Nowadays, the concern that companies also known as organizations or economic entities present regarding maintaining the physical and psychological health and safety of the worker has increased, to which some countries have created policies that help support this interest that organizations have in create pleasant work environments for the development of the worker.
However, on the other hand, it is regrettable to admit that, despite the efforts that companies could make to maintain a good working environment and communication with their workers, there is a phenomenon that breaks with all that stability that would be obtained for the benefit of the organization, which today is identified as Mobbing, also known as psychoterror, which develops within the work environment between workers of the same level or not in relation to their hierarchical position.
In addition to the above, from a particular perspective, this phenomenon represents great threats to the organization, which if not attended to in time, it can develop maturely in each of its phases, until achieving consolidation, which causes multiple serious and important consequences for the organization, the individual and society, because although it is recognized that there is the possibility that today, the decrease in the performance of workers, absenteeism, an increase in accidents, exchange problems information, a tense work environment and others, are unpleasant consequences and negative impact which could have their origin in this phenomenon.
In addition, despite the serious consequences that result from this phenomenon identified as Mobbing, it is important to recognize that there are other phenomena that could arise directly or indirectly from the consequences that this causes, and an example is the burnout syndrome, which is It originates from causes of work stress, which is not deeply addressed in this article as it is part of another interesting topic to study and analyze.
Mobbing
Nowadays, the great importance assigned to the work development of the worker within a company is recognized, however it is regrettable to accept that there are factors within their work environment with their colleagues belonging to the same hierarchical level or not, which condition the development of the worker so that this is positive or negative.
Due to the aforementioned, it is important to recognize in this sense the various perspectives or conceptualizations that various authors contribute to correctly define the negative behaviors that occur in the work environment within a company. That is why various definitions of the term are cited below from different perspectives, in order to obtain a particular definition by subtracting the main ideas of each author.
Lugo Garfías, 2017) mentions that the joint presence of negative behaviors within a company is called Mobbing, which is a term that was already applied since the eighties by Leymann, and this refers to workplace harassment and psychological persecution towards a person or also known as a victim, in order to cause psychological damage to the affected person until they are completely excluded from their workplace or group.
(Leymann, 1990) considers that this term can also be recognized as psychic terror, which refers to a type of communication in a hostile way and with an absence of ethics, which in a repetitive and systematic way is presented mainly only towards a person in the particular, through one or a group of people in an organization. The same author considers that these types of actions occur in a very prolonged and constant way, since their duration can be almost every day for at least six months, which is alarming because during this time unfavorable consequences such as psychic misery can be triggered, psychosomatic and social.
(Chávez, 2005) mentions that the set of behaviors identified as workplace harassment have the main objective of acting withdrawn against the employee who is working in the organization by using words, orders or deeds, which will have the purpose of causing the collaborator leaves his place of work, which said decision is encouraged by the acts and psychological pressures to which he was subjected for a time.
(Lugo Garfías, 2017) refers to the definition made by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in which it is said that Mobbing is recognized as “the verbal or psychological action of a systematic, persistent nature by which, in the workplace or in connection with work, a person or a group of people hurts a victim, humiliates, offends or intimidates "
In the same way, the author sets out the definition established by the federal labor law in Mexico, which is identified in Article 3 Bis and mentions that this phenomenon “refers to harassment and adds other elements: a. That the type of harassment is vertical downward in the workplace and b. That is expressed in verbal, physical or both behaviors.
In summary, it must be understood that the phenomenon of Mobbing has to do with the workplace harassment to which a worker is subjected by another collaborator or a group formed in itself of the same hierarchical level or not, which employ hostile behavior towards the victim aggressively and offensively using words, behaviors and deeds in a constant and prolonged manner for up to six months, causing the worker stress, fear, humiliation, and psychological or physical damage, until achieving their exclusion from the group of workers or your workplace in its entirety, all that caused by the stressful situations to which it is subjected by its environment where it wishes to develop,but without instead this cannot be done because these situations exert a strong and negative pressure on the worker so that he feels incapable of facing the situations, isolated and incompetent.
Actors of the Mobbing phenomenon
Starting from the classification established by the author (Trujillo Flores, 2007) it can be understood that the individuals who are involved in this phenomenon are grouped into 4 classifications and these are:
- Stalker
Starting from the point of view that, what forces a human being to provoke negative emotions in order to perform aggressive acts against others, are a consequence of the emergence of mainly envy, jealousy, fear and anger. Any development of these emotions in an individual can be considered as the effect of a mismanagement of intrapersonal intelligence.
