The word "mob" comes from the English language, and means "to besiege", "harass" or "corner in a group" (WordReference, 2019). The word mobbing is an Anglicism that defines acts of bullying and harassment within work environments. Workplace harassment is carried out through psychological violence through negative and hostile acts by external social groups, between co-workers, subordinates, or superiors.
Human relationships within a work context are complex, because depending on the emotional intelligence and personality of the collaborators, they can arise from great alliances, to great conflicts. An efficient human resources department must be attentive to the behavior of employees, in order to avoid losses in production, as well as other problems related to human conflict.
The English term mobbing comes from ethology (scientific study of human and animal behavior) According to Gómez (2009) Konrad Lorenz, an eminent ethologist, uses this term to describe certain group behaviors in animals, specifically the attack of a coalition of weak members of the same species against another individual stronger than them.
Heinz Leymann, a German-born psychiatrist, nationalized as a Swedish citizen (1990) identifies long-term hostile behavior towards certain employees in their workplaces. Leymann is considered the first researcher and pioneer in the dissemination of psychological harassment or mobbing in Europe. Leymann coined the term mobbing with the following meaning:
Workplace harassment is carried out systematically and is recurrent over long periods of time. In its most serious cases, it is possible to see attacks through accidental accidents, as well as physical and verbal attacks. The consequences of workplace bullying can lead to problems such as psychological and physical illnesses and even in extreme cases it can lead to suicide.
According to the newspaper “El economista” (2019), UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) studies have shown that 60% of the country's workers have witnessed an act of workplace harassment at some point in their life. The newspaper points out that, according to a survey conducted by the OCCMundial site, of 800 workers, 8 out of 10 employees have quit a job due to workplace harassment and that 53% say that there are no real measures to eradicate this kind of violence.
Velázquez (2019) recognizes that the most common practices of workplace harassment are the exaggeration of failures and errors, minimizing efforts, achievements or successes, as well as ignoring and not integrating workers in activity, work overload, verbal and written threats. Depending on the gender there are different types of harassment, while for women the most common harassment is sexual, in men physical violence is more common.
Within any system where human relationships exist, due to physical, economic, cultural, social, and religious differences, human beings tend to openly conflict because of their differences. In a work environment, these relatively different human beings are not only forced to coexist, but are even made to cooperate in order to achieve a certain end.
According to Gómez (2009), mobbing has hostile attitudes, presentation in a systematic way within a work environment, these hostile attitudes must be durable over time and must have variable consequences such as psychological suffering, accident rate and work absenteeism. The fundamental relationship of mobbing is that of stalker and harassed. The end result of the interaction between both actors is a process of psychological destruction that affects the harassed.
Mobbing characteristics
The development of neoliberal capitalism and globalization have generated work structures of extraordinary complexity. Because these structures work in a unified way, the individual and the observations made by this worker tend to be ignored within their subjective vision of the work environment.
The lack of awareness in some work environments, generates that the cultural, religious or racial differences of the collaborators, generate problems within the relationships, the command chains and, above all, that significantly affect the productivity of the organization, because these individuals prefer to cause an individual evil on a collaborator, on the maximization of the general production.
According to Gómez (2009) mobbing is more frequent in the following cases:
- Public administration workers Education-related jobs Health-related jobs, especially nursing professionals Transportation and communication workers Trade workers Members of non-profit organizations, institutions or religious organizations.
A fact that is important to highlight is that it is estimated that 10% of consummate suicides is attributed to behaviors closely linked to mobbing, making this practice a public health problem worldwide. (Gómez, 2009). Although not all conflicts that arise within the work area can be framed within the phenomenon called mobbing, it is common for the following triggers to appear:
- Existence of ambiguity in the roles of the workers Lack of foresight regarding the objectives of the common work Competitive relationships tending to boycott Existence of ambiguous interpersonal relationships Denial and concealment of conflicting actions. Evasive communication.
Types of mobbing
According to Gómez (2009), there are several types of workplace harassment, which are defined by the relationship between the harasser and the harassed. This classification allows to identify which are the power tools used by the harasser. We can define the types as ascending, descending and horizontal.
Ascending mobbing: This kind of harassment takes place when the hierarchical superior is attacked by the subordinates. It usually happens when someone outside the company joins it with a higher job rank and their methods are not accepted by the workers.
Descending mobbing: This kind of problem occurs in the case of a stalker who has a situation of superiority, either hierarchical or de facto, over the harassed. It is common for the person who exercises power to do so through contempt, false accusations or even insults, in order to undermine the psychological stability of the victim.
Horizontal mobbing: This type of harassment occurs when workers of the same level or situated in the same hierarchical scale have a conflict. It is highly likely that the bully has a position on the bullied. The causes may be the non-acceptance by some of the members of the group of the norms implicitly accepted by the majority or the existence of different people or physically or psychologically weak, as well as personal enmity between some colleagues.
