Exploring the (in)appropriateness of using workplace mediation to deal with workplace bullying

Discussions of both workplace bullying and workplace mediation suffer from too great an emphasis on the interpersonal, ignoring the influence and consequences of wider contextual factors. Situating bullying and mediation within the labour process, we utilise and extend Hoel and Beale’s (2006) continuum of bullying behaviours, to address the limitations of using mediation to deal with workplace bullying, particularly where it occurs in oppressive work regimes. Drawing on interviews with workplace mediators, the paper treats bullying and mediation as forms of management control and explores the extent to which the confidential nature of mediation may allow an organisation to escape accountability for bullying behaviours and lead to a privatisation of justice.