- The victim
The individual who is subjected to harassment is recognized as a victim. It is said that there are no confirmations about the existence of a specific profile for an individual to become the victim within this phenomenon, however it is possible to perceive that mostly those collaborators who show correct performance in their work, who demonstrate their Intellectual capacities, which are proactive and who also have charisma, are what suffer the most from this type of attack as victims of this phenomenon.
- The environment where Mobbing occurs
It is said that the set of interactions that individuals called collaborators have in an organization are identified as organizational behavior. In addition, it is clear to observe that in order to maintain a correct direction and administration of actions, there must be a hierarchical division, however many times in organizations it is possible to identify that there are individuals with certain power and who have the desire to demonstrate that they have it.
- Mobbing managers and operators
Many times situations can arise in which the power that an individual possesses within an organization can develop harassment actions against an individual mainly by indications of him.
3C's rule of bullying
It is recognized that in companies many times there are occasions in which stressful situations are experienced among employees due to the commitments, responsibilities or activities that are carried out, for which it is important that the employee knows how to differentiate and identify this type of situation by the characteristics and circumstances in which it is being presented to know if it should be considered within the phenomenon recognized as Mobbing. That said, it is said that for a situation to be recognized as Mobbing it must comply with the 3C 'rule of harassment, which are identified through graph 1.
3c of Harassment or Mobbing
Figure 1 3C's rule of bullying
Source: Own elaboration obtained from (Godinez, 2014)
These rules appear in the environment many times with or without reason, which give rise to negative and aggressive behaviors of a person or a group towards a single collaborator, whose purpose consists in depreciating the capacities, commitments and values that the collaborator of the company that is subjected to such harassing pressures at that time.
In addition to the above, the way in which each of the C 'of harassment begins to appear is when the collaborator is constantly questioned and criticized from the beginning for the way in which they carry out their work, to which said collaborator in At first, it tries not to take the situation so serious or make it difficult, but without change over time the harassment continues to increase and the collaborator enters a situation that puts him in many doubts because he is totally unaware of what is happening and feels unprotected for not knowing how to act or defend themselves in such circumstances.
In addition to the above, the existence of a classification of the types of harassment that can be present is specified, which mentions them in this way (Lugo Garfías, 2017) and these are:
- Strategic bullying:
This can be caused by the company with the intention of dismissing the employee and thus avoiding the payment of compensation. Another way it is recognized is also as institutional harassment.
- Management harassment:
Mainly this is identified because it has its origin in the management of the organization, in which it is intended to dismiss a worker who is considered little submissive. It has a tendency to enslave the worker in certain aspects because it is about overloading the worker with tasks, demanding the correct fulfillment of these, and paying a very minimal cost for their work.
- Perverse harassment:
This type of harassment occurs in situations where the harasser is too blackmailing, in addition he seeks to show his true character and intention only with the victim and behave too kind to others to the point that only the victim notices it. The harasser tries to have these aggressive behaviors only with the victim trying not to provoke witnesses who could recognize the situation.
- Disciplinary harassment:
Among the characteristics of this type of harassment is that the worker is made to believe that he must conform to the "mold" and if he does not do so, he would suffer serious consequences.
Examples of this type of case have to do with women who become pregnant, discrimination based on sex, age or sexual preference, diseases, among others.
Origin of Mobbing
(Duffy & Sperry, 2007) recognize that the origin of the identification as such of the Mobbing phenomenon within an organization has been around since 1990, to which this phenomenon attracted the attention of various specialists for the development of certain scientific and legal, where such aspects are recognized mostly in Europe. On the other hand, given the importance that this phenomenon represented during those years, countries such as the United States and Canada were strongly interested in focusing their attention.
In addition to the above (Vandekerckhove & Commers, 2003) they consider that according to the 800 case studies carried out by Leymann (1996) there are conditions in the organizations through which this phenomenon arises, and these are identified as:
- Extremely poorly organized production and / or work methods An almost defenseless or disinterested management Dysfunctional organizational structure Aspects of their culture and lack of communication Lack of control of work Lack of interest from superiors Changes in positions of work Changes in policy Changes in technology used
Phases of Mobbing
According to the components with which (Parés Soliva, 2006) and (Duffy & Sperry, 2007) develop different phases of Mobbing, these are grouped into five main phases.
Within phase 1, which is called the «conflict phase», it is in which some difference arises between a couple of colleagues in the organization which causes the development of Mobbing. Conflicts can arise due to some achievement, success obtained in a project or by the popularity that the affected person tends with his co-workers.
Phase 2 focuses on the beginning of the psychological aggressions and aggressive acts against the victim, to which it is expected that by those moments more people will have been included to participate in said aggression in order to promote the humiliation of the victim. In this phase, the distortion of information is also concentrated in order to make the victim feel bad about the events that have occurred and without the right to defend themselves.
