Proposed topic: “Mobbing and its relationship with the decrease in productivity and the deterioration of the work environment in companies in the Orizaba, Veracruz region.
Objective: Identify the variables that impact the worker (and that lead to him not meeting his expected work objectives), so that strategies can be defined and actions taken to reverse this situation.
Mobbing and its effect on professional development
Introduction
Mobbing, a growing phenomenon that currently affects the lives of thousands of people throughout the world, either due to different causes such as the deterioration of our current society or the loss or decrease of values as important as respect, Tolerance or solidarity. Workplace harassment is a situation that no matter how much we want to, cannot be normal for us.
This atypical and exhausting situation happens in the work centers of most organizations throughout the world. A shocking fact is that in our country, more than 70% of all workers suffer or have suffered some type of harmful behavior on the part of their co-workers. Abuses, ridicule or humiliation are just some of the actions that, within the great catalog of lewd variables, can damage not only the work performance or professional development of individuals, in extreme circumstances, they can irreversibly damage their quality of life.
Throughout the following article, we will collect the most relevant information regarding the origins of the term, its development over the years, its different types, modalities and tools that abusive people or even organizations make use of, it will be concluded finally with a review of all those effects and consequences that the victims of this phenomenon may suffer. It is a fundamental task to become aware of the serious dimensions that this problem presents, being neutral in situations of injustice, without a doubt, makes us part of the oppressive side.
Background
Mobbing, a term from the English word “to mob”, is an allusion to the attack action by a group of individuals towards a being inferior in characteristics to them. It was used for the first time in the 1960s by the Austrian researcher Konrad Lorenz (1966), Lorenz's study specialization allowed him to develop a series of studies referring to animal behavior in their natural environment, in such a way who discovered this hitherto unknown characteristic, referring to the attack of groups of predators against their victims, due to the antecedent of these studies developed, the term mobbing migrated years later to organizations, to describe the action of abuse, in this case in in particular, harassment in the organizational work environment.
Mobbing
In 1973, it was the Swedish-born doctor Peter Paul Heinemann who was in charge of using this concept to describe the action referring to the lewd behavior of a subject (abuser) towards someone else (victim). It is known that the studies of that time of Heinemann are at present the bases on which bullying or bullying is based.
Considering the organization's environment, the basis of mobbing or workplace harassment was used for the first time in the 1980s by the German professor Heinz Leymann, Leymann carried out a series of studies about the work environment on which a base worker or worker "Common" had to function, paying special attention to the type of behavior in the workplace, and having a history of abuse by the members of the work group as explained above, Leymann published his studies in his book entitled "The content and the development of mobbing at work ”. In this way, the research was able to demonstrate that workplace mobbing frequently had labor and emotional repercussions on the collaborators who were victims of this phenomenon,Among the most prominent are problems such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress and sleep disorders.
Mobbing Heinz Laymann
Due to the great acceptance and diffusion that the studies carried out by Heinz Leymann had, years later he developed a tool called "Professor Leymann's Psychological Terror Inventory" LIPT for its acronym in English, in it he developed a series of items or variables (45) divided into 5 segments through a questionnaire, where I try to explain the relationship between all those proven causes that could motivate the abuser and their harmful effects on the victim's health. This tool is currently supported by a large number of institutions dedicated to the study of these phenomena, the most prominent organizations worldwide are the Institute of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Research in the city of Madrid, Spain.
Mobbing or workplace harassment
Currently mobbing or workplace harassment can be defined (among a large number of terms and definitions that have evolved over the years) as “Those actions that occur frequently and that are clearly negative when directed against collaborators specific to the organization, these actions occur in an offensive manner and may result in the marginalization of victims within the organizational community. Mobbing is characterized by the behavior of the person practicing it, the victim's capacity to feel guilty and the permissibility of the witnesses ”.
Usually confused with some other phenomena that occur within the organization such as the "burn out" syndrome or burnout syndrome, mobbing is mainly characterized by the frequent harassment suffered by the person, this harassment is presented by one or more members of organization and can be presented in a myriad of different ways. Mobbing tends to share similarities with school bullying, however, it is not necessary to reach physical violence as it is more focused on terror and psychological violence. Psychological violence by abusers or "mobbers" is used once it does not leave a physical trace of the abuse, so measuring and quantifying the damage to the victim is a very difficult task to perform.
