There is a trend that unfortunately is progressing more and more in organizations, that trend wanders through the different areas of an organization, affecting a large number of members that day by day appear in their respective jobs, we refer to the mobbing.
This practice began to become known as undesirable or negative behaviors towards a person, approximately thirty years ago, but it was consolidated, until what is known today as mobbing.
This article will delve into the subject to which the term mobbing refers, from where it arose, as well as its types and categories in which it is developed; It is important to know in detail the particular characteristics in which the practice of mobbing is being lived, because it will depend on knowing how to handle the different situations in which we can find ourselves immersed, and even knowing how to help end a situation that We will be present, whether in a company, a business or in a social circle.
Emergence of the term Mobbing
Several authors have provided some suggestions to gain a better understanding of bullying behaviors that occur in the workplace, among members of an organization, and even mention may be made of those that occur among members. of an educational center, such as students, professors, administrators or managers.
The term "mobbing" comes from the English word "mob", which means "crowd inflamed around something or someone", which can be in the form of sympathy or otherwise, in the form of abhorrence; on the other hand, the noun "mob" refers to "an alteration of public order or disorderly crowd of people", while the verb "to mob" refers to "congregate around noisily, as if out of curiosity or hostility".
In 1972 an interesting character emerges, Peter Paul Heinemann, a Swedish doctor who carried out a large number of studies of human behavior, especially in children; He carried out his investigations thoroughly, to try to find what children can do to each other during their school hours, which resulted in proposing as "mobbing" the very destructive behavior of small groups of children, directed against (most of the time) a single child. (Heinemann, 1972)
The Swedish-born scientist named Heinz Leymann made a great contribution to his research in the 1980s, where he first contributed the term "mobbing" to represent the problem.
According to (Leymann, Mobbing: psychological violence in the workplace, 1986) states that:
The new contribution made by the authors Leymann and Zapf, handle mobbing as unpleasant behaviors, which can be: humiliation, social isolation, verbal threats, physical abuse, as well as the dissemination of rumors or jokes about private life.
In this new 21st century, new ideas emerge about mobbing, Professor José Luis González de Rivera y Revuelta, considers mobbing as: “a form of chronic psychosocial stress, constituted by the prolonged accumulation of repeated interpersonal microtraumas, which take place in the workplace ”. (González de Rivera and Revuelta, 2007)
Regulatory concept of mobbing
A great advance has been made in relation to the management and control of mobbing, and even finding a way to eradicate it completely, however, there are still some discrepancies between the laws and the different organizations in the world, perhaps due to disinterest, or it may be the case of a complete ignorance in the labor relations that are carried out between its members.
In Table 1, we can learn about the different standards that have been imposed in some countries, to considerably reduce all those actions that denigrate the moral or physical integrity of people in their work environment.
Table 1. Information extracted from (Gimeno, 2005) According to (Serrano, 2005) states that:
These laws, to which the author makes mention, are considered in Spain, however, they are far from being carried out as such, due to the great empathy in which some organizations are immersed; All the standards found in Table 1 are proposed to improve the quality of life in the workplace, but we must try to implement them in organizations around the world, perhaps with some adjustments according to each country, but that guarantee complete harmony between people, thus achieving increased business competitiveness.
Categories of workplace bullying
According to (Salin, 2003), he proposes a classification of the conditions and organizational processes that are related to workplace harassment and establishes them in 3 categories:
- Necessary background or structures that allow bullying Incentives variables Circumstances that trigger bullying itself
In this way, we can realize that it is convenient based on these three categories, that the conditions related to the work environment, do not in themselves lead to workplace harassment, but on the contrary, rather act as factors that encourage it, For this reason, the factors that provoke and initiate mobbing will not lead to harassment, unless the appropriate conditions exist to adopt this type of behavior.
Then then, among the factors that turn out to be necessary, the presence of power imbalances that are noticed between the possible victim and the harasser is understood, it would be convenient to investigate the reasons that implicate the harasser in relation to his behavior and frustration and dissatisfaction with the work environment.
At another point, we can cite some examples to have a better understanding of the incentive variables, such as: high competitiveness, the implementation of certain reward systems, the benefits that the harasser expects to obtain by carrying out bullying behaviors.
However, the necessary factors provide a logical explanation of why certain situations and organizations are prone to moments of harassment, while the incentive factors offer a notion of why it may be reinforcing to carry out such behaviors within the workplace context.
And finally, in relation to the existence of factors that may be direct triggers of harassment at work, are organizational changes or other changes in the composition of work groups.
Predominant behaviors in mobbing
According to (Leymann, Manual of the LIPT questionnaire to assess the risk of psychological violence at work, 1990), it proposes around 45 actions that highlight mobbing in the workplace.
The author infers that, the action of “intimidation” can be considered, when one or more of the forty-five actions happen at least once a week, during an established period of one year.
