Currently in many companies there is a phenomenon known as workplace harassment, moral or also by its term in English mobbing (harassing, harassing, cornering in a group) thus generating fear or terror in the worker who is a victim of it, even leading him to become ill.
The person or group of people who are victims of mobbing receive unjustified psychological violence through hostile and negative acts by colleagues, subordinates or superiors in a systematic and recurrent way over a long period of time that can extend for months or even years.
The objective of carrying out said harassment is for the worker to leave his job, but due to the victim's own circumstances such as fear of being unemployed or due to financial problems, he remains within the same hostile and intimidating environment.
This phenomenon was investigated by the Swedish scientist Heinz Leymann during the 1980s and it was at the same time who for the first time used the term mobbing to refer to this problem.
In this writing, the following aspects regarding mobbing will be considered: the concept, types, causes, behaviors that characterize them, phases, psychological consequences and Latin American legislation on this matter.
What is mobbing?
In our society, several scenarios are currently being presented in relation to the quality of the jobs that considerably affect the health of workers, such as the rotation of jobs, increasingly adjusted wages, working hours each Increasingly widespread and unstable, remuneration for objectives that generate an environment of extreme competitiveness and the reduction in costs by entrepreneurs in order to obtain significant profits. These factors in themselves generate stress and anxiety in workers who see less and less the possibility of a long-term job. But to this factor is added a phenomenon that occurs in some companies and with some workers who are seriously affected, even going so far as to become ill;This is workplace harassment or mobbing.
The word mobbing comes from the English verb to mob which means to chase or trap and was first defined in the 80s by Dr. Heinz Leyman who defined it as: “A psychological terror at work that implies hostile and amoral communication, directed systematically by one or more people, almost always against another who feels cornered in a weak and defensive position. " (Castillo) That mistreatment can extend for a long time, causing the victim great consequences on a psychological and social level.
Types of mobbing
Mobbing is classified according to direction, that is, vertical and horizontal. At the same time the vertical is divided into ascending and descending.
- Vertical downward harassment is the one carried out by a boss to his subordinate and is also called bossing Vertical upward harassment is the pressure exerted by a worker or a group of workers on his boss or his superior. Horizontal harassment is that it is carried out by one partner to another. (Avalos, Rodriguez, & Ruiz, 2009)
Causes of mobbing
There are three scenarios in which mobbing can occur:
- According to the personality of the victim and the harasser
Potential causes are some personality traits of the victim such as low self-esteem, shyness, the way in which they act, their abilities to perform at work and perfectionism. However, anyone is prone to being a victim of mobbing, it all depends on the harasser.
The bully is usually a narcissistic, aggressive person, with an overvalued self-image, who thinks that others are a threat and therefore unleashes violence on them. The accuser covers his weaknesses by denigrating others, he is constantly monitoring the victim to detect something that poses a risk to him, to identify his weaknesses to cause him suffering.
- According to the human interactions of the organization
Mobbing is generated when there is a rivalry to obtain a job or when two people occupy the same position and believe that the company wants to do without one of them. Also when the victim's colleagues approve of the aggressive behavior of the harasser or when they deny that such harassment exists.
- According to the climate and environment of the organization
The factors that cause mobbing in this regard are: work overload, deficiencies in leadership, organizational culture, internal communication problems, policies to increase productivity, reduce costs, and conflicts over rights. (Carvajal & Davila, 2013)
Behaviors that characterize mobbing
- Insulting and yelling at the victim either when alone or in the company of other people Burdening him with projects and activities that are impossible to complete in the requested time Overloading the worker with too much work Infusing threats on the victim to fire him Changing his job or take away important activities to make the person bored and leave, change his responsibilities and activities without notice, have a different behavior with him,discriminating and treating him differently from others Ignore him in front of other colleagues to refer to him in the third person as if he were not present Manipulate information that is crucial to his work in order to make the victim make a mistake and accuse him of professional negligence reputation of the victim throughout the company creating malicious rumors and slander Disregarding the victim's work, refusing to evaluate their work Limiting or delaying the victim's professional development by preventing them from attending courses, seminars, trainings or otherwise part of some promotion process within the company Ignore the successes obtained by the victim and always attribute them to factors external to him, such as luck. Make continuous criticism of his work,to the proposals that he makes and to the solutions and so on. To intentionally monitor or control his work but only in order to find fault with him to accuse him of something. To prevent the victim from having freedom to make decisions within his responsibilities and attributions. to avoid transfers that favor the person Making fun of the victim's work and ideas in front of other workers Invasion of the victim's privacy through the intervention of their mail, their telephone number, their drawers and closets, Stealing or destroying important elements for the development of his work Attacking him for his personal ideologies or his religion Inviting the rest of his colleagues to participate in actions against the victim (Seguridad, 2016)To intentionally monitor or control their work but only in order to find fault with accusing them of something Prevent the victim from having the freedom to make decisions within their responsibilities and attributions Use administrative maneuvers to avoid transfers that favor the person. Making fun of the victim's work and ideas in front of other workers Invasion of the victim's privacy through the intervention of his mail, telephone