Phases of mobbing
There are different gradual phases of mobbing, which are usually progressive and, as the abuses carried out by the harasser progress in time, they become more aggressive and can even result in their last fatal consequences or at least fatal injuries and attempts. suicidal. (Gómez, 2009) .
Conflict or critical incident phase
In this first phase, a conflict is badly resolved by the company, which results in an escalation of private conflicts. In this case, the harasser will not stop until he destroys the self-esteem and self-confidence of the harassed worker. There are usually situations of envy, jealousy, competitiveness or exclusion of a new worker.
Harassment and stigmatization phase
In this second phase, there is a recurrence in the harasser's attitudes. This phase is characterized by the consolidation of the conflict, which becomes a veritable campaign of harassment. The objective during this phase is to cause the greatest possible deterioration in the public image of the victim, as well as his psychological resistance.
Help request and diagnosis phase
In this phase, the victim is completely isolated and defeated, while experiencing deterioration in health. Although the victim continues in the company, he presents several work absences. This phase is especially dangerous, since there is a risk of suicide. An accurate and early diagnosis is essential.
Company intervention phase
Harassment can arise in any company, sometimes because the work organization is poorly organized and sometimes because it is an integral part of the work actions. The intervention of the hierarchical superior can be positive or negative. Sometimes, the boss must carry out job rotations, department changes, attempts at amicable settlement and even dismissal.
Sometimes the superior decides to ignore the victim, allowing the act of mobbing to be carried out without punishment. It is essential that a specialist is in charge of solving the problem, in order to avoid human losses and achieve better work environments.
Reasons for mobbing
The research by Erdogan & Yildirim (2017) seeks to determine the effects of the exposure of bullying behaviors on health professionals, as well as to see the relationship between these subjects and their work commitment and their job satisfaction.
From a total of 897 health professionals, 715 subjects were contacted and 479 participants were able to complete the adapted questionnaires.
Erdogan and Yildirim's research is fundamental for understanding workplace harassment, since it uses hard data to define the impact on productivity and how these conflicts generate specific problems for certain areas, in this specific case, in the workplace. Health area.
In this research, several questions were asked, in order to find the causes and effects of workplace bullying within the area of health professionals. In the research carried out, a general questionnaire was carried out in order to create a statistical base. The importance of this survey, seeks to find reasons established by the workers themselves. The categories were as follows:
- Personal information, related to demographic and work areas and about the organization in which they worked. Information on the behavior of bullying at a scale level. Topics such as isolation, attack on personality, attack on work status, directly negative behaviors, time of harassment, and whether or not they considered they were in a situation of workplace harassment or not were touched. Information on job satisfaction through a Likert scale, which touches points such as general and intrinsic satisfaction. This information was obtained through the Minnesota satisfaction survey. Information on Organizational Commitment Measured by Affective Commitment, Normative Commitment, and Continuity Commitment.
The results obtained by means of regression analysis, comparing the results between the workplace harassment received and the commitment and job satisfaction of the collaborators of health professionals was the following:
The mean age of the participants was 37.3 years with a range between 23-71 years and 77% of the respondents were women were women. Nurses represented the vast majority of study participants (72.7%).
The results of the present study revealed that there were no significant differences between the age groups in terms of exposure to mobbing behavior. On the other hand, women were more exposed to mobbing compared to men, and participants with a low income level were more exposed to mobbing behavior than those with a high income level.
Nurses were found to be more exposed to mobbing compared to doctors, and participants with an occupation duration of more than 10 years were also more exposed to mobbing behavior.
Personality and direct negative behaviors were found to be positively correlated with normative engagement. However, it was not determined that mobbing was significantly correlated with affective commitment and continuity commitment. (Erdogan & Yildirim, 2017).
We can see that women and employees with lower positions are the ones who can suffer the most workplace harassment, especially by superiors, who can use their influence and their economic power as principles of humiliation. It is essential that there are awareness sessions, to be able to coexist efficiently in the work areas.
Formal investigations on mobbing in Mexico
Although workplace harassment is a fact that occurs daily in all workplaces in this country, According to Rivera, Mendoza and Cox (2014) the importance of identifying the components of mobbing within the maquiladora industry in Mexico is essential to the industry. Despite the fact that mobbing has been studied in an important way, in Mexico, this kind of studies are scarce.
The objective of his research was to diagnose the degree of workplace harassment suffered by workers in a plant called Cisneros, located in Ensenada, Baja California. In the results of their investigation, they detected that, of 138 employees, only 8% suffered high degrees of harassment, however, almost all factory workers report having been harassed in the previous 6 months.
