Mobbing. workplace harassment and its consequences

Unfortunately violence presented in various ways is an increasingly frequent phenomenon in society. However, if it is true that there are quarrels, envies and bad personal relationships at work, they have recently turned into mobbing and are gaining a leading role today.

Mobbing or workplace harassment is an element that is part of the great phenomenon that workplace violence represents. Violence at work manifests itself as an abuse of power in order to subdue another through the use of physical and / or psychological force.

The needs of the industry to face greater challenges cause its employees to be subjected to continuous and complex interpersonal relationships.

BACKGROUND OF MOBBING

The Austrian Konrad Lorenz (1966) was the first to observe the behavior of some species and found that sometimes weaker individuals formed a coalition to attack a stronger one.

Later in the 80's, the psychologist Heinz Leyman of the University of Stockholm is considered the highest world authority on the subject, he defined it as "a situation in which one person, or several, systematically exert extreme psychological violence and recurring, for a long time, on another or other people in the workplace in order to destroy their communication networks, destroy their reputation, disrupt the performance of their work and achieve their job demotivation ”.

According to Heinz, with his definition, he leaves out temporary conflicts, he does not focus on what is done, how it is done, but rather focuses on the duration of what is done.

“One of the most recognized specialists in the Spanish and European sphere is the psychologist Iñaki Piñuel y Zabala, a tenured professor at the Alcalá de Henares University. For Professor Piñuel, workplace harassment consists of the deliberate and continuous modal and verbal abuse that a worker receives, until then valid, adequate or even excellent in his performance, by one or more co-workers, who thereby seek to destabilize him and undermine him emotionally with a view to deteriorating and diminishing his work capacity or employability and thus being able to eliminate him more easily from the place and work he occupies in the organization. " (Riquelme, 2006)

WHAT IS MOBBING?

Mob comes from the Latin "mobile vulgus" which means crowd, mob, crowd. "To mob" which comes from English means to harass, run over, attack someone en masse.

Different English expressions are used like mobbing, bossing or stalking; and among Spanish women, moral harassment, psychological harassment, environmental or psychosocial harassment, psychological harassment, horizontal violence, scapegoat syndrome, foreign body rejection syndrome, harassment, institutional harassment syndrome, etc.

"Mobbing or also called occupational psychoterror at work is a situation in which a person or a group of people exert external psychological violence, systematically for a long time on another person in their workplace." (Matínez Léon, Irurtia Muñiz, Camino Martínez, Torres Martín, & Queipo Burón, 2012)

“It is a conscious and premeditated abusive behavior, carried out in a systematic and repetitive manner, that threatens the dignity or psychological or physical integrity of a worker. It is also called psychological harassment or work psychoterror. " (Work address)

"It is a systematic form of harassment prolonged over time in order to pursue the isolation of a person with respect to the work group, as a result of which the victim loses his self-esteem, his ability to work with the purpose of manifesting superiority or destruction labor of the offended, leading him to self-exile or indirect expulsion. " (University of Concepcion: University Comptroller, 2007)

TYPES OF VIOLENCE:

According to the INSHT1 through prevention technical note 489, it classifies the types of violence at work into three types, which are shown below:

1. Type I Violence: This type includes subjects who carry out violent actions and who do not really have a commercial user relationship with the victim. It includes cases such as robbery and the most likely to suffer it are commercial establishments, taxi drivers, banks, common people, etc. Type II violence: In this case, if there is some type of professional relationship between the victim and the victim, Here the violent acts occur while a service is offered (bus drivers, hospital staff, teachers, vendors or public or private sector workers) Type III Violence:The cause of the violence has a type of direct employment relationship with a worker or group of workers. The most common type is where the objective of the violent action set by the aggressor corresponds to a co-worker or his supervisor.

MOBBING CHARACTERISTICS:

• It is an asymmetrical conflict between the two parties, where the harassing party has more resources, support or a superior position than the harassed worker. The content and significance of many behaviors and attitudes described is very difficult to objectify. A particularity of this type of processes is that the affected person perceives that their harassers have the explicit intention of causing harm or harm, which makes the situation especially stressful.On these occasions the individual does not know how to face these situations to modify their social environment, nor does they know how control the emotional reactions that this process produces.

1 National Institute of Safety and Hygiene at Work of Spain

MOBBING ELEMENTS:

1. Subjects: the intervention of at least 2 workers is required, a perpetrator and a victim. Behavior: "That is, the conduct that constitutes workplace harassment can be verbal, non-verbal, physical, whose purpose is to undermine the dignity of a person." (Bermúdez & García Carreño, 2012) Discrimination: The behavior will always tend to acts of exclusion due to various factors. Continuity in bullying: The bullying behavior must occur consistently for at least six months. Consequences: mobbing must bring with it effects on physical, moral and social health.

