There is no place for anyone who acts in such a way. They need help, counseling, and to be in an environment far from people who want to work.
Betsy Combier
betsy.combier@gmail.com
Editor, NYC Rubber Room Reporter
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, NYC Public Voice
Editor, Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials
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| Noa Zanolli |
Millions of men and women of all ages, ethnic,
and racial backgrounds all across the U.S. hate going to work, gradually fall
into despair and often become gravely ill. Some flee from jobs they used to
love, others endure the situation unable to figure a way out. "Every day
was like going into battle. I never knew when the next bomb would be dropped. I
was afraid to trust anyone for fear they were the enemy. My physical and mental
reserves were depleted. I knew I had to have relief soon. But there was no letup,"
said Diana when we asked how she felt each day. What is going on? Why is this
happening? How prevalent is this? What can be done?
What we are describing here has been
identified as "mobbing" and "bullying" at the workplace.
Co-workers, superiors or subordinates, attack a person's dignity, integrity and
competence, repeatedly, over a number of weeks, months or even years. A person
is being subjected to emotional abuse, subtly or bluntly, often falsely accused
of wrongdoing, and is persistently humiliated.
Dr. Heinz Leymann, a psychologist and medical
scientist, pioneered the research about this workplace issue in Sweden in the
early 80ties. He identified the behavior as mobbing and described it as
"psychological terror" involving "hostile and unethical communication
directed in a systematic way by one or a few individuals mainly towards one
individual." Leymann identified some 45 typical mobbing behaviors such as
withholding information, isolation, badmouthing, constant criticism,
circulation of unfounded rumors, ridicule, yelling, etc.
Because the organization ignores, condones or
even instigates the behavior, it can be said that the victim, seemingly
helpless against the powerful and many, is indeed "mobbed." The
result is always injury -- physical or mental distress or illness, social
misery, and often, but not always, expulsion from the workplace. And sadly, the
victims did not have a reputation of not performing well, not meeting
organizational standards, or who could not get along with others to begin with.
Quite the contrary, more often than not, the targets had been esteemed members
of the organization.
Although mobbing and bullying behaviors
overlap, mobbing denotes a "ganging up" by the leader--organization,
superior, co-worker, or subordinate--who rallies others into systematic and
frequent "mob-like" behavior. In contrast to bullying, mobbing is
clearly a group behavior. Bullying, on the other hand, denotes a one-on-one
harassment. In a mobbing, management is often tacitly involved. This is why, in
such a case, a victim rarely can find recourse.
Mobbing can happen to anyone. It is not
aggression against someone who belongs to a protected class, i.e.
discrimination based on age, gender, race, creed, nationality, disability or
pregnancy. It is therefore that bullying/mobbing behaviors have been termed
general or "status-blind" harassment by Prof. David Yamada of the
Suffolk University Law School.
Impact of Mobbing
Mobbing--the emotional abuse--is a form of
violence. In fact, in the book Violence at Work, published by the International
Labor Office (ILO) in 1998, mobbing and bullying are mentioned in the same list
as homicide, rape, or robbery. Even though bullying and mobbing behaviors may
seem "harmless," in contrast to rape or other manifestations of
physical violence, the effects on the victim--especially if the mobbing is
happening over an extended period of time--have been so devastating for
individuals that some have contemplated suicide. And, we cannot exclude that
some cases of the "going postal syndrome" may not also have been a
consequence of what those individuals perceived as emotional abuse on the job.
Mobbing and bullying affect primarily a
person's emotional well-being and physical health. Depending on the severity,
frequency, and duration of the occurrences and how resilient an individual may
be, persons may suffer from a whole range of psychological and physical
symptoms: from occasional sleep difficulties to nervous breakdowns, from
irritability to depression, from difficulties to concentrate, to panic- or even
to heart attacks. What were occasional absences may become frequent and
extended sick leaves.
Many persons who have become a target of a
mobbing are damaged to such an extent that they can no longer accomplish their
tasks. At the end, they resign--voluntarily or involuntaril--,are terminated,
or forced into early retirement. Ironically, the victims are portrayed as the
ones at fault, as the ones who brought about their own downfalls. And in
numerous instances, the symptoms after a person has been terminated or
resigned, can continue and intensify and have led to the diagnosis of
post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.
And it is not only a person's health and sense
of well-being that is seriously affected. Their families and their organizations
are gravely impacted as well. Relationships suffer, and company productivity is
impacted as energies revolve around the mobbing and divert attention from
important and significant tasks at hand.
How It Starts and Why It Happens
It often starts with a conflict, any type of
conflict. However, no matter how hard an individual may try to resolve an
issue, it does not get resolved. The individual does not seem to get recourse.
The issue does not go away and escalates to a point of no return.
What could have been resolved with a bit of
good will and the appropriate mechanisms in place, now becomes a contest
between who is right and who is wrong. Some of the accusations and demeaning
attacks may be guided by a scapegoat mentality, the need for personal power
over others, and by personal animosities, by fears or jealousies.
