Have you ever been a victim of psychological or moral abuse from your co-workers, school, or any social group? Or do you know someone who has been? This situation has a definition, which emerged a few years ago and is defined as Mobbing, of which depending on who exercises it or the damage it is capable of causing in the individual it can be classified into different types, likewise to be carried out They present certain phases, but what causes it? The answers can be so varied from jealousy to doing something obvious within the organization, all this behavior has its consequences, but there are also some recommendations to face it.
1. Mobbing definition
The concept of mobbing comes from the English word " mob ", which means crowd, herd, plebs, crowd. The verb to mob describes actions of siege, crushing, running over, harassment, lynching, mass attack around someone, or something, as a collective action by a group with negative or destructive intentions (Llaneza, 2010). This concept has its origins with Konrad Lorenz who, when studying the survival behaviors of some animal species, realized that the weakest members used the attack of coalitions against the members stronger than them (Correa and Coutinho, 1997). The German psychologist, Heinz LeymannHe described in a book the consequences, especially psychological, of people exposed to hostile behavior and prolonged over time by their superiors or colleagues. He was the first to define this term during a Congress on Health and Safety at Work in 1990:
«Situation in which a person exercises extreme psychological violence, in a systematic and recurrent way and for a long time on another person or persons in the workplace with the aim of destroying the communication networks of the victim or victims, destroying their reputation, disrupt the performance of their work and finally make that person or persons leave the workplace ”.
Mobbing can be defined as the situation established by a person or group of people, who exercise psychological violence at least once a week, for prolonged periods of more than six months on another person in the workplace (Llaneza, 2010).
Piñuel (2002) defines it as “A continuous and frequent verbal and behavioral abuse over time, of at least six months and that occurs every week; a final objective of lashing, harassing, reducing, cowing, and breaking the psychological resistance of the victim to leave the workplace through discharge, resignation or appropriate dismissal; and an obligation for the victims to go to a workplace where they know they are going to be whipped.
The European Union defines it as “ Negative behavior between colleagues or between hierarchical superiors or inferiors, because of which the affected person is subjected to harassment and systematic attack for a long time, directly or indirectly, by one or more people, with the objective and / or effect of making him void ”.
2. Types of mobbing
Bosqued (2005) mentions that mobbing can occur in different directions:
• Downward vertical harassment. It is that a superior makes a subordinate; and this type of harassment is the most destructive for the victim, since they feel isolated to a greater extent than other types of harassment and with less availability of resources in relation to their harasser to be able to defend themselves from the situation.
• Ascending harassment. It is the one that is carried out by one or more subordinates towards their hierarchical superior, this is one of the less frequent harassments, however it is still less destructive for those who suffer it, coupled with the fact that it is not credible that this happens.
• Mixed harassment. It is a type of harassment where a colleague has started to harass and the superior becomes an accomplice or vice versa.
• Horizontal harassment. This type of mobbing a group of people is constituted as an individual to achieve a goal. In this case, a worker is harassed by a colleague with the same hierarchical level, although it is possible that although not officially, he has a superior position, this type of mobbing can occur due to personal problems or simply because some of the members of the group does not accept something from the victim, either because they are weak, different or successful.
It is also possible to speak of a more subtle harassment and a more direct one, without this meaning that there is a bad psychological persecution and an even worse one. Subtle harassment is a more select kind of mobbing that is made up of vague attacks, not very frank, of confusing phrases, of dry looks full of hatred, of sowing victim doubts, same that occurs in the highest cultural levels, universities, hospitals, offices among others. (Bosqued, 2005)
Gimeno (2005) mentions that when classifying the different types of mobbing it is common that they are carried out, perhaps taking into account the degree of personal involvement of the victim. Thus, a first degree mobbing would be one in which the taxpayer does not become ill; resist. A second degree mobbing would be one in which the victim is temporarily ill, however, recovers. Finally the third degree mobbing where the consequences for the victim are not temporary, but become permanent.
3. Phases of mobbing
Piñuel (2002) distinguishes five phases of variable duration:
1. Phases of critical incidents.
In general, before the mobbing takes place, good relations have existed between the harasser and the harassed, since the harasser has won over his victim through different actions, which confuses the victim; The author does not consider that this phase is properly psychological harassment, indicating that its duration is usually short.
2. Harassment and stigmatization phase.
At this stage, the person who will be the victim of the mobbing is chosen, actions are initiated against her and she is singled out for being especially clumsy, careless, malicious, and measures are taken that distinguish her from other colleagues. The harasser seeks support from other colleagues by discrediting the victimand even using strategies that involve retaliation for colleagues who do not support you. At this stage the victim has critical incidents such as problems, misunderstandings, collisions and collisions with colleagues, bosses, among others, caused by the irritability of the victim caused by the attacks. The detail here is that the stalker takes these incidents to prove the victim's instability. The victim is presented with this vision to others and she falls into a process of blaming herself, this being one of the most harmful and almost irrecoverable effects of mobbing.
This type of behavior has very varied forms of expression, among the most common are:
Take organizational measures.
• Designate the victim the worst jobs, unnecessary, monotonous or repetitive jobs, or below their abilities.
• Not assigning work, or otherwise assigning too much work.
• Unannounced job changes, persistent attempts to demoralize.
Social isolation.
• Do not speak to the victim or ignore her, known here in Mexico as the “law of ice”.
• Transfer to an isolated job position.
Attacks on the private life of the person.
• Criticism of the victim's private life.
• Telephone terror.
• Attributions of emotional disorders.
• Teasing, imitations, gestures.
