Mobbing at Work, Academic Mobbing, Bullying in the Military

The goal of the person who's mobbing is to "prove" that you cannot do your job well. By giving in to anger, fear, or sadness, you will experience stress, which affects work performance and accomplishes the original goal of the person who's mobbing.

If you are facing up to a workplace mobbing, academic mobbing or any other type of mobbing, do the following:

1. Shift the emotional state - walking in nature, meditation, calming exercise like yoga or swimming, being around loving and supportive friends, finding laughter after work, all of these can take you out of a negative state which can build-up, if not addressed on time;
2. Control your psyche - when being bullied, your blood pressure can go sky-high, your hands may shake, your knees may tremble and your face could turn red. Techniques like deep breathing, relaxation and proper body posture can help you control these unconscious reactions and calm yourself down;
3. Control your thoughts - even after a bad day at work, our thoughts can continue replaying the event in our heads, often embellishing it and making it worse. Reframing and positive thinking can help you be mentally tougher and not crumble under the pressure.

You are a victim of bullying, harassment, abuse or mobbing, and you have decided to take some type of action. However, you are not sure what to do. Some people might tell you to report this to your supervisor or upper management. We advise you to look up whether your company has set up their "company policy review". What is that? Due to the fact that many companies have realized that aggression, bullying, and harassment at the workplace are detrimental to the mental health of the employee, as well as illegal in most countries, most companies have set up policies and procedures on how to deal with workplace mobbing. They serve to train the employee on what procedures are acceptable in the workplace environment, and which aren't.

This can help you when you are in doubt about whether you are a victim of mobbing, or whether what you are experiencing is "company culture". Check these guidelines to inform yourself on the company culture and what you can do if you find yourself on the receiving end of unethical and unacceptable professional behavior.

When on the receiving end of unethical professional behavior that includes mobbing and bullying, one of the possible solutions is to report this to a body in your company that would normally deal with such matters. Most companies have some sort of a health and safety committee or a body that deals with workplace discipline.

They can be approached to discuss matters of workplace mobbing. Normally you may be required to approach them with the incident in writing, after which you might be asked to discuss this in person with the appropriate body at your company. Be sure to provide a clear and precise report regarding the harassment you have been subjected to, because the company body that will read your report will usually act upon it by investigating these occurrences among other employees as well. 

Frontdesk employees are often subjected to mobbing in the form of harassment and sometimes violence from the general public, i.e. customers. This is also unaccepted behavior and most companies do not want their employees to be exposed to harassment from the public no matter how customer-oriented they are. These days almost all companies that have frontdesk employees and offices have some sort of security measures installed in their procedures to prevent this. It is best to prepare yourself with information such as:

1. Security devices: is your desk under security surveillance by a camera? Is there someone watching that camera? How do you signal that person that you are in trouble and in need of assistance?

2. Security personnel: most companies have at least one security officer in the office that is highly visible and acts as a deterrent in case of potential problems. Security officers might rotate. Learn who these people are, where are they posted (if they don't patrol), and how to signal them for assistance in the case of violence or harassment.

Being prepared is the best way to avoid such incidents.

Most companies today are learning the value of a harmonious workplace environment. The following is intended for managers or other decision makers that want to be pro-active in the prevention of unethical workplace behavior.

One way to put an end to all ongoing or potential mobbing practices in future is to organize a company training day. This event should be organized for the purpose of teaching employees and managers alike about what mobbing is, how it looks like, what it does to the individual and to the company, and what legal ramifications your company has implemented, in order to deal with mobbing. 

These training events are usually conducted by outside groups that can be businesses or NGOs that specialize in these types of training programs. Find out which groups exist in your locality and invite them for a chat in your company. They might also offer assessing services to companies about whether the environment is conductive to mobbing or not. 

If you are experiencing or have been subjected to workplace mobbing in any form, and you find yourself reluctant to go back to work, you can't relax and enjoy your job anymore, your performance is still down and you find yourself tense and always waiting for something bad to happen, you need to inform yourself whether your company offers any support services for victims of mobbing. These people are psychologists and can help you regain your balance, and shift any negative memories you are still holding on to, so that you can enjoy your job again and do well.

Mobbing, and some other types of mild bullying often happen unintentionally. It has been observed that lower-to-mid level management is often under a continual downpour of stress, expectations and tasks from upper management. Thus, lower-to-mid level management may inadvertently act out their stress in the office. This manager may not normally be a bully and because of that they might not be aware of what they have been doing to you or how they might have affected you. Employees can usually differentiate between the "normal" manager having a bad day and the real-life day-to-day bully. 

On the other hand, you might be experiencing some personal problems outside of your workplace which affect your work performance (like a chronic illness you are keeping a secret). The stressed-out manager might pick on you believing that you are trying to undermine him or that you are just too lazy or don't care. The manager doesn't know what is going on in your personal life and is only aware of what your actions are doing to his authority and career. 

Bullying can also happen from co-workers that have some unfavorable personal issues and then they may project them outward towards other co-workers or even clients and customers. 

In cases of this so-called "unintentional mobbing", it is often helpful to face and discuss the issue with the bully. If it is a manager, tell them how their behavior or treatment affects you and why you may find it ungrounded or even inappropriate. If you have some personal problems, you might want to inform them of what's going on in your life so they can be more empathetic. 

If a co-worker is doing the mobbing sitting down and openly discussing the issue, you might bring the problem up to the surface and prevent it in future. 

When working with people that have difficult personalities, prone to mobbing, bullying, and harassment, there are communication skills that can defuse or deter a bullying attempt. Use some of the following examples:

1. Excuse me, but I have a deadline for a project today. Can we talk tomorrow perhaps?
2. I am sorry, but I am preparing for a meeting. How about I get back to you?
3. Really? You could be right about that. Give me some time to think about it..and thanks for letting me know.
4. I haven't looked at it from that angle, but I will do my best to see it from your point of view.

Play with similar responses. They need to postpone or diffuse by being non-confrontational.

