Providing a Model of Organizational Bullying Prevention Priorities: A Total Interpretive Structural Model (TISM)

Prevention as an operational strategy will allow the organization to have a dynamic and flexible response to destructive phenomena such as workplace bullying, and will help prevent the institutionalization of malicious behaviors such as bullying. The purpose of this research is to provide a model of organizational bullying prevention priorities based on a Total Interpretive Structural Model (TISM). This research is a mixed one and is based on both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The statistical population of the quantitative section consisted of 15 academic specialists who specialized in behavior management and human resources. The statistical population of the quantitative section consisted of 30 human resources managers of the Bonyad Shahid Organization in the three provinces of Semnan, Karaj, and Tehran who participated in the matrix analysis section. In this study, propositions about organizational bullying prevention methods were first studied through extensive study of the previous studies and their related content. After the classification of 64 articles, these articles were deeply examined; as a result, 13 articles were included in the meta-synthesis. After the meta-synthesis steps, 18 propositions were identified in the form of two factors, which were reduced to 11 propositions after the application of Delphi analysis. In the analysis section (i.e. TISM), which is superior to Structural-Interpretative Analysis (ISM) due to its more mathematical and operational complexity, it was revealed that in the presented model that the 11 identified propositions could be classified into five levels (from the most effective to the least effective method for the prevention of organizational bullying. In particular, it was found that the most effective proposition is the prevention of discrimination and conflict as a proposition that enhances the management construct, while the least effective proposition is the equal distribution of authority and responsibilities as a component of structural construct reinforcement.