Adam Morris: Where do we point the finger for bullying in the workplace?

But in an increasingly sensitive society behaviour – which seems perfectly normal to some – is interpreted as bullying by others.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been accused in the past few days of all of those expressions of frustration amid claims he is a bully.

His friends and colleagues, however, have since rallied round the former Edinburgh University student to defend his behaviour, saying that he is anything but.

Either way, it has raised questions about what is and is not acceptable in a 21st century office environment.

The Anti-Bullying Network was set-up by Edinburgh University as part of a drive to reduce the problem in the Capital.

Its director, Andrew Mellor, said the changing society was almost entirely responsible for bullying's higher profile.

"It's not something that you can easily gather facts and figures on," he said.

"We live in a different world from 20 or 30 years ago.

"I don't think the problem has got worse as such, but people now are much more aware of it and willing to raise it."

While hard and fast figures nationally are not published, many organisations release information about the issue of bullying.

For instance, nearly a fifth of NHS Lothian staff claim they have been bullied at work in the past year, a figure which had risen from one in six the previous year.

At the time of that report, in the summer of last year, health chiefs claimed it was a growing awareness and better reporting systems that led to this increase.

Mr Mellor added: "It completely depends on the type of workplace and the individual.

"For example, swearing is a perfectly normal thing in many workplaces, in others it would seem like an example of bullying.

"But you don't need to swear at someone to bully them. In fact, some people are talked to in very eloquent ways which can be equally bad.

"It's not the words themselves but the affect they have on people which is important.

"The solution is almost always to speak to the person accused of bullying and make them aware of their behaviour and encourage them to change.

"Most people are capable of change, there is a small proportion who aren't, and sometimes these people don't even realise their behaviour was of a bullying nature.

"There are still a number of people who will feel they are being bullied but are too frightened to say because it could be possibly seen as a sign of weakness, and that is why we can never really know the true scale of it.

"And just as bullying victims are different, so too are bullies. It is too simple to say, as some do, that all bullies are really cowards deep down. That isn't always the case.

"Some people are bullied by one person who perhaps doesn't like them, others are targeted by a group of people in the workplace, which can make it harder to raise."

Queen Margaret University was today awarded a contract to research the extent and impact of bullying in the workplace, particularly on younger workers.

That project will see the university's chartered health psychologist, Dr Chris McVittie, conduct surveys, interviews and discussions with people in a range of industries.

He said collecting more views would help shape future strategies, and that reaching them in modern ways of communication like social networking would boost feedback.

"Workplace bullying can take many forms and can have far-reaching effects and we are urging young workers to share their experiences," he said.

"We have structured our research to make it easy to take part by focusing on conducting the traditional surveys, discussions and interviews online. Internet discussion boards and social networking sites are a part of everyday life where people can talk freely about sensitive topics that they might not wish to discuss openly elsewhere."

And while everyone deplores the concept of bullying, whether it is in the playground, workplace or even the office of the most important man in the UK, it seems there is no doubt that the shift in mentality over the years has contributed to the growing profile of the problem more than anything.

Mr Mellor said that the stiff upper-lip, thick skinned attitude of workers as recently as the 1970s and 80s was quickly evaporating.

He added: "That theory is nearer the truth than the problem actually getting worse.

"Because people are more aware, more incidents are coming to light. One of the ways to tackle bullying is bringing out the issue into the open where it can be dealt with. But there is no doubt that over the years acceptable standards of behaviour have changed."