What is mobbing at work

Facts About Bullying | StopBullying.gov

This section pulls together fundamental information about bullying, including:

Definition
Research on Bullying
Bullying Statistics
Bullying and Suicide
Anti-Bullying Laws

Definition of Bullying

In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Department of Education released the first federal definition of bullying. The definition includes three core elements:

unwanted aggressive behavior
observed or perceived power imbalance
repetition or high likelihood of repetition of bullying behaviors

This definition helps determine whether an incident is bullying or another type of aggressive behavior or both.

Research on Bullying

Bullying prevention is a growing research field that investigates the complexities and consequences of bullying. Important areas for more research include:

Prevalence of bullying in schools
Prevalence of cyberbullying in online spaces
How bullying affects people
Risk factors for people who are bullied, people who bully others, or both
How to prevent bullying
How media and media coverage affects bullying

What We’ve Learned about Bullying

Bullying affects all youth, including those who are bullied, those who bully others, and those who witness bullying. The effects of bullying may continue into adulthood.
There is not a single profile of a young person involved in bullying. Youth who bully can be either well connected socially or marginalized, and may be bullied by others as well. Similarly, those who are bullied sometimes bully others.
Solutions to bullying are not simple. Bullying prevention approaches that show the most promise confront the problem from many angles. They involve the entire school community—students, families, administrators, teachers, and staff such as bus drivers, nurses, cafeteria and front office staff—in creating a culture of respect. Zero tolerance and expulsion are not effective approaches.
Bystanders, or those who see bullying, can make a huge difference when they intervene on behalf of someone being bullied.
Studies also have shown that adults can help prevent bullying by talking to children about bullying, encouraging them to do what they love, modeling kindness and respect, and seeking help.

Bullying Statistics

Here are federal statistics about bullying in the United States. Data sources include the Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2019 (National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice) and the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

How Common Is Bullying

About 20% of students ages 12-18 experienced bullying nationwide.
Students ages 12–18 who reported being bullied said they thought those who bullied them:
- Had the ability to influence other students’ perception of them (56%).
- Had more social influence (50%).
- Were physically stronger or larger (40%).
- Had more money (31%).

Bullying in Schools

Nationwide, 19% of students in grades 9–12 report being bullied on school property in the 12 months prior to the survey.
The following percentages of students ages 12-18 had experienced bullying in various places at school:
- Hallway or stairwell (43. 4%)
- Classroom (42.1%)
- Cafeteria (26.8%)
- Outside on school grounds (21.9%)
- Online or text (15.3%)
- Bathroom or locker room (12.1%)
- Somewhere else in the school building (2.1%)
Approximately 46% of students ages 12-18 who were bullied during the school year notified an adult at school about the bullying.

Cyberbullying

Among students ages 12-18 who reported being bullied at school during the school year, 15 % were bullied online or by text.
An estimated 14.9% of high school students were electronically bullied in the 12 months prior to the survey.

Types of Bullying

Students ages 12-18 experienced various types of bullying, including:

- Being the subject of rumors or lies (13. 4%)
- Being made fun of, called names, or insulted (13.0%)
- Pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on (5.3%)
- Leaving out/exclusion (5.2%)
- Threatened with harm (3.9%)
- Others tried to make them do things they did not want to do (1.9%)
- Property was destroyed on purpose (1.4%)

State and Local Statistics

Follow these links for state and local figures on the following topics:

Bullied on School Property, Grades 9-12
Cyberbullied, Grades 9-12

International Statistics

According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics:

One third of the globe’s youth is bullied; this ranges from as low as 7% in Tajikistan to 74% in Samoa.
Low socioeconomic status is a main factor in youth bullying within wealthy countries.
Immigrant-born youth in wealthy countries are more likely to be bullied than locally-born youth.

Bullying and Suicide

The relationship between bullying and suicide is complex. The media should avoid oversimplifying these issues and insinuating or directly stating that bullying can cause suicide. The facts tell a different story. It is not accurate and potentially dangerous to present bullying as the “cause” or “reason” for a suicide, or to suggest that suicide is a natural response to bullying.

Research indicates that persistent bullying can lead to or worsen feelings of isolation, rejection, exclusion, and despair, as well as depression and anxiety, which can contribute to suicidal behavior.
The vast majority of young people who are bullied do not become suicidal.
Most young people who die by suicide have multiple risk factors.
For more information on the relationship between bullying and suicide, read “The Relationship Between Bullying and Suicide: What We Know and What it Means for Schools” from the CDC.