Phase 3 consists of the privatization of the worker's work tools, showing this as a planned act whose purpose is that the victim cannot perform in the correct way and is harmed. The victim's loss of prestige begins.
Phase 4 increases the pressure on the harassed by the way in which they carry out their work which produces increased stress, in addition the harasser tirelessly seeks to leave the victim helpless so that they cannot receive any scope of help from anyone to solve your problem.
In phase 5 the moment of expulsion is recognized, in which the victim is forced to leave the organization due to constructive dismissal since the working conditions are so intolerable that the victim decides that they must leave to preserve their mental and physical health.
Types of Mobbing
For (Parés Soliva, 2006) explains that there are two types of Mobbing that can occur within an organization and these are identified as vertical and horizontal, which is recognized that each consists of:
- Descending vertical mobbing: This is presented by the head of the organization towards a subordinate. This type of harassment can also be identified as bossing.Upward vertical mobbing: It originates when there is pressure from one or more subordinates towards their direct boss.Horizontal mobbing: This occurs between workers of the same hierarchical level, usually It consists of the constant harassment of a worker by another or a group.
On the other hand, there is another classification that is attributed to Mobbing by considering other characteristics, and this is shown in table 1. Types of Mobbing
| Types of Mobbing | It occurs when: |
| Ostracism: | A collaborator is completely ignored by others, his ideas are discarded without analyzing them, he is not allowed to express himself, his colleagues avoid his integration into the work group and there is also a constant rejection. |
| teasing: | Any joke that is made to the person is behind the victim's back, in addition to denigrating their self-esteem. |
| Physical Violence: | Due to differences of opinion between collaborators or particular interests which cause major aggressions |
| Authority abuse | Some individual who possesses some power at the hierarchical level encourages mistreatment of his subordinates, belittles them, yells, asks for extra things which are outside of his job functions, long and poorly paid work wages, in addition to maintaining a permanent fear among his subordinates to him. |
Table 1. Types of Mobbing
Source: own elaboration obtained from (Velasco, 2014)
Consequences of Mobbing
Under this common thread, it is necessary to mention that Mobbing causes serious consequences to the victim which can be recognized as psychological or physical, to which in general the PERSUM website which is identified as a psychotherapy clinic and personality, describes them as the following:
- Panic disorders Depression Post-traumatic stress syndrome Somatization disorders, such as migraines, fatigue, digestive disorders,….Addictions Permanent changes in personality Loss of concentration ability Social and professional isolation Inability to experience pleasure Sleep and appetite disturbances Increased vulnerability to infections (conjunctivitis, cold infections), etc) due to damage to the immune system Back pain Irritability Low mood Headaches Difficulties concentrating Feeling of insecurity Crying, wanting to cry Aggression Memory problems Stomach aches Chronic fatigue Palpitations nightmares
conclusion
Finally, it is recognized that the Mobbing phenomenon is currently a phenomenon that can be clearly recognized in organizations with the support of technological systems, which help to obtain evidence of when a person is being subjected by another.
On the other hand, it is worrying to recognize that this situation continues to arise, which is not convenient for companies not to attend to it as soon as possible, since their productivity, achievement of objectives, performance, are affected by the development of organizational behavior among their workers and in stressful situations that may develop.
It is considered important from a particular point of view that the dissemination of information regarding this phenomenon is mainly promoted in society in general in order to provoke a social conscience since although the subject is not unknown, it is believed that there are certain gaps of information regarding the important characteristics of this phenomenon.
References
Chávez, AM (2005). HARASSMENT OR "MOBBING" LABOR. LAW MAGAZINE.
Duffy, M., & Sperry, L. (2007). Workplace Mobbing: Individual and Family Health Consequences. COUNSELING AND THERAPY FOR COUPLES AND FAMILIES, 398.
Godinez, AM (November 4, 2014). BigRiverTV The HR TV. Retrieved from
Leymann, H. (1990). Mobbing and Psychological Terror at Workplaces. Violence and Victims, 120.
Lugo Garfías, M. (2017). Workplace harassment «Mobbing». Mexico: DR © National Commission.
Parés Soliva, M. (2006). The phases of bullying at work. V National Congress AMET, 5.
PERSUM. (sf). Obtained from
Trujillo Flores, MM (2007). Mobbing: history, causes, effects and proposal of a model for Mexican organizations. Journal of Administrative and Social Sciences.
Vandekerckhove, W., & Commers, R. (2003). Downward Workplace Mobbing: A Sign of the Times? Journal of Business Ethics, 43.
Velasco, EA (December 13, 2014). Mobbing or workplace harassment. Obtained from trabajoracosado.blogspot:
