In today's world of work where job rotation, increasingly tight remuneration, unstable hours, continuous recycling, remuneration for objectives and in general the extremely competitive environment in which society is immersed, they are obvious factors that determine the situation of the worker who has more and more problems finding well-paid jobs.
The health of the worker is affected by various changes within the workplace, however, the physical and psychological aspects of health and the influence that work activity can have are becoming one of the most outstanding issues within the world of work.
Various studies have provided new ways of understanding this phenomenon, some Anglicisms such as Mobbing, are valid meanings when referring to bullying at work.
Abuse in the workplace is an issue that is still little known and with little awareness among workers that it is seen as a problem,
Mobbing at work can be considered as that form of chronic psychosocial stress, which is constituted by the prolonged accumulation of interpersonal micro traumas that occur in the workplace.
The term Mobbing dates back to the Austrian ethnologist Konrad Lorenz who first used this term in the environment in a social science setting, primarily focused on the attack by groups of small animals on a larger animal.
This article will talk, among other things, about how Mobbing affects people and the main characteristics of this phenomenon.
MOBBING AND ITS EFFECT ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
In today's world of work where job rotation, increasingly tight remuneration, unstable hours, continuous recycling, remuneration for objectives and in general the extremely competitive environment in which society is immersed, They are factors that determine the situation of the worker who has more and more problems when finding well-paid, safe jobs and where they are given decent treatment.
The development of the worker is affected by various changes within the workplace, however, the physical and psychological aspects of health and the influence that work activity can have are becoming one of the most outstanding issues within the world of work, as these have important repercussions for the quality of the work performed.
In recent years, the phenomenon of moral harassment has appeared at work, which has become from a certain point of view normal within it.
Various studies have provided new ways of understanding this phenomenon, some Anglicisms such as Mobbing, are valid meanings when referring to bullying at work. Abuse in the workplace is a subject that is still little known and with little awareness among workers that it is seen as a problem, however many behaviors of workplace harassment arise within the workplace.
The term Mobbing dates back to the Austrian ethnologist Konrad Lorenz (1991), who first used this term in the environment in a social science setting, mainly focused on the attack of groups of small animals on a larger animal.
Later Heinemann took up this term but focused it on children's social behavior and in this way he described the phenomenon of gangs of children with destructive behavior, against a single child.
The term Mobbing comes from the English word ”mob, which means: excited crowd around something or someone, either in a devout way or in a contrary way, the noun mob refers to the crowd, while the verb to mob describes the action of that crowd attacking someone en masse.
There are a number of definitions of the term, (Zapf & Leymann, 1996) establish Mobbing or psychological terror as a hostile and unethical form of communication that is systematically directed, by one or more individuals, against another who is edged into a position of helplessness and helplessness and actively maintained in it.
On the other hand, the psychiatrist (Rivera, 2007) mentions that workplace mobbing can be considered as that form of chronic psychosocial stress, which is constituted by the prolonged accumulation of interpersonal micro traumas that occur in the workplace.
Dr. Marie- France Hirlgoyen defines moral harassment at work as abusive behavior that can be gestures, words, behaviors and attitudes that threaten by their repetition against the dignity or mental or physical integrity of a person, putting in danger your job position or affecting the work environment.
Mobbing characteristics
Although there is no single definition of workplace harassment, there are general characteristics that allow it to be identified in the face of other types of attacks.
- Regarding a pattern of behavior: a frequently repeated behavior From the aspect of negative actions: it includes aggressive and destructive, verbal or not, direct and indirect In unequal power relations: the parties are always in hierarchical relationships Asymmetric This bullying product produces victims.
However, these aspects do not mean that all behavior patterns, negative actions, abuse of asymmetric relationships, or the existence of victims is Mobbing.
These characteristics must appear so that the phenomenon can be described, aggressions, tensions between members of the work team, conflict of hierarchies between several others can be common within an employment relationship and are not necessarily considered as harassment or workplace harassment.
Types of Mobbing
Mobbing has 3 aspects that can be the following:
Ascendant: one that one or more subordinates exercise over the person who holds a higher hierarchical rank, it is more common someone external and who has a higher rank than the organization enters the company, their methods are not accepted by the employees.
Horizontal: a group of workers is constituted as an individual and acts as a block in order to achieve a goal, for example it occurs when an employee is harassed by a colleague of the same hierarchical level.
Descending: it is the most common situation, the person who has power does it through contempt, false accusations and even insults that seek to undermine the psychological scope of the harassed worker to stand out from his subordinates, to prevail in the labor hierarchy or it is simply a business strategy whose objective is to get rid of a person by forcing their voluntary abandonment without proceeding to their local dismissal. (Cepeda, 2012)
Phases of Mobbing
It has been found that there is a sequence in the passing of the Mobbing phenomenon in the victim, however there are several phase models that the authors use.
- Conflict: refers to an unresolved work conflict, which makes it an everyday occurrence, and causes feelings of rivalry and frustrated feelings on the part of those affected, this translates into rivalries and revenge for unethical causes in the workplace. or stigmatization: the different actions of constant and gradual harassment against the chosen person are present here Intervention from the company: it is detected within the organization and it is intervened appropriately, however the victim feels guilty since they usually There are comments from the company where it is ensured that they have problems of a psychological nature or conflictive personality, on some occasions the company decides to change the person's position or reassign the area. Marginalization or exclusion from working life:the victim resigns, is fired or in that case obtains a work disability or retires early, with all the implications that this entails at a personal, family and work level.
These activities must be recurrent in the organization so that it can be diagnosed as such, at least once a week and for a long period of time of at least 6 months as a statistical criterion.