Anti-Bullying Laws

All states have anti-bullying legislation. When bullying is also harassment and happens in the school context, schools have a legal obligation to respond to it according to federal laws.

What Is Mobbing at the Workplace? | Small Business

Sometimes known as “group bullying,” mobbing in the workplace involves groups of people targeting a coworker for isolation, humiliation, and aggression. The impact on mobbing targets, as well as the business itself, can be serious. Small business owners should be aware of the signs of mobbing and take steps to foster a healthy work environment.

Workplace Mobbing: Being Ganged Up on at Work

Conflicts in the workplace are nothing new. There is evidence that that healthy conflict can be beneficial to a business organization. Sometimes, however, conflict can take a sinister turn when a worker embarks on a campaign of psychological terrorism against another employee. As distressing as individual bullying can be, the situation can become far worse when the terrorizing employee enlists the assistance of other coworkers who also intimidate, humiliate and harass the target.

Mobbing tactics may include:

Verbal aggression: Workplace bullies are often verbally aggressive toward their targets. The aggression may take the form of a brusque or unpleasant tone when speaking to the victim. In addition, the target may be subjected to insults and sarcastic remarks. Verbal aggression may include sexual harassment.

Stonewalling: Victims of mobbing may find that their suggestions, projects and initiatives are being ignored by coworkers and supervisors. Requests for feedback, status updates or support go unanswered.

Exclusion: Mobbing targets often be excluded and even isolated in the workplace. Exclusion can be "accidentally" leaving the victim off a chain of emails, failing to invite the target to important meetings and refusing to socialize with the target both in and outside of the workplace. Sometimes, the target of mobbing may find themselves physically excluded in the workplace by having their desk or office relocated to an area far away from other team members.

Gossip and slander: Mobbing ringleaders and their supporters may initiate malicious gossip designed to humiliate and undermine the victim. Sometimes, the gossip is pure slander, in others, the gossip reveals personal information about the target that may be embarrassing but has nothing to do with the victim’s professional competency. In extreme cases, these campaigns may extend outside the office and into the industry or profession in which the victim works.

Physical aggression: Mobbing sometimes escalates into physical aggression. While workplace bullies rarely use physical aggression because they fear facing criminal charges, it can happen if the perpetrators have reason to believe that they will not suffer repercussions.

Why Mobbing Happens

There is no one reason for workplace mobbing: Typical reasons for group harassment and intimidation can range from envy to getting rid of a troublemaker or whistleblower. Whatever the end goal might be, the means are generally the same: Mobbing uses exclusion, humiliation, intimidation and other forms of emotional and, sometimes, physical abuse to either drive an employee from the workplace or persuade the employee to conform to the mob's agenda.

Professional jealousy: Some researchers believe that coworkers choose mobbing targets because of professional jealousy. The target is highly competent and may be considered more skilled, attractive, and productive than other workers. The ringleader is jealous of this individual’s attributes, and recruits others to torment the target until her performance suffers or she leaves the organization.

Maintaining status quo: If a coworker consistently exceeds productivity requirements, other team members may be concerned that they will be expected to meet this new standard. Team members may attempt to sabotage the worker’s efforts to prevent standards from changing.

Pushing out difficult or underperforming employees: Not all researchers agree that mobbing targets are typically highly competent employees. Some argue that those who are most likely to be mobbed are underperforming or difficult employees working in an organization from which it is difficult to be fired. In these cases, employees may be fed up with the target and want her out of the organization. This is a less likely scenario in a small business , but it could happen, if company leadership is not consistently reviewing staffing levels and performance.

Driving out whistleblowers: Federal law protects whistleblowers from retaliation by employers. Supervisors and coworkers may, however, begin a mobbing campaign against the whistleblower in hopes of forcing him to quit or to cause a decline in performance that could result in a demotion or termination. While this behavior is also a violation of whistleblower protection laws, it can be difficult for an employee to prove that the mobbing is retaliatory

Personal reasons: A mobbing ringleader may simply have a bullying personality and may take satisfaction in tormenting a coworker. Other coworkers who join in the mobbing may do so because they have the same personality traits, or they fear that if they do not participate, they may themselves become a target.