These effects that the actions present and that fall on the victim of moral harassment, Leymann divides them into five categories:
- Effects on victims' ability to communicate adequately: The administration does not allow them any opportunity to initiate communication; the victim is silenced; verbal attack on the victim in relation to the tasks; verbal threats; verbal activities to reject the victim. Effects on the victims' possibilities of maintaining social contacts: colleagues no longer talk to the victim and even, the victim is prohibited from doing so by order of the administration; the victim is isolated in a room far away from others; it is “emptied”, or as it is known in other countries, the so-called “law of ice.” Effects on the possibilities of victims to maintain their personal reputation: gossip, slander and defamation about the victim;others prefer the act of ridiculing at all times; Others choose to make fun of their disability, their ethnic heritage, or the way they move or speak, among others. Effects on the labor situation of the victims: they do not receive any specific task; moreover, they provide meaningless tasks. Effects on the physical health of victims: they are assigned tasks with a high degree of difficulty or dangerous, without the necessary knowledge to carry them out; Others incite physical threat or in the worst case, the victim is physically attacked, as well as actively presenting sexual harassment.does not receive any specific task; moreover, they provide meaningless tasks. Effects on the physical health of victims: they are assigned tasks with a high degree of difficulty or dangerous, without the necessary knowledge to perform them; Others incite physical threat or in the worst case, the victim is physically attacked, as well as actively presenting sexual harassment.does not receive any specific task; moreover, they provide meaningless tasks. Effects on the physical health of victims: they are assigned tasks with a high degree of difficulty or dangerous, without the necessary knowledge to perform them; Others incite physical threat or in the worst case, the victim is physically attacked, as well as actively presenting sexual harassment.
When carrying out the studies by Leymann, a total of forty-five activities were found that occurred in the process of psychological harassment, which were analyzed and statistically evaluated using the analysis of factors, which lead us down the path of similar categories, which are oriented to those activities that describe hostile interactions.
Types of mobbing
Several specialists suggest that mobbing can be classified into 2 parts, the first one is established according to the hierarchical position, and the second is classified according to the objective pursued.
1) Mobbing according to the hierarchical position
No matter what hierarchical position the harasser is in, mobbing can become:
- Horizontal mobbing
In this type of mobbing, it is determined that the victim and the harasser are at the same hierarchical level, that is, they can present themselves among the members of the same work area, in which all enjoy the same rank; the psychological repercussions towards the victim can be critical and destructive.
There are a large number of causes or motives for horizontal mobbing to start, of which the following stand out: forcing a worker to comply with certain rules, out of enmity or envy, to attack the weakest or show superiority, due to differences with the victim, even due to the presence of boredom or lack of work.
- Vertical mobbing
Vertical mobbing gets its name, because the harasser is usually located at a higher hierarchical level unlike his victim, however, there are cases where it can be the reverse, where the harasser is at a hierarchical level below the victim.
- Upward mobbing: Occurs when a company worker with a higher hierarchical level is attacked or attacked by one or more subordinates. Downward Mobbing: Occurs when a company worker receives psychological harassment from the same worker, unlike the latter, is in a higher hierarchical position.
2) Mobbing according to the objective
The stalker has one or more objectives in mind to fulfill, for this, it is necessary to resort to mobbing, which can be classified as follows:
- Strategic mobbing
This type of mobbing is characterized by being a type of downward or institutional harassment, since it is part of the company's strategy, which is to pursue the victim at all costs and to terminate their contract of their own free will. With this, the company wins the game, freeing itself from the responsibility of paying compensation to the victim.
- Direction or management mobbing
In this mobbing, the activities are carried out by the management of the company, which implies: preserving labor slavery, to do without a submissive worker and even, to end up with an employee who does not meet the expectations of the manager or boss.
- Wicked Mobbing
This type of mobbing is characterized by not pursuing a job objective, on the contrary, the causes are located in the harasser's manipulative and harassing personality.
- Disciplinary mobbing
This type of mobbing is used to make the victim understand that he must conform to what the harasser wants and commands, otherwise he will be affected with the application of punishment.
conclusion
Much attention must be paid when carrying out our functions in an organization, or, in our social circles, great emphasis must be placed on maintaining stable relationships with each and every member belonging to organizational groups, establishing communication in all work areas, to reduce and avoid workplace harassment, because nobody is exempt from suffering psychological damage or some type of mobbing at work.
Unfortunately, mobbing will continue to exist in some organizations, and it is something that cannot be stopped at the moment, not because there is no solution to the problem, rather because in most cases, people who suffer from some type of mobbing tend to abandon their jobs, which causes the increase of this type of practices and not the abolition of them.
Thesis proposal
Development of strategies for the management and control of mobbing in the operational area of an organization Objective:
➢ Evaluate the communication between the members of the different production lines
Thanks
I am immensely grateful to the Orizaba Technological Institute for allowing me to be part of its Master in Administrative Engineering program, likewise to my teacher of the subject of Fundamentals of Administrative Engineering, Dr. Fernando Aguirre y Hernández, not only for his dedication and dedication to continue to improve myself, also by encouraging me to believe in my ability to create new things that have a positive impact on our environment
Bibliography
Gimeno, R. (2005). Doctoral thesis. Tendentious labor pressure (mobbing). Catalonia, Spain: University of Girona.
González de Rivera y Revuelta, JL (May 2007). Retrieved on October 6, 2017, from
Heinemann, P. (1972). Mobbing: group violence by children and adults. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur.
Leymann, H. (1986). Mobbing: psychological violence in the workplace. Studentlitteratur.
Leymann, H. (1990). Manual of the LIPT questionnaire to assess the risk of psychological violence at work. Stockholm: Violen.
Leymann, H., & Tallgren, U. (sf). The mobbing portal. Retrieved on October 8, 2017, from
Lorenz, K. (1991). I'm here… where are you? Geese behavior. Munchen: Piper.
Salin, D. (2003). Ways of explaining workplace bullying: a review of enabling, motivating and precipitating structures and processes in the work environment. Human Relations.
Serrano, R. (2005). Bullying at work. Madrid: Economic and Social Council.
Springer Publishing Company. (February 13, 2009). Retrieved on October 8, 2017, from
Zapf, & Leymann. (nineteen ninety six). Mobbing and victimization at work. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology.
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