Usually everyone receives a detailed job description when starting a new job. And when your work effectiveness is measured, it is done so according to those tasks you were hired to do. Mobbing can often take the form of someone delegating their own responsibilities to you, throwing an endless pile of menial tasks in your direction, or just asking for more with shorter and shorter deadlines.

Check your initial job description. If there is a chance that your job performance can suffer due to this added workload, someone in the upper management might be willing to hear you out and put things back in place.

Mobbing, bullying, and harassment often takes place when the victim is alone with the bully. Controlling the scene means that you can prevent mobbing and bullying by avoiding being alone with someone that is bullying you, as much as possible.

If it is necessary to interact with this person in any way, try to do so with someone present in order to have witnesses to potential unethical workplace behavior.

Some forms of mobbing and harassment are extreme enough for the victim, that it is prudent to consider taking legal action (ex. sexual harassment).

Before doing anything, you should study the law in your country on this matter, or ask someone who is into this matter:

• what legal instruments are at your disposal;
• which legal bodies and entities can help you out.

Some countries have organized governmental bodies that give legal advice and other forms of help. Many countries have NGOs that offer free advice and legal representation.

If you want to take precautions to prevent workplace mobbing in your company, but are not sure how to deal with mobbing at work or if mobbing is an already existing practice in your organization, the following pointers might help you get a clearer picture of your work environment:

1. Identify factors at work that may cause high stress, or other factors that make bullying more likely to occur
2. Conduct a survey among your employees on the issue of workplace mobbing and bullying. See what they find a "normal" and "acceptable" behavior.
3. Monitor absenteeism, sick leave, staff turnover, grievances, injury reports, and other sudden behavior changes among your staff. This may be an indication of bullying.
4. Monitor relationship quality between clients, staff and management. If poor or tense, your company environment may be conductive to mobbing.

Many companies that care about their employees and their reputation find that preventive actions are the best forms of protection against unwanted behavior in the workplace. For this purpose your company might consider developing a company mobbing policy that should be provided to all employees and/or can be printed and framed in a visible place.

Here is what a sample mobbing policy looks like. Note that this is only a sample, your mobbing policy may look quite differently that this one.

If you are a manager that needs to make that assessment for one of your subordinates on whether they are being bullied, mobbed or harassed, please go through the checklist below to determine whether the person blamed is engaged in workplace mobbing, bullying or harassment.

1. The person communicates in inappropriate ways (yelling, screaming, using profanity, and issuing threats);
2. Gives workload and deadlines that are totally unreasonable and beyond what can be normally achieved;
3. Constantly belittles others, often insults employees;
4. Engaged in finding faults in performance and making them an inappropriately huge issue;
5. Blames others for every fault or problem in the office/workplace/company. Expert at assigning blame;
6. Engages in personal criticism often;
7. Diminishing and not recognizing others achievements; stealing others accomplishments;
8. Engages in spreading rumors to belittle others, often to undermine them personally and/or professionally, and to alienate them from the rest of the co-workers;
9. Intimidates others and threatens their job, promotion, bonus, etc.;
10. Often changes company targets and goals, then lies about them existing in the first place;

If you have answered positively to 1-3 of these questions, this is no reason to worry. You might want to have a word with the person about this, though.

If you have answered positively to 4-6 of these questions, you may have bullying and mobbing in your company. Time to look deeper into who is doing what and why, and definitely deal with this person, at least informally.

If you have answered positively to more than 6 of these questions, you definitely have a major issue in your company. Time to take immediate actions!

By understanding why you are being a target of mobbing at workplace or academic mobbing, you will realize that it's probably not your fault, but actually comes from the fact that you are better at something: 

1. Mobbing targets are usually independent in the workgroup. They aren't subservient. They don't allow to be enslaved by others, they take steps to preserve their dignity and self-respect. Most bullies have strong resentment towards these character traits.
2. Mobbing targets are usually the most skilled in the workgroup. People turn to them for guidance and advice which they (usually) provide wholeheartedly, and for which they are admired and looked up to. Insecure managers and bullies have a problem with these people because they want all the attention and praise to themselves.
3. Mobbing targets often have more developed social skills. They may have higher emotional intelligence which in turn makes them easy to get along with, they make friendships easy, and they become (relatively) popular in a short time, clients and customers often like them more than others and ask for them to do business with. Bullies usually lack these traits and find them hard and impossible to develop.
4. Mobbing targets can be people with high integrity, strong moral and ethical standards, honest and fair. They may find it hard "to keep their mouth shut" when witnessing something that isn't right or fair, they might even engage in whistleblowing. They are not political players and definitely not appreciated among bullies.
5. Mobbing targets aren't aggressive, but aren't easy to intimidate. They can hold their group with calm, dignity and poise. They can be morally superior. This can drive a bully crazy!

In other words, getting mobbed may even be an (unintended) compliment on your personal traits and skills!

A bully can foster negative feelings among people, negative workplace energy and general dysfunction in the workplace. Bullies often form something similar to a pack of wolves, in which he or she is the alpha leader, due to lack of self-confidence.

One of the fastest way to save your company and deal with mobbing at workplace is to identify and deal directly with the alpha leader. Hold this person accountable for the negative atmosphere created in the workplace and DO NOT be lenient. 

Although this may make you less popular among his "pack", in the long run this can save the company.

Unfortunately, some companies "approve" mobbing. You can spot this if their response to mobbing accusations include the following: 

• Bullying is actually tough dynamic management;
• Bullying is actually assertiveness;
• The bully isn't actually a bully, you are behaving like a victim;
• Victims really provoke bullying;
• Victims are not team-players;
• Victims are overly sensitive;
• It is the fault of the victims, because they can't defend themselves;
• The victim actually wants to sue the company and win easy money;
• Victims are actually whiners;
• It is just a personality clash;

More details available in the article on bullyonline.org.

If you determined that mobbing is actually in the "nature" of your company then there are only two solutions, in you are not sure how to deal with mobbing at work: either leave the company or stay and accept it.

One of the most prevalent forms of denial out there about mobbing is that everyone doing it, says it isn't mobbing, but a form of management. Thus, it is important for you as the victim to know what mobbing is.

Mobbing in the context of human beings means bullying of an individual by any group (i.e. mob - mobbing). Workplace mobbing is bullying in the workplace by a larger group. It generally means that an individual is a target of disrespectful and harmful behavior, the individual experiences a psychological, emotional, and even a physical assault. 

For more information, please check the following page.

There are various solutions for people that are exposed to workplace bullying. This is a 3-step program presented by the WBI called the 3-step target action plan that will help you deal with bullying, mobbing and harassment.

Step 1 - Name what you are experiencing (bullying, harassment, etc.)
Step 2 - Take time to heal and organize a counterattack (ex. research your legal options).
Step 3 - Expose the bully (work with your employer to have this issue resolved).

For more explanation of this 3-step action plan, the pros and cons, please read the original concept here.

Mobbing doesn't just start one day and finish off the next. It takes time for it to develop and usually by the time you become aware that you are a victim, it could be too late. Here are some mobbing "self-defense" tips:

• Resolving the mobbing issue is your short-term goal. However, since many organizations side with the bully, you might consider a long-term strategy of departmental transfer or leaving the company for another organization. Your end goal is to have a workplace, a job you are happy with, so don't wait to have an emotional breakdown before you take action.
• Be cool. Sometimes the goal of the bully is to drive you crazy, and act out your anger in front of everyone, effectively making you undermine yourself. Never lose your cool in front of the bully.
• The goal of the bully can be to get you fired. The bully often works to suck up to higher management, so he may be in the position to cause you to lose your job. Regular harassment and emotional abuse can have a negative effect on your job performance. You may grow to dislike your job more and more, not being motivated or interested in it, and consequently, doing a bad job over the course of time. DO NOT give the management team a reason to fire you and side even more with the bully. Do a good job, even in the face of adversity. If you are interviewed by the HR or the manager, you can always open up about the harassment and say that you gave your best under the circumstances.
• Record every time you were harassed. This means who was the bully, when did that particular incident occur, why did it come to that, what happened, what was the exact behavior of the bully, were there any witnesses and their details and etc. This can help you present your case and position in a potential hearing, internally in the company, or at the courts.
• Study all company's procedures and action plans in order to deal with a bully. Also, obtain valid external information about mobbing in the workplace (internet, support groups, NGOs, etc.)
• Get some emotional and psychological support and healing. While working in that company you need to be healthy and sane.
• Get some additional training for the purpose of finding a new job.

If you feel that you are one of those few unfortunate people experiencing mobbing at work, realize that you are not alone at all. It might help you to know that it is actually quite common and that you are not "unlucky", nor is there something wrong with you. The Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) believes that in the United States alone, one third of the employees have reported being bullied. They have found that workplace abuse is more present in female-dominated professions like nursing and teaching. According to them, about 40% of the time, the perpetrators are women. The vast majority of targets are also women. 

Mobbing varies from country to country, from organization to organization, and from profession to profession. In can include ethnic, religious, sexual, and other forms of abuse and harassment.

When one is a target of workplace mobbing, bullying and harassment, it is easy to lose emotional control and behave in ways that portray you in a bad light, which, very often, is the goal of the bully. If you find yourself in this situation, these are some of the mistakes you should strive to avoid.

1. Dumping or venting your emotional frustration indiscriminately. This could mean several things:

a.Victims of bullying want to share their pain and drama to others, even co-workers, often several times a day, or until someone pays attention. At some level this is attention seeking. You want someone to "hear you". At best, co-workers might get turned off by this behavior after some time. At worst, you might say things in your frustration to be heard that someone might use it against you. 

b. You might lash out at co-workers or even managers that are not part of the mobbing in any way. You may do this in a moment of frustration, and feel bad about it later. After all, you are in an emotional turmoil. However, this behavior might make people less sympathetic to your plight.

2. Venting information. You are upset, you feel weak and helpless, so you begin making plans about what you are going to do to assert or protect yourself, which is fine, until you begin to talk about this to co-workers. You might even yell this information out, like saying in front of everyone that you will sue the manager for harassment. This gives time to the guilty party to prepare an excuse or defense, as well as reason to further sabotage and undermine you, until they are proven to be right.

3. Projecting a horrible future. Victims of mobbing and abuse often feel so emotionally fragile and helpless that they lose all positive images about themselves and their lives. Some engage in continual negative thinking about their future like "I am too old to find a better job" or "I'd better keep my mouth shut or they will fire me if I say something". This can accelerate the psychological breakdown of any person, as well as kill their hopes, drive and motivation. Realize that whatever you are thinking will probably never happen and that your helpless self is just messing with your mind in order to feel worse.

So, you finally passed the preliminary tests and interviews and are ready to meet the new boss you will work for. It is natural for the boss to meet the new prospective employee for a final interview. However, this is a great opportunity for you to scan and test the boss for any mobbing indicators. How do you do that? Here are several ideas.

1. When visiting the office, observe the general atmosphere in the office. Are people ok? Do they engage in normal communication? Do they joke and laugh? How stressed out do they appear? Are they happy? 

2. If you get a chance to walk through the office with the potential boss, observe how people react to the boss. Do they greet him warmly? Do they joke? Do they murmur a greeting and try to get out of his way? Do they try to avoid the boss? When they talk to the boss, do they look straight into his eyes with normal body language, or do they try to avoid eye-contact with him and appear to be tense?

3. Observe the behavior of the boss towards his employees. While walking through the office, does the boss have any temper slips? Perhaps he makes some profane, vulgar comments about someone? Does he criticize employees in a crude, inappropriate way? Maybe he makes crude, inappropriate jokes about someone in the office working under him, making fun of their work, race, sex, religion, nationality, wardrobe, etc?

4. How does he behave towards you during the interview? Is he trying to make himself "cool" and "all-knowing" by making snide comments about your education or school? Does he have something condescending to say about your previous company? Does he engage in name calling? Does he make any threatening gestures? Perhaps he got upset about someone wanting to take a day-off due to working overtime lately?

5. Bullies often change the rules so that people may fail. During your interview, note if the boss made some sudden change in requirements or deadlines that left the employees stunned, wide-eyed, or complaining. Also, make a note if you get the impression that the boss somehow withholds valuable information and resources. As you leave, try to learn whether this job opening is due to someone being promoted, or because someone left or was fired.

6. Bullies often reassign blame to others, so, they can find fault. Observe if the boss blames or is overly critical of the employees. Does he mention punishments often? Does he have anything nice to say about your predecessor or is full of negative comments about him? Does he make comments about how the staff is unable to handle the job, the tasks, the responsibilities, and so on.

If you notice some of these signs, you may be walking into the nest of a bully. Try to learn more about the company.

Depending on where you are from, your country's labor laws, the existence of unions, and any relevant mobbing legislation, things might differ from what will be stated here. The ideas presented here are generally correct for most countries in the Western world.

Coercing an employee to do something that is against his will under the threat of being dismissed, is a form of mobbing. Usually, an employer can terminate employment due to gross misconduct, negligence and insubordination. If an employee is being dismissed because he refused to be coerced into doing something under the threat of being fired if the employee doesn't comply, the employee may file a claim for unfair dismissal. 

Ethically speaking, coercing an employee to do what they do not want to do under the threat of employment termination if they do not "play ball", is a breach of ethical conduct. As such, most companies have, or should have, ethical guidelines for both, employers (management) and employees, to adhere to. These ethical standards are there for the purpose of describing the standards a company wishes to uphold. A boss that engages in coercion most likely is violating this ethical standard (if the company has one).

Our solution is that you check your company's ethical standard. If they don't have one maybe they should implement it.

Some companies have a culture where "butt-kissing", "finger-pointing", bullying and mobbing are accepted ways to go about the day. However, there are many negative side effects that this company culture has on the business and organization itself. Here are some:

1. Stress and high blood pressure - employees and managers are often under stress. Stress creates a bad vibe in the office. It also kills creativity, or creative problem solving, independent thinking, initiative and other driving forces of any good business. Not to mention that stressed out employees often have more sick-leave days. Stress can cause high blood pressure, due to which the employee is at a serious risk of various cardiovascular diseases. 
   
   
2. Absenteeism and low productivity - mobbing and other forms of harassment are used by some companies because they believe that cracking the whip increases productivity. When employees are verbally abused, emotionally stressed out and shattered, they do have a tendency to avoid going to work. Absenteeism can be in some cases a measure of mobbing in the company. And regarding productivity, whiping people into shape is a strategy from the past. Nowadays, people do expect to be respected, honored and appreciated as human beings first, and as employees, too. An abused person will never be as productive worker as the person that is valued and appreciated. 
   
   
3. Low self-esteem and increased cases of depression - employees that are bullied and harassed lose their self-esteem. This doesn't happen over night. It is usually a slow, barely perceptible process that eats away at the confidence of the employee until he is a shell of his former self. And when employees lose their self-esteem, every aspect of the work process can suffer and go downhill. In some more extreme cases, and based also on the personality type of the employee. Low self-esteem can turn into short or long-term depression. Depressed employees are often not even aware that they are depressed, but their enthusiasm and general energy level reveals that they would rather be somewhere else.
   
   
4. Anxiety and digestive problems - bullying and harassment can make even the most loyal and strong of employees full of fear, dread and anxiety at the workplace. This is when mistakes are made, the obvious is not seen or is missed, things get forgotten and more. Generally speaking, anxiety can make a mess out of every project or activity. On the other hand, high anxiety may lead to various health problems, out of which digestive issues are often pointed out.
   
   
5. Mobbing at work may cause a lot of troubles to an employee. Some people repress the problem at work, but when they relax at home, prior to going to bed, these worries and problems have the habit of surfacing and playing out over and over again. This may lead to insomnia. And if having workers that show up for work tired isn't enough, in time insomniacs may be also prone to stress and irritability.

People often wonder if what they are experiencing is officially considered as bullying. Here is a definition you might find useful from BULLY ONLINE, a website dedicated to the topics of bullying, mobbing and the like.

According to this website “bullying is a conduct that cannot be objectively justified by a reasonable code of conduct, and whose likely or actual cumulative effect is to threaten, undermine, constrain, humiliate, or harm another person or their property, reputation, self-esteem, self-confidence or ability to perform."

Does this sound like what you experience in the workplace? If the answer is "yes", then you might want to face the bully to clear the issue, or report this to the upper management.

The more one researches this topic, the more solutions are found. Some are similar, some are very different. They do however agree on the basics. Here is a simple test you can do for yourself to know whether you are being bullied.

1. Are you being isolated? People that are bullied find them self-isolated in the company from a whole spectrum of activities and things. Some examples: excluded from what is happening in the organization, denied information and knowledge on how to achieve professional objectives, starved from resources that others find readily available, denied management support, overloaded with work, marginalized, ignored, etc.
2. Are you being controlled and subjugated? There are many ways that can make you feel controlled. Examples: having a very long job description, or an unclear one leaving room for different interpretations; given goals and deadlines that are ridicuously unrealistic , being on the receiving end of harsh, destructive criticism; forced to feel guilt and blame, having your ideas frequently ridiculed and/or dismissed, subjected to fault-finding, being micro-managed and more.
3. Are you being eliminated? This can happen over the course of time, often in subtle ways that don't seem obvious to you. Some indications are: being invited to "just chat about things", which turns out to be disciplinary hearing; facing unjustified disciplinary action, receiving unjustified verbal and/or written warnings, receiving "friendly" advice for voluntary resignation or early retirement, which is actually a form of coercion.

If you find some of these things happen to you, you may be experiencing a form of bullying and harassment. You might want to face and discuss the conflict with the bully, or report this to your upper management.

The new schools of management are breaking the old paradigm of what a manager should be and behave like. If you want to be a manager that doesn't behave like a bully, that inspires without the mobbing and harassment, here is a short list describing the difference between managers and bullies:

1. The manager rarely needs to discipline his employees; the bully often issues reprimands and warnings;
2. The manager has integrity and a good moral code; the bully is amoral and has no integrity;
3. The manager leads with example and sets a good example; the bully doesn't lead. He intimidates and doesn't set any examples;
4. The manager is respected by many; the bully is loathed my most;
5. The manager trusts people and allows them room to do the job in their own style; the bully has to control everything and frequently interferes;
6. The manager listens to his employees and offers guidance; the bully doesn't listen and just barks out orders;
7. The manager has highly developed personal skills; the bully has poor social skills in general;
8. The manager values other people; the bully constantly devalues others;
9. The manager is respectful and considerate; the bully is disrespectful and inconsiderate;
10. The manager accepts responsibility; the bully blames others.

Victims of unethical workplace behavior often cannot tell the difference between what they are experiencing, or the seriousness of it. These explanations can help you understand the difference between bullying and harassment and assault.

The BULLYONLINE website gives their definition on the difference between workplace bullying vs. harassment and assault.

Bullying differs from harassment and assault in that the latter can result from a small number of fairly serious incidents - which everybody recognizes as harassment or assault - whereas bullying tends to be an accumulation of many small incidents over a long period of time. Each incident tends to be trivial, and on its own and out of context does not constitute an offence or grounds for disciplinary or grievance action.

In other words, bullying can be subtle and disguised as anything but what it appears to be. It is harder to recognize and harder to acknowledge. In fact, some victims of bullying are often in denial about what is happening to them.

If this is happening to you, it is definitely time to get out of denial!

Many bullies that harass their employees claim to do so because they practice some kind of tough, but effective management. This also keeps the victims in denial. 

There are many definitions of workplace harassment. The following definition is not a legal definition, but rather a guideline for understanding and recognizing workplace harassment.

"Any unprofessional, unwanted, unwelcome or unethical behavior in the workplace, ranging from mildly unpleasant remarks all the way to physical violence, can be considered harassment."

There are various forms of harassment: verbal, physical, emotional, sexual, racial, etc. 

If you are/have experienced any type of harassment, then you might be a victim of harassment, and you may need to take steps to report this to your superiors, or take some sort of legal measures.

Bullying is often used to describe a repeated pattern of negative intrusive volitional behavior against one or more targets. It may represent constant trivial criticism, devaluing, discrediting, undermining and the inability to acknowledge a person. Bullying is usually initiated and exercised by one person, although others might join in later. 

Mobbing, on the other hand, is (by definition) performed by a group of people in a social setting which in this case is a workplace. This "pack" might be small or large(er) and they involve themselves in an adversarial conduct with their chosen target in order to undermine or harm the target in a visible or measurable way obvious to others.

In mobbing there is always a pack leader. If this person is extrovert he is easily obvious for he/she is the one leading the adversarial action and coercing others in the pack to join in. If the leader is an introvert he/she is more difficult to spot for he/she works in the background coercing and manipulating others to join in on the mobbing. 

Generally, the introvert pack leader is considered more dangerous than the extrovert.

Apologists of bullies often say that if things are really that bad, if you really are being mobbed, harassed and bullied, then you would simply leave the company. Or, in other words, not leaving the company means that things are not that bad. 

If you really want to know why some of your employees are not leaving despite rumors of mobbing, here is a short list of reasons why they may be doing so:

1. They need to pay the mortgage;
2. They have children at school or college they support;
3. They are the sole person employed in their household;
4. Being/Living alone and not having anyone to turn to for help, not even temporarily;
5. Caring for a disabled or dying partner, child, or relative;
6. Having integrity which doesn't allow you to back down when being right;
7. Going through a painful divorce or dealing with the aftermath of a divorce;
8. Having debts to pay off;
9. They believe that they are too old to start anew;
10. Being a specialist in your field with not many job opportunities at the moment;

Your employees might be bullied, mobbed and harassed even so no one is leaving the company. If you are suspecting mobbing in your company, take another closer look.

There are many ways to deal with the bully and other mobbing practices through the system, however, they are often not efficient. For example, if you file a grievance to the HR, the bully might have time to prepare a defense, or to move more aggressively in the direction of having you eliminated from the company, based on some false charges. If you go through unions, they might side with the management. Taking legal action might be time-consuming and costly, and there is no guarantee of success. 

Sometimes, the best way to deal with workplace mobbing, harassment or bullying is to stand up for yourself. Standing up and asserting yourself is empowering and being proactive, something that bullying strives to stomp out of the victim. However many people choose not to stand up for themselves, preferring to "lay low". For the mobbing pack, and even up the management ladder this may seem like an admittance of guilt, thinking that if you were truly innocent you would do something about it.

As with any human activity, there are many good reasons for taking an action, but there are also many reasons people don't act regardless of the fact how (un)grounded these reasons are. Here are some reasons for not acting on your behalf. See if you find yourself here:

1. The long-term mobbing practice has been such a "success" that the victim is feeling so disempowered that he cannot gather enough strength or willpower to mount a proper defense.
2. The bully has been so good at on one hand isolating the victim, and on the other hand at manipulating management, that he has managed to convince the majority of co-workers as well as the management that he is right about his criticism of the victim.
3. The mobbing practice has actually managed to convince the victim that he is somehow inadequate, thus the victim suffers from unjustified high levels of guilt, shame and embarrassment.
4. The target fears that he will lose his job if he/she stands up for himself.
5. In those cases when the bully is the manager, and the victim fears being fired, the victim dreads that the manager will give him such a bad reference that he will not be able to find a good job, or any job in a long time.
6. Sometimes, the only way to stand up for yourself is to take the manager bully to an employment tribunal. This goes in your record. The fear to act here is that the victim believes other employers will see him/her as a troublemaker and won't hire him/her.
7. There is such a high level of office/company denial that the victim can't find any support or someone to back up their story.