Target Selection

Because the motivations for mobbing vary, it's difficult to put together a single profile of a typical mobbing victim. Some researchers believe that office bullies choose targets because they are different from the majority of their coworkers. These differences might include gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, age, physical attributes (tall, short, overweight, underweight, etc.) or disability.

Other researchers note that victims are hard workers and generally nice, non-confrontational people: While these are often considered positive traits, they can be exploited by bullies who believe that a person who is a team player and who works to get along with everyone won’t aggressively respond to bullying.

Another consideration is how targets respond to initial attempts at bullying. Some research points to the importance of a victim’s ability to acknowledge that bullying is taking place early and standing up for herself. Coworkers who witness bullying and mobbing may be more sympathetic to victims who stand up for themselves. Sympathetic coworkers may resist joining the mob and their support may help end the bullying.

The Effects of Mobbing

The effects of workplace mobbing can be devastating for victims and, over time, hurt employee morale and damage the reputation and profitability of a business.

Victims: Victims of mobbing report a range of negative physical and psychological symptoms which include headaches, chronic pain, depression and anxiety. Work performance may suffer, which could lead to termination or demotion and difficulty in finding a new job after leaving the company. In some cases, mobbing attacks can significantly damage the victim's reputation, effectively ending or the railing the target's career.

Coworkers: When mobbing in a workplace is tolerated, coworkers may find themselves becoming fearful of eventually becoming targets themselves. This fear can lead to anxiety and interfere with job performance. The most competent employees may eventually decide that their current work environment is toxic and seek employment elsewhere.

The Business: Businesses that tolerate bullying and negative workplace culture will eventually lose their best employees. Those who remain may do so because they have few options, and even the most competent among them may not perform as well as they could. In some cases, a business could eventually become the target of a lawsuit from a bullied employee who can make the case that a company's failure to address mobbing constituted a violation of the target's civil rights. Over time, news of a negative work environment and impotent leadership may damage a company's reputation.

Legal Issues

Federal labor laws protect some classes of employees from employment discrimination and being forced to work in a hostile workplace. If mobbing behavior targets a victim on the basis of a protected status, such as sex, race, national origin, religion, ethnicity, family status, or disability, the victim has the right to report the incident to government authorities and to request an investigation. The business may face both civil and criminal penalties as a result of tolerating mobbing under such circumstances.

Otherwise, federal law does not protect employees against workplace bullying. However, state or local laws may address and prohibit bullying behavior, and provide targets with legal recourse against an employer that does take steps to protect employees.

In addition, an employee who quits due to mobbing may be eligible for unemployment compensation by arguing that the mobbing constitutes a "constructive discharge," workplace conditions so intolerable that the employee had no choice but to terminate her employment. If the employee is successful in pursuing a constructive discharge claim, the employer's payroll taxes might increase.

Preventing Intimidation in the Workplace

Because the impact of workplace mobbing can be devastating to a small business, owners and managers should take employee behavior and office culture seriously.

Human resource policies: Human resource staff should recognize the danger that mobbing poses to individual workers as well as to the company as a whole. Putting anti-bullying policies into place, as well as processes that treat victims as valued employees who deserve support and protection – rather than as nuisances – can go a long way toward improving office culture and reducing incidents of bullying and mobbing.

Leadership attitude: It is reasonable for company leaders to expect employees to behave like adults and sort out personality conflicts in a professional way. However, there are situations in which victims of interpersonal aggression, including mobbing, may have difficulty defending themselves without support from management. Evidence that workers are being mistreated by others should be taken seriously, for both the benefit of victims as well as the long-term health of the company.

Assessing office culture: In some cases, office culture and policies may encourage bullying and mobbing. For example, if executives and managers communicate that it is okay to treat employees poorly, a hostile culture will flourish, with the strongest employees continually picking on the most vulnerable. While healthy competition can be beneficial to an organization, a hyper-competitive atmosphere can trigger the mobbing of otherwise excellent employees.

Bullying and mobbing may also occur in companies that do not regularly evaluate employee performance or behavior. When a company tolerates an employee who is unpleasant to work with, does not follow office policies or who fails to complete his or her work, other employees may become resentful. This can lead to the mobbing of the underperforming or disliked employee. Unfortunately, office morale has likely decreased significantly by the time workers take matters into their own hands.

Small business owners who were concerned about office culture and standards may benefit from contracting with a small business management consultancy firm. The consultant can evaluate what is going on at the office and assist in creating change within the environment so as to increase morale and encourage healthy interactions between employees.

