University of BelgradeTechnical 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

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.

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.

typology uses five different categories

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 today’s presentation,mobbing is a

very serious issue,against which we should all fight.

Thank you for your attention!!!