If you find yourself in this list then you might be putting off doing what is necessary and standing up for yourself. The more items on this list you find yourself in, the tougher and patient you are.

Some people want to solve issues through the system, and going to unions for some types of mobbing is their choice. Generally speaking, the answer should be positive without thinking too much about it. That is why unions are there, there are structures already set-up for cases like workplace mobbing, there are processes and procedures in place, etc. However, sometimes unions side with company management due to politics. Other times, your union representative might be willing to help, but he/she is blocked by the higher echelons in the union that are close with the management of your organization.

Do some reading on how your local union has acted in similar cases in the past and do get some advice before taking any actions.

Support by co-workers when being bullied or harassed is one of the most important and powerful gifts a victim can receive. Yet people sometimes find themselves in shock when good friends and colleagues from work, suddenly become distant, or don't want to discuss your problem, or even try to downplay it, like it is just your imagination. Some give you outright advice to "play ball", "bend with the wind" or in other words accept the bullying without rocking the company boat too much. 

If you find yourself in this situation, there isn't much help someone can give you, but understanding what is going on with your friends and co-workers may be of some consolation to you.

There are three main reasons why your co-workers aren't siding or supporting you in your time of need.

1. Ignorance of the bullying practice - this can mean several things: denial of bullying, inability to recognize or acknowledge bullying, blaming the victim for what is happening to him, "following the herd" mentality or in other words not being willing to stand out, due to personal emotional intelligence or previous work experiences they might consider mobbing normal behavior, being manipulated or coerced by the bully themselves, being too disempowered to stand up in your support, and much more.
2. Fear of being bullied - there is a powerful undercurrent of fear running through the organization which prevents people from speaking up or taking action, some people are so weak that they just side with the bully who in their view is the more powerful and likely to win, some have already witnessed another colleague that has been disciplined for siding with a co-worker and against a bully, due to fear some people might help covertly without risking exposure, and most just don't want the bully to place them in his target list.
3. Complicity - the friends and co-workers you trusted in have actually never been true and loyal to you, people may side with the bully for personal benefits and will support him, lie for him, deny his behavior, serve as his apologist and more; the bully is successful at convincing or bewitching your co-workers to support him, some pathetic people think that bullying is fun to watch.

Many people believe that schools and Universities are sterile environments where everyone gets along, or gets out of others way. Mobbing at school is not the first thing that comes to mind, or if it does, it is usually in the teacher vs. student vs. teacher relationship. 

However, much to everyone's surprise, studies from many western countries across the world show that teacher experience mobbing and bullying - from their fellow teachers! There is research data in almost every western country on this topic and it clearly shows that teacher are being mobbed and bullied by their peers or school management. This can happen for various reasons, and they are not different than the reasons for mobbing in a classical business organization. 

Teachers can be perpetrators and what makes it even stranger is the fact that while they would never dream of bullying a student, they cannot translate that moral principle to their co-workers. With all the attention that student bullying has received, no one even thinks of or addresses the issue of teacher harassment. 

The first step to remedy that is to recognize that schools are just another workplace, thus everything that happens in one workplace can and probably does happen in an educational organization. There are dominant figures in a school, power-players, butt-kissers (pardon my French), people that are liked and respected that often cause staff of lesser quality to feel envy, grouping into packs, selecting weak targets and everything else that can happen in a large organization.

You should accept that this is "normal" in your work environment just like anywhere else. Do some extra reading on what to do to protect yourself from being mobbed or bullied.

Various studies have determined several key factors that determine which teacher is selected as a target for bullying and mobbing practices. If you are a teacher this short list might help you understand not only the risk, but the reasons behind mobbing of teachers.

1. Teachers that are enthusiastic about their work, that take on extra work, high achievers.
2. Teachers with high integrity and high moral and ethical standards. 
3. Promoters of human rights, standards, dignity and respect.
4. Teachers that don't turn a blind eye when there is something wrong going on, possible whistleblowers.
5. Teachers with family responsibilities (particularly women)
6. Teachers of specific religion or culture, that is different than the majority of the community.
7. Teachers that don't accept certain types of destructive or unprofessional behavior.

If you are a teacher that dreads potential mobbing, bullying or harassment, or if you have heard negative rumors about the school you are currently working in, there are several things you can do to protect yourself from mobbing, or to minimize the negative effects of mobbing if the case reaches up to the admin level. The basic tool to use is a professional diary. You should include a copy of your timetable and classes for the current year in your diary. Here are some of the things you should keep and note in your diary. 

Record and collect written proof of all positive feedback in your professional diary:

• When a parent compliments on your work, ask them for a written note. Make sure it is signed by the parent and has a date.
• If a fellow teacher gives you praise or compliments, ask them to give you that in writing, signed and dated (if this feels weird to ask for, remember that you can initiate this ethical behavior by taking the first step and giving one of your colleagues a note of praise first).
• Ask your students to evaluate your work, any extra activities you are performing for their benefit, extra programs you are running, etc. Have these signed and dated in your diary.
• If you do a special project for the school, ask the school principal for a letter of acknowledgement or for a letter of appreciation about the activity you did. If you have a mobbing issue in future, remember that anything that is not documented on a piece of paper can never be proven to have happened.
• When organizing or managing special events, invite the local newspaper to come to the event. Then collect any articles they write about the event as written proof of your involvement.
  
  

Record any incidents and stressful situations at work in your professional diary:

• if a student or parent is abusive or offensive towards you.
• if a student or parent secretly discloses that another teacher is abusing or harassing him.
• problems with classroom discipline, who is the troublesome student and what is his behavior specifically.
• if you are stressed out at work, visit a doctor for a physical and get a note for your general practicioner that you were complaining about stress and the signs you had (high blood pressure, unusual heart symptoms , etc.).