Another interesting research was carried out by Trujillo, Rivas and Lámbarry (2014) in which a review of the state of the art on the subject of workplace bullying is made, as well as the models that seek to quantify its impact. Data analysis determines that a large number of variables can be used to measure the phenomenon.
One of the important variables in this analysis is emotional intelligence, as well as gender studies. In this research in general, a diagnosis was made at the IPN (National Polytechnic Institute) and a theoretical model was thrown as a result to measure harassment for women within the institution. This model integrates variables of emotional intelligence, and the personality of the victims and the bullies.
Mobbing: inherent human condition, or lack of awareness?
According to PROFEDET (2018), the place of employment is sometimes like a second home, so there must be respectful conditions that allow everyone to feel good, and to carry out their daily activities in an optimal way. Mobbing is serious, it is not due lightly, if one is a victim of this practice, PROFEDET recommends:
- Confront: limits must be set and respected in the workplace. Don't make yourself an easy target, be assertive and never let them make you feel less or harm your well-being. Report: If despite having confronted your aggressor, harassment continues, the next action is to report it. Remember that it is necessary that you have evidence of these attacks in order to expedite it. In the event of being a victim of sexual harassment, a practice that is considered a crime, it is best to file a criminal complaint.
In every human relationship, there are power relations, at school, family, partner, so to think that these innate behaviors do not exist at work is really naive. Understanding that human beings are social by nature, and that they tend to relate in a hierarchical way, the way in which people use power seems to us a fascinating aspect. In this sense, the French psychologist, social theorist and philosopher Michel Foucault, analyzes the subject with wise depth.
According to Foucault, power designates relationships between subjects that, in some way, make up an association or group; and to exercise it, training techniques, domination procedures, and systems to obtain obedience are used. Take an educational center as an example.
From the structure of the building, to the roles of each of the people who live there, through the scheduled activities and the signs it contains, are part of the same objective. These signs make it possible to distinguish the value of each of the levels of knowledge. Power is essential in an organization.
Whenever there are power relations, there will be the oppressor and the oppressed, however, companies must respond to these problems, because a high rate of workplace harassment represents a reduction in production and in the ability to direct efforts staff to improve products and services.
Bibliography and sources
- Erdogan, V., & Yildirim, A. (2017). Healthcare professionals' exposure to mobbing behaviors and relation of mobbing with job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Procedia Computer Science, 120, 931–938.https: //doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2017.11.328 Gómez, A. (2009). Mobbing and health. Professional Pharmacy, 23. Leymann, H. (1990). Mobbing and Psychological Terror at Workplaces. Violence and Victims, 5 (2), 119–126. https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.5.2.119PROFEDET. (2018). Free yourself from workplace harassment - OLA. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from https://www.observatoriolaboral.gob.mx/static/preparateempleo/Articulo_acoso_laboral.htmlRivera, BRG, Mendoza Martínez, IA, & Cox, JL (2014). The hidden face of mobbing behavior Survey application of the Cisneros inventory in a maquila facility in Mexico. Accounting and Administration, 59 (1),175–193.https: //doi.org/10.1016/S0186-1042 (14) 71248-3 Trujillo Flores, MM, Rivas Tovar, LA, & Vilchis, FL (2014). Mobbing: A theoretical model quantifying factors affecting the role of women executives in the institutions of public education in Mexico. Accounting and Administration, 59 (1), 195–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0186-1042(14)71249-5Velázquez, M. (2019). Workplace harassment, the other threat - El Economista. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/politica/Acoso-laboral-la-otraamenaza-20190306-0166.htmlWordReference. (2019). Mob - WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from http://www.wordreference.com/definition/mobA theoretical model quantifying factors affecting the role of women executives in the institutions of public education in Mexico. Accounting and Administration, 59 (1), 195–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0186-1042(14)71249-5Velázquez, M. (2019). Workplace harassment, the other threat - El Economista. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/politica/Acoso-laboral-la-otraamenaza-20190306-0166.htmlWordReference. (2019). Mob - WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from http://www.wordreference.com/definition/mobA theoretical model quantifying factors affecting the role of women executives in the institutions of public education in Mexico. Accounting and Administration, 59 (1), 195–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0186-1042(14)71249-5Velázquez, M. (2019). Workplace harassment, the other threat - El Economista. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/politica/Acoso-laboral-la-otraamenaza-20190306-0166.htmlWordReference. (2019). Mob - WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from http://www.wordreference.com/definition/mobthe other threat - El Economista. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/politica/Acoso-laboral-la-otraamenaza-20190306-0166.htmlWordReference. (2019). Mob - WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from http://www.wordreference.com/definition/mobthe other threat - El Economista. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/politica/Acoso-laboral-la-otraamenaza-20190306-0166.htmlWordReference. (2019). Mob - WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from