Mobbing can present a large amount of damage and consequences that affect all aspects of the employee's life, although these consequences will be presented later, it is important to mention that occupational diseases and psychological and social problems stand out.
Including all the techniques of psychological abuse, those related to collective teasing, harassment, exclusion, indirect and criticism of work performance, threats and continuous contempt stand out. Considered an important and very serious source of stress at work, mobbing can affect a person's work performance due to distractions or loss of motivation, which is why the dismissal or resignation of the victim worker is the most frequent outcome.
Mobbing in organizations
Although technically, the phenomenon of mobbing includes a large number of factors that negatively influence the development and health of the worker and therefore, the productivity of the company, at present there are few organizations that take actions to face this problem. Among the main aspects that allow determining the degree of mobbing or workplace harassment within organizations, a series of characteristics have been developed to consider, which are the following:
- To deal with mobbing, it is necessary that the collaborators who are in the highest parts of the hierarchical pyramid, do not deny the possibility of communicating these types of issues (once they arise) to employees, in such a way that the The impossibility of communicating or denying this type of action reduces the person's work performance.It is important that people are not excluded, regardless of the degree of importance or the hierarchical level in which they are, they should not be isolated or separated, since they are part of the organization.All kinds of ridicule, ridicule, harassment and threats must be sanctioned, especially those referring to the person, that is, to their physical aspects, such as skin color, physical complexion, stature, ethnicity, and also their ideological aspects,such as their way of life, their religious beliefs and their personal integrity It is essential not to assign tasks outside the possibilities of the worker, that is, tasks that the person is not trained to perform, in such a way that their performance and safety realization are not affected by this type of issue. Avoid as much as possible attacks on the integrity and health of the victim.
Specialists in the subject of mobbing have determined that there are a series of fundamental situations and characteristics that, if they occur mostly, will make it possible to develop this phenomenon. These situations are 3 and are presented below:
- The action of harassing and harassing the victim must be systematic and persistent over a long period of time, in such a way that occasional conflicts will not be considered as mobbing. Although difficult to detect and much more to quantify, the effects presented on people abused, must be shown at some point as clear and evident, be physical and psychological, their degree and the repercussions on people must be determined Finally, the existing situation of workplace harassment must be determined according to the level in the organization (Types of mobbing presented in the next section).
Mobing or Workplace Harassment
Types of mobbing
Mobbing can be presented in different ways, however, those in which the hierarchical position of the collaborator is a key factor to be considered stand out, and can be presented horizontally or vertically (ascending or descending, depending on the direction of the harassment):
- Horizontal mobbing: It is harassment that occurs at the same level of the organization, that is, the victim and the abuser may share the same functions or work areas. It is commonly presented through criticism of work performance, whether due to an altercation, some kind of envy or mere enmity, horizontal mobbing forces the victim to endure certain types of imposed situations. Vertical mobbing
Vertical ascending: Characterized by the fact that the victim is placed in positions superior to the abuser, ascending vertical mobbing is generally suffered by supervisors, bosses or managers by a group of subordinates.
Descending vertical: Contrary to ascending vertical mobbing, descending vertical is the other side of the coin, since workplace harassment is now suffered by collaborators with lower jobs.
Types of Mobbing regarding their Origin
In the same way, mobbing can be divided according to its objectives, that is, according to the purpose of the harassment in search of achieving a final goal, as presented below:
Strategic mobbing: Generally descending vertical harassment, strategic mobbing comes from the organization and seeks to persecute the employee until he / she resigns "voluntarily" from his job, in such a way that he loses the right to collect any settlement.
Management mobbing: Coming from senior management, management or directional harassment aims to preserve current working conditions, that is, prohibiting greater freedom for employees to exercise their right of opinion on certain series of issues that could be bad views.
Perverse mobbing: This harassment stands out since there is absolutely no organizational objective to follow, simply and simply comes from the harmful personality of a person and their need to attack their colleagues.