number, drawers and closets, etc. Steal or destroy important elements for the development of his work Attack him for his personal ideologies or his religion Encourage the rest of his colleagues to participate in actions against the victim (Seguridad, 2016)To intentionally monitor or control their work but only in order to find fault with accusing them of something Prevent the victim from having the freedom to make decisions within their responsibilities and attributions Use administrative maneuvers to avoid transfers that favor the person. Making fun of the victim's work and ideas before other workers Invasion of the victim's privacy through the intervention of his mail, telephone number, drawers and cabinets, etc. Steal or destroy important elements for the development of his work Attack him for his personal ideologies or his religion Encourage the rest of his colleagues to participate in actions against the victim (Seguridad, 2016)2016)2016)Use administrative maneuvers to avoid transfers that favor the person Making fun of the victim's work and ideas before other workers Invasion of the victim's privacy by intervening in his mail, telephone number, drawers and Closets, etc. Steal or destroy items that are important to the development of their work Attack them for their personal ideologies or their religion Invite the rest of their colleagues to participate in actions against the victim (Seguridad, 2016)Use administrative maneuvers to avoid transfers that favor the person Making fun of the victim's work and ideas before other workers Invasion of the victim's privacy by intervening in his mail, telephone number, drawers and Closets, etc. Steal or destroy items that are important to the development of their work Attack them for their personal ideologies or their religion Invite the rest of their colleagues to participate in actions against the victim (Seguridad, 2016)Stealing or destroying important elements for the development of their work Attacking them for their personal ideologies or their religion Inviting the rest of their colleagues to participate in actions against the victim (Seguridad, 2016)Stealing or destroying important elements for the development of their work Attacking them for their personal ideologies or their religion Inviting the rest of their colleagues to participate in actions against the victim (Seguridad, 2016)
In the following, these behaviors typical of mobbing are classified:
List of mobbing behaviors
Phases of mobbing
Mobbing consists of four phases and usually begins with a radical change in the relationship between the harasser and the victim, which goes from normal or neutral to negative, this generates confusion in the victim who begins to think that the change is their fault due to your job performance. Then they initiate aggressive attacks that are backed by the rest of their peers either out of indifference or actively, which creates an environment of hostility that confuses the victim. Little is the latter being isolated, their work capacities are being attacked by assigning them little important tasks and a process of destruction of their self-esteem and self-confidence begins.
The phases are:
Phase 1: Original critical incident: An incident or conflict occurs that triggers bullying, can occur in a short time
Phase 2. Mobbing and stigmatization. Actions begin to be developed whose purpose is to harm the victim
Phase 3. Personnel administration. The administrators, upon learning of the situation, think that the victim is the culprit of the problem and begin to take actions to remove him from the company.
Phase 4. Expulsion. After a while the victim begins to suffer the consequences of the mobbing, although he tries to defend himself, he does not succeed. She then decides to quit work and seek psychological help.
Psychological and work consequences of mobbing
That person who is a victim of mobbing little by little will suffer short and long-term consequences that can be fatal and that when they are evident can be used by the harasser:
- Slow deterioration of confidence in herself and in her abilities as a professional The person begins to feel devalued A sense of guilt may be created in her for the situation she is living She may believe guilty of having made mistakes or failures in the company May somatize the situation through physical illnesses You can develop insomnia, stress, anxiety, depression, irritability, fatigue, problems with relationships with your partner and hypervigilance You can also suffer from indecision, insecurity and have conflicts with other people and their relatives. (security, 2016)
Latin American legislation against mobbing
In Latin America, very few countries have made progress in anti-mobbing legislation, including Argentina, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico.
These laws are:
- Argentina (Law No. 1225 of January 5, 2004) Colombia (Law 1010 of January 23, 2006) Puerto Rico (Bill 1008 approved by the Legislature in October 2007) Ecuador is under discussion of a Bill that seeks to counteract mobbing Mexico, there is no specific law against mobbing but there are several ways to do justice for victims of mobbing such as criminal law, civil law, constitutional law, administrative law, labor law and social Security)
conclusion
Mobbing is the workplace harassment that is made to someone prone to it due to various factors of the harasser or the organization. It has four phases and the person victim of it suffers serious consequences in their self-esteem and self-confidence in the workplace. In Latin America there are very few countries that have created laws to help counteract this phenomenon and to help its victims, such are the cases of Argentina, Colombia and Puerto Rico.
Bibliography
- Avalos, AO, Rodriguez, GA, & Ruiz, AG (2009). Comparative study of mobbing legislation in Colombia. Republican Act: politics and society, 83-93. Retrieved from: http://148.202.18.157/sitios/publicacionesite/pperiod/republicana/pdf/ActaRe p08 / ActaRep08_8.pdfCarvajal, J., & Davila, C. (02 of 05 of 2013). University of the Valley. Obtained from: http://cuadernosdeadministracion.univalle.edu.co/index.php/cuadernosadmi n / article / view / 1854 / 2575Castillo, JR (sf). Mobbing: The silence of the harassed worker. Prevention world magazine, 24-33.seguridad, F. d. (2016). Obtained from:
Thanks
To the Technological Institute of Orizaba for giving me the opportunity to train professionally and to Professor Fernando Aguirre y Hernández for all the knowledge he has shared with us in his subject Fundamentals of Administrative Engineering to learn and perfect my skills to write quality scientific articles.
Image taken from the article: Comparative study of mobbing legislation in Latin America by Angélica Oceguevara and others pag: 86
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