PROFILE OF THE VICTIM AND PROFILE OF THE BULLY:

The victims have certain common characteristics such as:

• Generally more women between 35 and 45 years old Great professional capacity Great respect for social norms With a high sense of morality and a very rigorous level of self-demand. Concerned about their image Appreciated by their fellow Freelancers.

The stalker is usually a person:

• Sometimes aggressive Manipulative No sense of guilt Cowardly Professionally mediocre A cold psychotic profile, distant, very emotionally stable, proud, with a high self-concept, intelligent, calculating, ability to establish a strategy, little personal wear and tear and toughness of character Individual with a high level of neuroticism: can be intelligent, psychologically unstable, insecure, not very tolerant, anxious, dominant, explosive, proud, with a position of responsibility.

TYPES OF MOBBING:

Nobody is exempt from suffering mobbing, it can occur at any hierarchical level of the company, both men and women. Most agree with the following forms of harassment:

1. Ascending harassment: In other words, a person with a higher hierarchical rank is attacked by one or more subordinates “Generally it occurs when a person from outside with a higher hierarchical rank joins the company and their methods are not accepted by the workers who are They are under their direction or because this position is desired by one of them. To a lesser extent, mobbing can be unleashed towards those bosses who are arrogant in their dealings and show authoritarian behaviors. " (Officials) Horizontal harassment: a colleague is harassed by another colleague of the same hierarchical level. This type of harassment can occur due to personal problems, due to the existence of physically or mentally weak persons and the perpetrator takes advantage of this situation. Descending Harassment (Bossing):This type of harassment occurs by a person who holds power through contempt, false accusations, insults and others to stand out as an authority figure among his employees

Attack on the social relationships of the victim with social isolation	Refusing communication with a worker through looks and gestures Not communicating directly with him / her Do not speak. Treat a worker as if he does not exist.
Physical violence:	Sexual offers or sexual violence Physical abuse Use of minor violence Threats of physical violence
Verbal Assaults	Permanent criticism of their performance Verbal threats Yelling or name calling
Attacks on the victim with organizational measures.	Assign degrading tasks Prohibiting colleagues from talking to the victim The superior restricts the possibilities of speaking Assign tasks with bad data. Judging their performance offensively Do not assign tasks Assign meaningless tasks Unjustifiably questioning a worker's decisions Forcing you to perform tasks against your conscience. Separate him from his colleagues to do his job.
Attacks on the privacy of the victim	Making fun of your disabilities Telephone terror To imply that the worker has psychological problems. Mockingly imitate the gestures and voices of the worker. Making fun of a worker's private life Making the worker look stupid Criticize the private life of the worker
Attacks on the victim's attitudes	Attacks on a worker's religious beliefs Attacks on worker's political beliefs Mockery of the nationality of a worker.
Rumors	Badmouth a worker Spreading rumors about a worker.

1. Inadequate design of workstations

1. Lack of definition of the functions and tasks of each worker.

1. Inadequate leadership

1. Little appreciation of employees by the organization

1. Lack of sanctioning policies for mobbing

1. Lack of worker participation in decision-making

1. Lack of conflict management and resolution policies

1. Ineffective communication systems

1. Workplaces with exposure to high levels of demands and pressures.

F

Phases of Mobbing

1. Conflict phase or critical incidents phase: the moment in which the victim begins to be persecuted or criticized for how they carry out their work. The perpetrator uses all kinds of incidents, slander, tricks and other personal and professional. Harassment and stigmatization phase: the victim begins to be excluded personally and separated socially, he has to perform insignificant or humiliating tasks. It solidifies into bullying.

1. Intervention phase of the company management: after a while the management takes part; that is, it takes measures such as job rotation, change of department, attempted amicable arrangements, or in some cases dismissal. The companions at the beginning of this phase show solidarity with the victim, but at the end of this they leave her alone.

1. Help request and diagnosis phase: external help should be requested to help the victim solve their problem. If this phase is not carried out, there are undesirable effects such as deterioration in the health of the victim. One option is to file a complaint with regional bodies or with the labor and social security inspectorate, the labor authority or the courts.

1. Phase of leaving the company or transfer of administration: objective of the harassment abandoning the job.

Some authors propose adding a first phase called the “seduction phase” in which the perpetrator wins over his victim without using his violent potential. The objective of the perpetrator is to discover the weaknesses of the victim to attack him later.

