993). India, China and Japan demonstrate that there is a direct correlation between degree of involvement and colonization and ultimate success. India is the most colonized of the three: It was largely controlled by the British by the 1700s (Keay, 2001; Chomsky, 1993). In the 16th century, it was already dealing with extensive incursions from Portugal, the Netherlands, France and Britain, and the Europeans eventually emerged victorious over Muslim and Hindu kings, with the East India Company ta king much of the country's control until the Sepoy Mutiny brought it under direct control of the crown (Keay, 2001, 250-500). India is a very complex country: A leader of the non-aligned movement, one that tried to balance between Communism and capitalism, Leninism and free markets... (Khilnani, 1999). Nonetheless, it was in many ways uniquely devastated by colonization. It had burgeoning industries of large-scale sophistication, with good quality in crops and shipbuilding and prosperity in many ways comparable to the Europeans (Keay, 2001; Chomsky, 1993). That was consciously destroyed. The result is that â€Å"India's rural landscape looks rather different from that of most tropical ex-colonies† (Keay, 2001, 448). Two crops were developed, indigo and poppy, across the country, and tea and cotton is still grown in Assam and Kerala, but in most areas, small cottages still produce without much capitalization or integration (Keay, 2001, 448-449). Nehru, in a review of Indian de velopment, found a direct correlation between poverty and length of European control: â€Å" When the British first moved into Bengal, it was one of the richest places in the world. The first British merchant warriors described it as a paradise. That area is now Bangladesh and Calcutta—the very symbols of despair and hopelessness† (Chomsky, 1994, 56). Of course, it's an important point to make that at least in India, the native population wasn't simply exterminated, like in North America. India is a growing economy now, but with a billion people, it is still nowhere near as prosperous as countries with one-fifth or less of its population size. In 2009, the United States had $45,989 per capita, the UK had $35,165 and India had $1,134. For comparison, China has $3,744 GDP per capita and Japan $39,738 (World Bank, 2009). Per capita income variation among these three countries is thirty fold: India was totally integrated and is now a Third World country; China resisted to some extent and is a Second World country; and Japan kept the Europeans at bay almost entirely and is a First World country. India was explored because of tea, cotton, indigo, and for the standard reasons for colonization: A market for cheap goods and cheap employment (Keay, 2001). However, unlike many other colonies, India was also colonized to destroy its native industries so as to prevent competition (Chomsky, 1993). Meanwhile, China was not fully colonized, but major efforts were made