• Lack of respect for political and / or religious attitudes and beliefs.
Physical violence
• Sexual harassment or violence.
• Threats of physical violence.
• Physical abuse.
Verbal assaults.
• Yelling, insulting, threatening, permanently criticizing the victim's lock
Spreading false rumors or defamation of the person.
3. Management intervention phase
At this stage, the “scapegoat” appears where, when the management intervenes, the stalker appears as a victim, due to the victim's stigmatization process. The general rule is that management completes the stigmatization by treating the victim as a “black sheep”. In this phase there can be two types of solutions, the positive solution of the conflict where the company, after learning about the situation, conducts an investigation and decides that the harasser is changed job, discovers the harassment strategy and takes the necessary measures so that he does not occurs again, punishing, where appropriate, the harasser. And the negative solution where the victim usually sees the victim as the problem to combat, where in this way the management comes to join the environment that actively or passively harasses the victim.
4. Request phase for external specialized help and incorrect diagnosis
The victim usually seeks help when it is late, in addition to the fact that they may receive from their doctor a series of erroneous or not entirely correct diagnoses, which increase their confusion and suffering by making them feel responsible for their own psychological harassment, victimizing them.
5. Exit phase or exclusion from the organization
In this phase the author describes that people who decide to stay in their job and face attacks, begin to fall into successive casualties that increase over time, this gives the possibility of being fired due to low productivity or because of their continuous absences from work.
4. Causes of mobbing
Bosqued (2005) says that the reasons that the stalker finds to choose someone as a victim are multiple and varied, of which the following can be highlighted:
• Envy, jealousy.
• Do not be servile, do not allow yourself to be manipulated, or lend yourself to the tricks and intrigues proposed by the person who will soon after become a stalker.
• Do not share the criteria or attitudes of the group, especially of those members who have power.
• Be different from the group in some way.
• As an example for the rest of the group members.
• Having been on leave for a long time.
• Being going through a personal crisis, due to own illness, of a relative, marital separation, among others. Taking advantage of the weakness of the other, who does not have the strength to defend himself against attacks.
• Report system failures or unethical practices.
• The existence of a romantic relationship with someone who was previously a partner of the harasser.
For his part, Piñel (2002) argues that the reason for being, is found on many occasions in jealousy and envy about personal and patrimonial qualities. Thus intelligence, personal brilliance… among others.
5. Consequences of Mobbing
Fuertes (2004) refers that mobbing can produce problems or consequences at different levels ranging from personal to work, through social and even business, the most relevant consequences are:
• Personal. Psychiatric and psychopathological disorders including: anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, substance abuse-dependence disorders, other psychiatric disorders (reactive psychosis, sexual disorders, eating disorders, among others).
• Social. Alterations that have repercussions not only in the immediate environment where they occur but also in the social environment that surrounds it, among which there is: loss of work, increased spending due to early retirements, increased healthcare spending, negative attribution to work. People who are victims of mobbing become very susceptible to criticism, with attitudes of distrust and who develop behaviors of isolation, avoidance, withdrawal, or on the other hand, of aggressiveness and hostility as manifestations of social maladjustment, advice, help… etc. both in the workplace and in the family.
• Family. It can have major negative repercussions on family life, with increased tension between the spouses and greater general mobility for both them and their children.
• Business. Together with the employment repercussions are the business consequences where it can be highlighted: decrease in efficiency and the level of attention to customers, decrease in the quality / quantity of the final product, negative effects on the image of the company, decrease in customers.
Among the main symptoms that the victim of harassment presents is:
• Concentration and memory difficulties
• Sharp and continuous fear
• Irritability
• Anxiety
• Feeling of threat
• Decreased self-esteem
• Sleep disturbances
• Paranoid reactions
6. How to deal with mobbing
Fuertes (2004) recommends individualizing each situation and applying the most appropriate measures based on individual parameters. Giving the following recommendations:
• Identification of the problem
• Emotional deactivation (from anger to humor)
• Assertiveness and self-esteem
• Self-awareness (knowing what your weak points are)
• Staying in good physical shape
• Increasing self-confidence
• Legal information
• Maintaining consideration of the environment: the battle of public opinion
• Ensure the support of the family and social environment
• Strengthen and stabilize the economic, personal and family situation
• Increase one's own room for maneuver, maintain high degrees of freedom
• Train in acquiring and mastering the ability to problem solving: social skills training.
• Maintain the social network of personal contacts: knowing how to move effectively in society.
Bibliographic references
Bosqued LM (2005). "Mobbing, how to prevent and overcome psychological harassment". Ed. Paidós Ibérica, Spain.
Correa, HKH, and PEG Coutinh (1997). "Fatal attack of a pit viper, Bothrops jararaca, on an infant buffy tufted-ear marmoset (Callithrix aurita). Primates 38: 215-217.
Fuertes, RJC (2004). “Workplace harassment, Mobbing! Psychoterrorism at work ”. Aran Ediciones, Spain.
Gimeno LR (2005). “The biased labor pressure: (mobbing from the perspective of a judge). 1st. Edition. Ed. Lex Nova, Spain.
Llaneza, AJ (2010). "Ergonomics and applied psychosociology Manual for the training of the specialist". 15th. Ed. Ed. Lex Nova, Spain.
Piñuel, and ZI (2001). "Mobbing, how to survive mobbing at work". Ed. Sal Terrae, Spain.
Rojo, JV and Cervera, AM (2005). "Mobbing or workplace harassment". Ed. Tébar, Spain.
Virtual references
online]
www.acosomoral.org/pdf/Oviedo.PDF.