School principals know the "legal" bureaucratic ways to get rid of a teacher they don't like. However, they also have many practical ways to force someone to quit. When these techniques are used on bad teachers, they appear to be morally correct. But the same techniques can be used for mobbing a teacher and make him/her leave, thus effectively eliminate an employee on their own volition. Some of the tricks principals use are:

1. Ostracizing a teacher in various ways.
2. Asking teachers to do hallway duty.
3. Making teachers serve on marginal, after school committees.
4. Taking the teacher's permanent classroom away.

If you are a teacher on the receiving end of these methods you can endure and fight by using some of the other methods described on this site.

The top three groups complaining most often of mobbing in the UK are:

1. Health care professionals;
2. Teachers;
3. Social workers. 

Social workers also include social-service employees. In most cases the bully is a serial bully, usually with a long history of bullying, abuse, and harassment. The bully in about 50% of the cases in question is a female, thus indirectly proving that bullying isn't a gender issue. 

Social services don't appear to be a place where an ambitious psychopath would like to work. However, some studies have suggested that the bully is attracted to this profession due to the opportunity to work with vulnerable people that are easy targets for power and control, as well as being able to bully and control employees that are dedicated and in love with their job as social workers. When the bully joins the ranks of social workers, he usually puts distance between himself and the clients and climbs the ladder of success towards a managerial position.

The social worker bully might see himself as a very committed, kind, caring and compassionate individual, thus being in total denial about who they are, what their true motivation is, and the effect they have in their work environment. 

For now, you just need to understand that mobbing is common in your line of work. If you want to take action against any unethical behavior you are being subjected to, please inform yourself about any support the work structure has already set up for people like yourself.

Everyone is familiar with the destructive influence bullying, mobbing, and harassment have in the work environment. More and more countries are passing various laws against workplace mobbing and harassment. Yet, instead of mobbing going down as a trend, some data and studies show that mobbing is on the rise.  

A government inquiry done in Australia in 2012 reveals that workplace mobbing and bullying has increased to 70% in the last three years (2009-2012). Other statistics show that one out of three employees are affected by workplace bullying in one way or another. Keep in mind that these numbers are not completely accurate. For every case of abuse reported, 8 to 20 cases go unreported.

There are several reasons for this increase in workplace mobbing and bullying, and knowing what these reasons are may help you in protecting yourself from being the victim. 

1. Companies experiencing financial pressure - these are companies and organizations that are not doing well. Could be that they are not competitive, their market is shrinking or whatever. The main goal is that when a company feels things are going sour, managers promote, allow and turn a blind eye to workplace mobbing. 
2. Companies managed by Boards of Directors and Shareholders - directors and shareholders are fairly alienated from the actual workplace, the work process and their employees. These people are usually only driven by their own financial interest. If they want more, or think that things aren't going well, they will "allow" mobbing if it increases their gain.
3. Companies that outsource - many companies appear to respect labor laws, and other unwritten moral and ethical codes of behavior in the workplace. However, these same companies often outsource, in order to increase production and sales in places where the workforce isn't protected by strong legislation. Although mobbing and bullying isn't mandatory (understandably), these companies permit themselves to engage in (excessive) bullying, abuse, mobbing and harassment simply because they can, and no one can do anything about it.

If you find yourself being employed in a company that falls under these categories, you might experience mobbing in future.

It is often said that boys enroll in the army only to walk out as men. It is a worldwide tradition that the army is meant to be tough and strict, to instill discipline and to strengthen the psyche in order for the soldier to endure hardship, injuries, torture and even to face death. 

The process of instilling discipline and strengthening the psyche in the army closely resembles what civilians would call bullying. There is an accepted difference of norm here, different standards. However, this doesn't mean that the army doesn't or isn't able to draw the line, to define what is acceptable behavior and what is not. More often, the case is that no one is willing to do so. The norm of normal behavior is already different than what is accepted in everyday life. The army in itself is a closed group, where they have their own laws and policies, their own walled-off society that sticks together and deals with problems and issues internally, rather than publicly. There is a code of honor and code of silence in the army.

If there is a problem of mobbing in the army, it will be very difficult to ascertain the facts, mostly because no civilian group will be permitted to investigate an incident in the military. There are indirect indications of workplace mobbing in the army, like reports of recorded incidents of death of a solder while asleep on guard duty for example. Some of these reports will conclude the matter (death) as suicide, although in some cases numerous wounds were found on a solders body, some wounds coming from shots fired at a distance. There are occasional incidents of beatings that result in death, but are equally difficult to confirm. In some cases it is the army doctor that closes the case from further inquiry. There are also cases of male rape in the army, but again not many will talk about it. 

The bully can prosper very well in the army because the setting is ideal for bullying. There is a norm that discipline must be enforced, solders often cannot leave the base, have no access to phones or the internet, they don't have any family near the barracks, meaning that the victim is very much helpless, just like the bully psychopath likes it. Also, the victim cannot report the case to the police, the media or to social services or unions.

Another example of workplace mobbing in the army comes not from the junior officers, but the seniors. Some claim that when the army wants to save on pension costs, they bully the older officers into leaving their jobs before normal retirement age.

Most of these examples come from experiences in the British forces. However, it is expected that similar examples might be found everywhere around the globe. 

Generally speaking, there is not much you can do if you are being mobbed in the military.

In the appropriate setting and under the right circumstances, students can be a very vulnerable group, attracting both the bully and the abuser. Bellow are some traits making students weak and attractive to the average bully:

• The student depends on the teacher for grades, and in some cases for job references.
• Students are usually young and inexperienced, with no skills on how to defend themselves from bullying.
• Students are alone in a city or campus away from home with no one to talk to, and have no support.
• Students may be receiving grants or scholarships in the form of stipends, so they cannot afford any problems.
• The student may already be in debt and can't afford not to pass an exam, or any other type of problem with the teacher.

If a teacher is bullying a student, chances are that he has done this before and/or is doing this to several other students simultaneously. In most countries the university offers some form of student counselling service that can guide and council on what to do, how to report and how to deal with this incident. You can report bulling and deal with it successfully.

Sports are not the first thing that comes to mind when people discuss bullying and harassment at work. After all, sports are all about glamour, sex, money and fame.