DEGREES OF WORKPLACE HARASSMENT

"The degrees of workplace harassment are determined by the intensity, duration and frequency with which the different harassment behaviors appear" (Government of Chile, 2007). Three degrees are distinguished:

• First degree: the victim has the ability to cope with the attacks he suffers and to stay in his job. And despite facing these attacks, the victim cannot help feeling bewilderment, anxiety and irritability. At this point the personal relationships of the victim are usually not affected. Second degree: the person hardly avoids attacks and humiliations, therefore, staying in her position is difficult. At this time depressive feelings arise, gastrointestinal problems, insomnia, substance abuse, among others. Family and friends usually downplay the situation. Third degree: it is almost impossible to return to work, it requires specialized psychological treatment for the victim. The victim has severe depression, panic attacks, aggressive behavior,even suicide attempts and that is when family and friends become aware of the seriousness of the situation

PREVENTIVE MEASURES TO AVOID MOBBING:

1. Have a preventive policy, be aware of all risk factors for the health and safety of workers, have corrective and preventive measures for these risks Establish mechanisms for disseminating prevention measures

1. Train workers and unions on measures to prevent workplace harassment Establish conflict management procedures to prevent harassing behavior: creating a system of complaints and reports and a procedure to address and investigate these conflicts.

CONSEQUENCES OF MOBBING:

Regarding the affected worker:

1. On a Psychic level: One of the main consequences is anxiety, the presence of an accentuated and continuous fear, a feeling of threat. There can also be emotional disorders such as feelings of failure, helplessness and frustration, low self-esteem or apathy. On a physical level: They can be from pain and functional disorders to organic disorders. On a social level: Individuals can become very susceptible and hypersensitive to criticism, with situations of mistrust and with behaviors of isolation, avoidance, withdrawal or, on the other hand, of aggressiveness or hostility and with other manifestations of social maladjustment. Feelings of anger and resentment are common, as are feelings of revenge.

In general terms, the social health of the individual who is a victim of mobbing will be deeply affected, as this problem can distort the interactions he has with other people and influence his normal life. From the work point of view, the result will be unmotivated and dissatisfied individuals who will find work as a hostile environment and will associate it with suffering, resulting in poor performance.

For work organization:

1. On performance: the victim's work development is affected, since by distorting communication and collaboration between workers, it interferes in the relationships that workers must establish for the execution of tasks. The quantity and quality of work performed by the victim is diminished, absenteeism increases and the victim may try to change jobs. On the social climate: obviously the social climate in the organization will be affected in terms of cohesion, collaboration, cooperation and quality of interpersonal relationships. On the accident rate: "Some studies relate the quality of the work environment with the possibility that the accident rate increases." (Martín Daza & Pérez Bilbao, 1998)

For the family and social nucleus:

Obviously, the family is affected by having around a demotivated, bitter person, without expectations, without the desire to work.

For the community:

Some consequences at this level are the loss of workforce, costs of attending illnesses, costs of disability pensions, etc.

Mobbing	Roces of work
Authors' reserved attitude: they act covertly, clandestinely, in the dark.	Expressed and discreet attitudes of the authors: acting in personal name and in the open
Progressive increase in bullying	Expressions or manifestations limited in time and space
Permanence in time of abusive actions.	Disagreements last minutes or hours
Purpose: the worker resigns, abandons work, voluntarily withdraw; remove the worker from the company or means that threaten their health and dignity.	Purpose Own the point of view that you want to prioritize and the consequent work objective to achieve.
The especially psychological damage of the worker	No harm, except the typical conflict-related malaise.

Mobbing is considered a kind of workplace harassment, therefore, it is understood as a situation in which one or more people exert extreme psychological violence on another person in the workplace.

Mobbing can bring devastating consequences for the victim not only from the point of view of physical health but also mental, in extreme cases it can lead to suicide.

It is necessary to establish a legal framework for the punishment of perpetrators and thus protect the rights of the victims. Although this topic has been studied more recently, it requires further studies because the effects they have on the victim not only affect the victim herself, but also those around her, her work and consequently the organization in which she works.

THANKS:

I thank my alma mater the Orizaba Technological Institute, Professor Fernando Aguirre y Hernández who teaches the subject of Fundamentals of Administrative Engineering for showing us that we are capable of writing articles on various topics, for promoting the habit of reading and above all for helping us realize what we are capable of achieving.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bermúdez, G., & García Carreño, Z. (2012). Workplace Harassment and Mexico-Spain Social Security.

Mexico: National Autonomous University of Mexico, Institute of Legal Research, Autonomous University of the State of Morelos.

Work address. (sf). Information Booklet: Workplace harassment or Mobbing. Chile: Government of Chile.

Officials, CS (nd). Support guide: Psychological harassment at work Mobbing. Central Trade Union Independent and civil servants.

Government of Chile. (2007). Work harassment or Mobbing. Chile: Labor Directorate.

Martín Daza, F., & Pérez Bilbao, J. (1998). NTP 476: Psychological harassment at work:

mobbing. Madrid: INSHT.

Matínez Léon, M., Irurtia Muñiz, M., Camino Martínez, L., Torres Martín, H., & Queipo Burón, D. (2012). Psychological harassment at work or Mobbing: Emerging pathology. Valladolid: University of Valladolid.

Riquelme, A. (2006). Mobbing, A type of Violence in the Workplace. Chile: University of

Viña del Mar-Chile.

University of Concepcion: University Comptroller. (April 2007). UDEC. Obtained from

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