In today's world of work, many very important changes have occurred that have developed over a long period of time. During the 21st century, organizations have undergone profound labor transitions.
An organization implies that a group of people interact with each other working in a synergistic way to achieve the objectives set out, which is why today's organizations are also considered social.
As a consequence of these changes, they have brought with them some not so positive results such as stress, violence or sexual and workplace harassment, these risks endanger not only the people who work for the company but also the organization itself. that can affect the economic aspect of it.
This article will delve into the topic Mobbing or workplace harassment as a non-positive consequence of the changes that affect companies today, it will discover what its impact is and how it can be avoided, but if there is, how to deal with it. right way.
MOBBING AND ITS IMPACT ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
General
(INSHT, 2015) The term known as mobbing is considered a very characteristic form that causes work stress and is defined as any situation in which one or more people tend to exert extreme psychological pressure continuously (at least once per week) and for a long time (may be more than six months) on anyone else in the workplace.
Also mobbing is known under the term harassment, harassment or psychoterror.
origins
Although there are several theories, almost all are linked to two essential aspects:
- The organization of work and conflict management by superiors.
Regarding the organization of work, it can be said that there is a certain lack of interest from superiors, a high load or a bad distribution of work, poor information flows, role conflicts, unofficial leaders, etc.
And in the conflict management part, we have a denial of the conflict itself or an active involvement in it.
What is labor Mobbing?
(Directorate of Labor, 2007) It defines mobbing as a premeditated and totally conscious behavior that is carried out in a systemic and repetitive way, but that also threatens the physical or psychological integrity of a worker or a worker, it is known equally form as psychological harassment or work psychoterror.
During the eighties, this concept was used for the first time to refer to violence at work, it comes from the English "to mob" which means: to harass, attack, run over someone.
(Leymann, 1984) He defined mobbing or psychological harassment as a situation in which a person or rarely people as a whole exert extreme violence, in a systemic and recurrent way in order to affect the communication of the victim, to destroy their reputation, cause harm in their work and ultimately the victim ends up leaving their job.
Forms of expression
From Leymann's definition taken as a reference, it can be noted that there are some important elements such as "harassers" who have hostile behaviors and, on the other hand, those attacked where their actions are reactive or inhibitory.
This author mentions that hostile behaviors could be classified into forty-five and that they can be of a different nature; Below are mentioned:
- Actions against reputation or personal dignity: To harm someone, through comments against him, ridiculing him or laughing at him in public in front of other people.
- Actions against the exercise of their work: Pressuring the victim with work in excess or that is very difficult to carry out, or even delegating work for which he is not qualified, facing him in situations of role conflicts, etc.
- Manipulation of communication or information: This includes a great variety of situations, keeping the victim in a situation of role ambiguity and making hostile use of the information given to him.
- Situations of inequality: Where certain differences in treatment are established, through an unequal distribution of their work or even with unequal remuneration.
Phases of workplace harassment
(Barrios, 2013) No person is safe from mobbing since it can affect anyone without distinction, both men and women.
Conflict phase
Within any organization, the existence of conflicts is very common, either for its own reasons or due to interpersonal problems of employees, but the vast majority are not resolved and become chronic.
Phase of mobbing or stigmatization
During this phase, the victim begins to receive psychological attacks from his or her stalkers, initially disconcerting the victim and trying to avoid them.
These types of situations tend to make it worse and prolong hostile actions.
Intervention phase from the company
At this point the leadership or senior management begins to realize the seriousness of the situation, which is why it is necessary to intervene.
These interventions usually resolve the conflict or, on the contrary, the harassers can deny or hide it and thus continue with their actions increasing the harassment and discomfort of the affected person, which is the most frequent.
Marginalization or exclusion phase from working life
In this phase, the victim usually has long periods of sick leave or is simply excluded from their work with a disability pension derived from pathologies caused by their experiences of psychoterror where they were affected psychologically and physically.