Disciplinary mobbing: The latest type of mobbing for objectives, has the unique characteristic that the abuser seeks to impose certain working conditions on the victim according to what he demands.
Phases and segments
Workplace harassment is a phenomenon that evolves over time, it develops to different degrees and its most relevant phases are:
- Incident phase: It originates from an event or situation of conflict between two or more parties. It is identified once a positive or neutral relationship is broken, causing indirect, critical or bad comments in the actions of a partner.
- Harassment phase: The attacks become more frequent and to a greater extent, a certain series of psychological attacks begin to occur, the victim tries not to take action on the matter, but little by little his ability to not take into account all these aspects that arise around him.
- Intervention phase: The situation becomes more conflictive and at some point in the process, the organization's authority must intervene in search of calming the conflict, usually the problem presented is denied or hidden.
- Exclusion phase: The victim is classified as undesirable within the organization, which is why generally this type of situation ends with departure, resignation or dismissal.
Effects and consequences
Among the large number of consequences and effects that the victim of mobbing can present, those related to the job stand out first, those related to the person's ability to fulfill their objectives in an environment of workplace harassment, among the main consequences for this type of mobbing are:
- Loss of self-confidence, which affects their ability to comply with their activities in a timely manner The victim despises their work The victim of workplace harassment develops a certain degree of guilt, since they think that it is the cause of the mobbing suffered Due to neglect of work, I usually make real mistakes and mistakes.
In a broader range of problems, the worker can truly develop occupational diseases, as well as certain aspects that damage their personal relationships and their physical and mental well-being such as:
- Sleep disorder, high levels of stress, depression, fatigue, personal and family conflicts, irritability, among many others.
Some other consequences also include:
- Problems in their closest emotional circles Abandonment of work and responsibilities Lack of support and motivation with family and friends
As explained above, mobbing generally ends with the departure of the victim from the organization, however, the degree of affectation due to the harassment suffered can diminish their physical and psychological capacities, being able to affect them in irreversible ways and in very extreme cases, threatening his integrity, being able to end his life.
Current legislation
In some pioneering countries such as Spain, France and Switzerland, laws and legislations have been formulated to deal with this phenomenon that day by day continues to grow exponentially in organizations. In Mexico, there are some indications from organizations such as the Secretary of Labor and Social Security (STPS) where, through the Federal Labor Law, they seek to stop abuse and workplace harassment in organizations.
Article 47 stands out, which mentions:
The following will be cause for termination in the employment relationship without responsibility for the employer:
- Incurring the worker, during his work, in lack of probity or honesty, in acts of violence, threats, insults or bad treatment against the employer, his relatives or the managerial or administrative staff of the company or establishment, or against clients and providers of the employer, unless provoked or acts in self-defense. Committing the worker against any of his colleagues acts of violence, threats, insults or bad treatment, if as a consequence of them the discipline of the place where the work is carried out is altered. Committing the worker, outside the service, against the employer, her relatives or administrative directive personnel, acts of violence, threats, insults or bad treatment, if they are in such a serious way that they make it impossible to comply with the employment relationship.Commit the worker immoral acts or harassment and / or sexual harassment against any person in the establishment or workplace.
The Federal Labor Law sanctions with an approximate fine between 250 to 5000 times the General Minimum Wage of the Federal District to the employer who commits any discriminatory conduct, who carries out or allows acts of sexual harassment or harassment.
Mobbing - Checklist
Bibliography
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- Fornés, J. (2002) “Psychological harassment at work (mobbing). The effects of the new work organization on health ”, May 10, 2018, from Unión Sindical de Madrid Región de CCOO. Website: es.geocities-com / asacamt / page4.html
- Blancas, C. (2007a). Fundamental rights of the person and employment relationship. Lima: PUCP Editorial Fund.
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- González de Rivera and Revuelta, JL (2007). Stress from mobbing. May 10, 2018, Website: https://luisderivera.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/2007-ESTRES-POR-MOBBING-LA-CLINICA-DEL-ACOSO-PSICOLOGICO-EN-EL-TRABAJO. pdf