Unlike 70 years ago when achievements in sport were a matter of pride, these days business has infiltrated every pore of the world of sports. Large organizations and companies own sport clubs. The money is mind-boggling. It seems to be a never-ending flood of allegations for use of illicit performance-enhancing drugs, matches that are arranged in advance, transfers of expensive players, and much more. In other words, sport isn't sport anymore - it is business!

Just like in any other company, teams have owners and managers, an organizational structure where the "star player" is only an employee. In the world of sports, it is very normal for the manager or the coach to yell at his players, to bully them, to use profanity and insults at them, and sometimes to strike them physically. What is even stranger, is the fact that players accept this as some special form of managerial motivation that is specific to the world of sports. In fact, the type of bullying going behind the scenes of glory is beyond what most administrative employees can even imagine in their average company. 

Managers and coaches often call this harsh treatment an "emotional kick in the butt", all for the purpose of motivating the player to give 100% all the time. The downside is that we have seen young players die on the field to court from heart attacks in their early 20s.

The new motivational technologies are there available to all, they are known by the coaches, but there seems to be no need to sweet-talk a player that is often paid huge amounts of money to show results, when bullying can do the same job.

Generally speaking, if you are being bullied as an athlete either accept it, or change the team.

Some people tend to become a bully much stronger than others. Therefore it's important to identify such tendencies at the recruiting stage to prevent those people from joining your company and potential cases of mobbing at work.

The key question is of course - how can you identify those? 

Many psychologists are digging into the profile of a bully these days. The serial bully is particularly interesting to them because he/she can be found in your everyday company, lurking and doing damage without being noticed. Most psychologists believe that bullies, especially serial bullies share many common personality traits with psychopaths. In fact, they believe that people who bully, abuse and harass are all psychopaths. 

For the average person, the first problem to overcome in identifying a bully is that we all imagine them to be serial killers, rapists and cannibals, something like Hannibal Lector. This couldn't be further from the truth. Psychopaths are usually very clever and highly intelligent, they are usually well educated and appear to have only the best interest at heart for the group and the company. They come from every walk of life, working as doctors, politicians, lawyers, businessmen, managers, teachers, etc.

However, they are a very different creature on the inside. The psychopath seeks to dominate and control, he has no inborn guilt impulse, and  he/she continually breaks social norms, in order to get what he/she wants.

The psychopath is more like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in real life, with one difference: the evil part is the real face, while the normal face is the mask they project to society. Some studies show that female psychopaths are more dangerous in the workplace than their male counterparts. They can manipulate more easily than men, convince and persuade, especially male colleagues, to do what they want, while they hide in the background. 

There are some psychologists that are preparing tests for employers to identify (potential) psychopaths. However, these are not 100% accurate.

Although no direct solution, it might be useful for you to know that your experience of getting mobbed is not as unusual as you might think. 

Doctors and medical staff have one of the brightest images of all the professions out there. People in healthcare (doctors, nurses, support workers), are said to work out of a sense of compassion and kindness, dealing with people in need. It would be strange to imagine bullies and psychopaths with a medicine degree.

However, the field of medicine, or health care in general is one of the top three professions where mobbing and bullying occur. So why would a psychopath be attracted to this profession? 

Bullies or psychopaths (they are one and the same), are attracted to the caring profession due to the abundance of opportunities it provides to exercise power and control over vulnerable clients. The client is always at his weakest when going to a doctor with a problem or when laying in a hospital bed after surgery. The bully also has the opportunity to exercise power over the staff that is empathetic to the plight of the patient and will go to any length to protect the vulnerable client. 

The presence of a bully in a health center is strongly detrimental for that organization. Even the most competent staff can become disempowered, insecure and disenfranchised in the presence of a bully. Staff becomes afraid of reprisals, and the bully who is always skilled at associating with the right people will have friends, powerful professionals and other employees behind them to defend the bully and his actions.

Not many people believe that workplace bullying, mobbing, harassment and abuse have any effect on the economic side of the organization itself. They are wrong. In fact, many organizations have realized that workplace bullying has a negative economic effect on the company. Tim Field, webmaster of BULLY ONLINE provides the following information for the UK, related to mobbing at work:

1. Bullying is the major cause of stress in the workplace. The cost to UK businesses is thought to be between 5-12 billion pounds. When all direct, indirect and consequential costs of bullying are taken into account this amount goes up to 30 billion pounds.
2. Employees have to work twice as hard to overcome the serial bully's inefficiency and dysfunction.
3. The indirect costs of bullying include higher-than-average staff turnover and sickness leave. Absenteeism costs UK plc more than $14 billion a year.
4. The Bristol Stress and Health Work Study published by the HSE in June 2000 revealed bad management account for the biggest slice of unproductive days with low morale accounting for 17%.
5. A 3-year survey of British workers by the Gallup Organization published in October 2001 revealed that the cost to UK plc of lost workdays due to lack of engagement was estimated to be between $56 billion - $70 billion a year.

Many human-resource managers have realized that workplace mobbing has a real impact on productivity, in the sense that it actually lowers it!

Psychologist Michael H. Harrison Ph.D. quoted a recent survey of 9.000 federal employees indicating that 42% of female and 15% of male employees reported being harassed within a two-year period, resulting in a cost of more than $180 million in lost time and productivity. He says: "This kind of harassment has a huge impact on a company's bottom line."

The major source of these high costs was employee absenteeism, as well as low morale, nurturing emotional wounds and other stress-related illnesses.

If you are a conscientious manager that wants to develop a healthy company that values its employees, their psychological welfare, as well as their professional performance, you might want to establish your own company support service for the victims of workplace mobbing, bullying, harassment and violence.

These support services can help the victim cope with the stress and lingering after-effects of the negative experience. They can help the employee regain their courage, self-appreciation, self-worth and self-esteem. They can aid the employee that has experienced lowered performance due to mobbing or if the employee can't relax anymore in the office and is constantly "on the edge". The people working in these support services are usually psychology majors.