Consequences of Mobbing in the work environment
(INSHT, 2015) The consequences can be varied and have an impact in different aspects, they are usually very similar to those caused by stress but with a special impact on the social aspect.
The types of consequences are:
- For the affected worker For the work organization For the family and social nucleus For the community
For the affected worker
The worker is basically affected on three levels:
Psychic level
Causing certain types of anxiety, fear or feelings of threats, failures, helplessness and frustration, thus low self-esteem or apathy. To avoid these feelings, victims often turn to drugs or even commit suicide.
Physical level
Causing from pain to functional or organic disorders.
Social level
By becoming very sensitive to criticism, distrustful and even isolated or otherwise they can become aggressive or hostile, or have feelings of anger and resentment, as well as desires to take revenge on their aggressor (s).
For the organization of work
About performance
Some workers with these problems can seriously affect the quality of their work, but absenteeism problems can also occur.
On the social climate
Some concepts such as collaboration, cooperation or the quality of people's relationships will be affected by this type of situation.
About the accident rate
Caused by these problems can occur: accidents due to carelessness or negligence or even voluntary accidents.
For the family and social nucleus
This environment is affected by having a person demotivated, unwilling to work, etc., since they will probably suffer from some type of psychological disorder.
For the community
Presenting itself in the loss of the work force, increased costs in sickness assistance, disability seizures, etc.
Aspects for the prevention of pathology and exclusion from working life
(Barrios, 2013) The following aspects can be highlighted:
- Psychological, medical, legal help.
- Investigation of the facts.
- Know and observe bullying behaviors but above all confront and stop them.
- Collection of data and information.
- Proposals to solve them.
- Inform the person in charge of harassing behavior.
Psychological effects on victims
Effects on physical health
- Cognitive effects such as forgetting, difficulty concentrating, apathy, etc. Symptoms of stress maintained over time that cause pain in the back, lumbar, muscular, etc. Psychosomatic symptoms: They cause some nightmares, stomach pains, nausea, etc. Symptoms of the autonomic nervous system such as chest pains, sweating, dry mouth, hypertension, etc. Sleep disorders, interrupting it or causing difficulty in falling Weakness and tiredness: Tremors, weakness, fainting, etc.
How to deal with workplace harassment?
How to deal with Mobbing? (Barrios, 2013)
At the organization level, it is necessary to create an organizational and preventive culture so that mobbing does not exist, allowing a code of ethics to be established with certain norms and values that put positive social interaction into practice.
conclusion
The fact of having conceptualized this situation has also made it possible to generate a way of identifying and dealing with it, allowing to group the dysfunctions at the social level that occur in organizations, and although they do not necessarily have a root cause in them, the results they will cause and the impacts will have a negative effect on companies where it exists.
More research is needed on the subject, so that tools can be created to measure and study them as an appropriate control strategy.
However, there are ways in which this situation can be controlled through the development of procedures for the management of conflicts and discrepancies that arise in the organization or through the establishment of a protocol of action against workplace harassment.
Thesis topic proposal
Analysis of the work environment of an organization in the Orizaba region.
General objective
Analyze and implement tools for the control and management of conflicts and discrepancies within an organization in the Orizaba region to avoid labor Mobbing.
Thanks
To the National Technological Institute of Mexico for being my alma mater and to Dr. Fernando Aguirre y Hernández for their support and motivation to carry out these articles on the subject of Fundamentals of Administrative Engineering.
References
Barrios, JM (2013). Psychological harassment at work. University of Cordoba.
Work address. (December 2007). Government of Chile. Retrieved March 2016, from
95386_file_source.pdf
INSHT. (2015). National Institute of Safety and Hygiene at Work. Retrieved March 2016, from the Ministries of Employment and Social Security: http://www.insht.es/InshtWeb/Contenidos/Documentacion/TextosOnline/Ficha sNotasPracticas / Files / fp_rev_15.pdf
Leymann, H. (1984). Silencing of a skilled technician.
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