Group-psychology and a complex array of social-organizational dynamics begin to
play their part.
How, you might ask, when there seem to be more
structures and laws designed to protect workers than ever before, is this
particular workplace behavior--mobbing--so prevalent and yet awareness about
the issue so scarce? We believe there are three reasons.
One is that mobbing behaviors are ignored,
tolerated, misinterpreted or actually instigated by the company or the
organization's management as a deliberate strategy. The second reason is that
this behavior has not yet been identified as a workplace behavior clearly
different from sexual harassment or discrimination. And thirdly, more often than
not, the victims are worn down. They feel exhausted and incapable of defending
themselves, let alone initiating legal action.
The Costs of Mobbing
In 1991 C. Brady Wilson, a clinical
psychologist who specializes in workplace trauma, wrote in the Personnel Journal
(now Workforce Magazine) that real or perceived abuse of employees amounted to
a loss of billions of dollars: "Workplace trauma, as psychologists refer
to the condition caused by employee abuse, is emerging as a more crippling and
devastating problem for employees and employers alike than all the other
work-related stresses put together." The actual costs in terms of lost
productivity, health care and legal costs, not to speak of the psycho-social
implications, are yet to be measured.
Dr. Harvey Hornstein, professor of
social-organizational psychology at Columbia University Teachers College, in
his book Brutal Bosses and Their Prey, estimated that as many as 20 million
Americans face workplace abuse on a daily basis--a near epidemic.
Awareness Grows
Nevertheless, awareness is growing. Bullying
and mobbing at work is increasingly being discussed in the media and in
professional organizations. Researchers in organizational behavior are now
devoting their attention to this topic and a number of articles have appeared
in academic journals and a handful of books have been written over the last
three years devoted to work abuse, brutal bosses, bullying, and mobbing.
What Can Be Done
Persons who have been mobbed or become targets
of bullies have several options. Most importantly, they need to understand that
there is a name for what they are experiencing, that the phenomenon is well
known and is increasingly being researched in this country. They need to
understand that they have become victimized and that there is very little that
they could have done differently. Secondly, they need to assess all their
options in the short, medium, and long run: Is there any way to gain recourse
that they haven't tried yet? Is finding another job within the company a possibility?
Are they prepared to look for another job? What do they need to do to prepare
for the transition? Do they need medical or therapeutic intervention? We advise
people to weigh all their options carefully, to be assertive and most
importantly, to take control of their situation. And, we advise to leave their
workplace sooner rather than later and accept temporary sacrifices rather than
to endure ongoing humiliation that could have much more serious health effects
later.
Management too, needs to be vigilant and spot
any early signals of mobbing. A company policy that enforces respectful
treatment of employees and rewards civility at the workplace can go along way
in preventing mobbing from occurring.
Because of the extensive literature and media
coverage in Europe, the awareness of mobbing in the workplace has become very
widespread there. Mobbing has not only become a household word in Scandinavia
and in German-speaking countries but several countries have enacted new
proactive and protective occupational safety laws, including emotional
well-being on the job, to address the mobbing behavior legally. For example, in
1993 the Swedish National Board of Occupational Safety and Health has adopted
an Ordinance Concerning Victimization at Work. In addition, new organizations
have been created to help victims of mobbing all across Europe, and Australia.
Measures have been initiated in a relatively brief time period to deal with
mobbing behaviors, help mobbing victims and help prevent further mobbing from
occurring. For example, telephone hot lines have been installed and contact
addresses for receiving counseling or advice have been published in the daily
press.
Summary
Mobbing is emotional mistreatment, abuse,
committed directly or indirectly by a group of co-workers directed at anybody.
People who have been affected by mobbing are suffering immensely. Mobbing is as
a serious workplace issue most often leading to voluntary or nonvoluntary
resignation or dismissal. The social and economic impact of the mobbing
syndrome has yet to be measured in quantitative terms in the U.S.
Mobbing can only persist as long as it is
allowed to persist. Organizational leadership plays the most important part in
its prevention. By enforcing decency, civility, and high ethical standards in
the workplace and by creating a nourishing environment, bullying and mobbing
will not surface. There are millions of enlightened managers and leaders and thousands
of companies that do just that. They serve as good examples and places of
refuge.
Biography
Noa Zanolli, Ph.D., is a Swiss social anthropologist, teacher and
mediator living in Bern, Switzerland. In the U.S., she worked for several years
as a mediator in a community mediation center in Ames, IA, was Director of
Education at the Iowa Peace Institute, and has been working internationally as
a mediator trainer. She now is a member of the editorial board of the
German/Swiss/Austrian quarterly journal „perspektive mediation“ (www.verlagoesterreich.at/perspektive-mediation)
and an associate of the IMTD (Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy,
www.imtd.org). Her website lists her books and articles (some in English,
some in German). She is co-author of "Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the
American Workplace". The book can be downloaded as a PDF at www.mobbing-usa.com.
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