Hostile, mistreatment ends in a deterioration of the psychosomatic and social mental sphere of the victim of harassment (Piñulel & Oñate, 2006)
Mobbing phase schematization model
- Seduction: it is described as the enchantment phase, in which the stalker does not show aggression, however he is knowing the weaknesses of the possible victim. Harassment: subtle, indirect and difficult to detect actions begin; with the desire to attack the weakest side of the victim in order to punish them for submission. Environment: the environment is the determining factor for the Mobbing to be carried out, as it is a basic element for the workplace harassment to develop or also be resolved. Company intervention:the harasser has more direct and repetitive aggressive behaviors and there are occasions where he gets the organization to consent to these attitudes and in this way the victim begins to be seen as a nuisance or threat to the organization. Exclusion: the behaviors against the victim cause them to become isolated and as a result they end up leaving the organization, either due to dismissal, resignation, early retirement, disability or even extreme situations such as loss of life (suicide). Recovery: due to the knowledge and diffusion of Mobbing, support is currently provided for the optimal recovery of the victim, whether inside or outside the organization. (Parés, 2002)
Objective of Mobbing
Mobbing aims to destroy the person through labor and human imbalance seeking their destruction that allows this person to be eliminated, however under this definition a background full of plots and actors of complex organizations is woven within which spectators sometimes take advantage of the situation for their own benefit by becoming accomplices of the torturers.
During the harassment process, the objective of the harassers is the professional discredit of the victim, they are attributed a series of negative characteristics, they are assigned useless tasks, they are ignored, they are yelled at among many other aspects. In this way, the harassed person is sought to be forced to leave the organization.
However, when the situation is analyzed it can be found that there are favorable circumstances to promote development, any serious analysis of bullying at work could not leave aside the facilitating elements since it will depend on its proper study to find preventive mechanisms against Mobbing and on the other hand, the techniques to use when tackling harassment once it appears.
Mobbing as an evolving process
The process of making the victim feel more and more cornered is not usually quickly evident within the organization so it is difficult to identify within it, many times Mobbing remains hidden in other supposed problems such as:
- Character incompatibility Work stress Leadership problems Lack of social skills Inappropriate leadership styles Tax or authoritarian leadership styles Transient tension due to the urgency of a job or project
However, each case is unique and has its own characteristics depending on the protagonists and the context.
Elements of Mobbing
For Mobbing to exist in an organization, it needs to have certain actors, which are made up of three bands that make up the triangle linked to bullying at work:
- Harassed stalker and bystanders abuse
And in this way a trio is formed that has peculiar aspects.
The spectators do not intervene directly in the Mobbing but rather contemplate the scene with complicity, either for personal interests or for fear of becoming one more victim of the aggressor.
However, it should be mentioned that not everyone can become stalkers, as there are traits that define this type of individual:
- They tend to be people with mediocre professional abilities, focused on envy and complexes, they base their self-esteem in lowering others by disqualifying, lying and causing the mistake of the harassed. Every 2 or 3 mobbing behaviors are carried out by bosses towards subordinates.
The victim begins to feel aggression without realizing that he is being harassed that he seeks his professional and personal bankruptcy and later the fear of retaliation and the impotence to resolve situations are feelings that cause anxiety, insomnia and stress, which over time causes the situation worsens.
Mobbing: company and society
The effects of Mobbing in the individual's work have repercussions in the company as an immediate social environment and in the rest of the community, the analysis of this problem and its early detection is the most effective approach to face it.
Companies that are not capable of detecting it in time run the risk of a whole series of circumstances related to this phenomenon, such as: reduction in quality, decrease in customers, increase in absenteeism, sick leave, disability, and high expenses.
Mobbing is an alteration from the business point of view that affects the development of work, hindering the relationship between workers, which affects competitiveness and leads to a decline in the economy.
How to act against Mobbing?
To deal with Mobbing, a distinction needs to be made between the measures that are designed to stop the phenomenon once it has started and those that seek to prevent it.
Regarding the preventive aspects, we find
- Work design Leadership Social position of victims Morality within the organization
With the correct implementation of well-designed jobs, with sufficiently assessed demands and adequate levels of autonomy and decision-making capacity, harassment at work can be prevented.
Leaders are capable of detecting and acting in the face of conflict, which allows for early action against Mobbing.
Regarding the issue of morality, every organization must establish which behaviors are unacceptable and must have the necessary instruments to stop them. (Castillo, 2006)
conclusion
Mobbing is a phenomenon that affects both physical and mental health and the development of the worker, so its existence within organizations affects both people and the company itself, however the most important thing that must be faced Moral harassment at work is to understand that conflicts between people should not be a pretext for the psychological and occupational destruction of another individual, that is why social awareness must be trained and promoted, one must be alert when detecting that a confrontation it can go beyond the line between differences and hatred and intolerance.
Bibliographic references
- Castillo, JR (2006). Mobbing, the silence of the harassed worker. Prevention Magazine. Cepeda, M. (2012). Exploratory study on the perception of technical human talent in relation to the presence of Mobbing and its orientation. Monterrey NLParés, M. (2002). The phases of Mobbing. Piñulel, & Oñate. (2006). The evaluation and diagnosis of Mobbing or Psychological harassment in the organization. Rivera, JG (2007). Stress from Mobbing. The clinic of psychological harassment at work.Zapf, & Leymann. (nineteen ninety six). Mobbing and victimization at work. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology.
Thesis proposal: Mobbing and its impact on the productivity of the Italika company, Mexico.
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