University of Belgrade

Technical Faculty in Bor

Department of Engineering Management

Subject: English III Discussion topic: Mobbing in the workplace

Good day everyone! My presentation today will be about

mobbing in the workplace and consequences that it couses. I chose this topic because I think it is very important to talk about it

Mobbing in the context of human beings means bullying of an individual by a group in any context. Identified as emotional abuse in the workplace, such as "ganging up" by co-workers, subordinates or superiors, to force someone out of the workplace through rumor,intimidation, humiliation, discrediting, and isolation, it is also referred to as malicious, nonsexual, nonracial, general harassment. Mobbing can take place in any group environment such as a workplace, neighbourhood or family.

In the book MOBBING: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace, the authors identify mobbing as a particular type of bullying that is not as apparent as most, defining it as "...an emotional assault. It begins when an individual becomes the target of disrespectful and harmful behavior. Through,rumors, and public discrediting, a hostile environment is created in which one individual gathers others to willingly, or unwillingly, participate in continuous malevolent actions to force a person out of the workplace. Mobbing victims are usually "exceptional individuals who demonstrated intelligence, creativity, integrity, accomplishment and dedication.

Psychological and health effects

Victims of workplace mobbing frequently suffer from: adjustment disorders, somatic symptoms ( headaches ), psychological trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression. In mobbing targets with PTSD, Leymann notes that the "mental effects were fully comparable with PTSD from war or prison camp experiences. Some patients may develop alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders.Some targets may even develop brief psychotic episodes, generally with paranoid symptoms. 15% of suicides in Sweden could be directly attributed to workplace mobbing.

Emotional Impact
Mobbing can have a drastic effect on the morale and work performance
of victims, leading them to show reduced enthusiasm for their work and diverting their focus from daily tasks. Ultimately, mobbing can cause

such anxiety and discomfort that a worker will decide to leave for a
post elsewhere.

Statistics

Gender
In terms of gender, women appear to be at greater risk of becoming a bullying target, as 57% of those who reported being targeted for abuse were women. Men are more likely to participate in aggressive bullying behavior (60%), however when the bully is a woman her target is more likely to be a woman as well (71%).

Race

Race also may play a role in the experience of workplace bullying. the pattern from most to least: Blacks (46%) Whites (33.5%) Asian (30.6%)

Typology of bullying behaviours

typology uses five different categories

Threat to personal standing including undermining personal integrity, destructive innuendoand sarcasm making inappropriate jokes about target. Isolation - including preventing access to opportunities, physical or social isolation withholding necessary information. Overwork - including undue pressure, impossible deadlines, unnecessary disruptions.

Destabilisation- allocation of meaningless tasks, removal of responsibility,,shifting goal posts without telling the target.

Threat to professional status - including public and professional humilliation,, intimidating use of discipline.

Tactics

Falsely accused someone of "errors" not actually made Used the "silent treatment" to "ice out" and separate from others Harshly and constantly criticized having a different standard for the target Yelled, screamed in front of others to humiliate a person Stole credit for work done by others Used confidential information about a person to humiliate privately or publicly Created unrealistic demands Encouraged the person to quit or transfer rather than to face more mistreatment

Financial costs to employers

Several studies have attempted to quantify the cost of mobbing to an organization. According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety Health (NIOSH) mental illness among the workforce leads to a loss in employment amounting to $19 billion and a drop in productivity of $3 billion. A recent Finnish study of more than 5,000 hospital staff found that those who had been bullied had 26% more certified sickness absence than those who were not bullied

How to Deal With Workplace Mobbing

First off, if the workplace mobbing is occurring with your co-workers and does not involve you manager or supervisor, make them aware of the situation. Be careful, however in small offices, even authority figures can be part of the harassment. Keeping a journal of all of the harassment episodes being mindful of who said or did what will give you a solid record of exactly what you are dealing with. When you have this list or journal in place, go directly to your human resources department with your complaints. If the threats and harassment are serious enough, it may warrant your transfer, or the termination of the

harassing employees.

It is important to say that you should be very careful when going to authorize figures or to human resources. Making a decision to do this may make people think that you are a "snitch" or a "tattle tale" and, if human resources do not think that the threats are valid enough, your harassers may be right back in your office space, continuing with the harassment. Many times, after you have made human resources or your managers aware of the workplace mobbing, your co-workers may be required to take an ethics class.

Degrees of mobbing:
First degree: Victim manages to resist, escapes at an early stage, or is fully rehabilitated in the original workplace or elsewhere. Second degree: Victim cannot resist or escape immediately and suffers temporary or prolonged mental and/or physical disability and has difficulty reentering the workforce.

Third degree: Victim is unable to reenter the workforce and suffers serious, long-lasting mental or physical disability

As we have seen in todays presentation,mobbing is a

very serious issue,against which we should all fight.