Mobbing: what to do if you are being kicked out of work

February 21Likbez Work and study

Anyone can become a victim of bullying.

What is mobbing

Mobbing is a form of regular psychological pressure on a person in a professional team. In fact, this is bullying that happens at work, not at school.

Initially, the term appeared in biology, where the collective protective behavior of animals began to be called mobbing. For example, when several birds flock together to drive away a predator.

The Swedish psychologist Hanz Leiman was the first to use this word in relation to people. This is how the specialist described the situation when one or more people in the team are systematically hostile towards another colleague. It is usually difficult for the victim to protect himself, either because of his personal qualities, or because of his lower position in the hierarchy of the company, or because of the lack of opportunities to influence the situation.

Bullying can come not only from colleagues at about the same level as the victim, but also from higher-ranking employees. For example, it can be a constantly humiliating subordinate boss. About half of the cases of mobbing are related to the behavior of the leader.

Who becomes a victim of mobbing

There are no unified statistics on how many people are harassed in the workplace. Calculations give a variety of figures: from 6.8% to 46.4%, 15%, 30%, 39.1% of all workers.

However, there are certain groups that are more likely than others to be mobbed. For example, new employees. Bullying can be both a kind of "initiation" into the team, and the result of banal hostility and envy. Bullying can also be caused by racial and other prejudice. In this case, minorities suffer the most. Finally, women are more likely to be victims of mobbing than men. Moreover, colleagues of both the opposite and their own sex tend to attack the former.

The industry and the very specifics of the workplace also influence the prevalence of the phenomenon. For example, mobbing happens more often in companies from developing countries, because the corporate culture in such firms is still quite authoritarian.

Why mobbing appears

The reasons may be different.

Due to the nature of the offender

It is known that those who bullied classmates at school often do the same in adulthood. The propensity for deviant behavior, such as a lack of empathy or abusive antics, also largely determines the appearance of mobbing.

Because of envy and fear of losing one's place

Often opponents are simply jealous of the victim and feel threatened by her position. The arrival of a younger, more successful, educated, skilled, or independent competitor causes fear of losing a seat. The abuser hopes that the victim will quit their job due to psychological pressure, and the threat will disappear by itself.

Due to the desire for power or the desire to shift one's duties

The reason for mobbing can also be the intention to subordinate another employee. Offenders will assert themselves and fulfill their lust for power. For example, forcing the victim to perform other people's tasks.

Due to the manager's incompetence

The boss may resort to mobbing because of a peculiar management style, the desire to compensate for their own complexes, or simply incompetence. At the same time, groupings within the team can adjoin the leader and thus increase pressure on the victim.

Due to working conditions

For example, due to internal tension in the team, which is caused by the obvious inequality of its members, the connivance of the authorities, the futility of work and low wages. In such conditions, the slightest reason is enough for employees to start poisoning one of their colleagues.

Mobbing can be influenced by such non-obvious features of the workplace as noise, a large number of people, excessive heat or cold in the room.

How mobbing can manifest itself

Here are its most common types:

constant unfounded criticism;
devaluation of professional qualifications and personal contribution of an employee;
boycott;
hiding essential business information or lying about business matters;
slander and false denunciations;
mockery and insulting jokes;
threats;
theft and damage to personal belongings;
sexual harassment and even direct physical abuse.

Attacks can occur both in front of everyone and in secret. For example, defamatory and offensive information can be transmitted through social networks and instant messengers.

What is not related to mobbing

Regular conflicts that are supported by both sides. For example, mutual recriminations between colleagues due to hostility towards each other. Or quarrels because someone does not put the kettle in its place. In general, all household and work disputes without the goal of harassing and humiliating someone.

Also, constructive criticism, planned distribution of duties, positions and salaries, fines and penalties for violation of disciplinary norms are not considered mobbing.

Mobbing is dangerous

Bullying is a powerful stress factor that negatively affects both mental and physical health.

Victims often develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The negative effects of workplace bullying can continue to affect a person even after it has stopped. Therefore, bullying increases the likelihood of psychological problems in the future by 68%. Moreover, mobbing also causes stress for those who witnessed it.

In terms of physical health, mobbing can lead to poor sleep and somatic pain. Bullying also increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Mobbing is also harmful for employers. For example, bullying increases absenteeism, increases employee turnover and the risk of incidents, and reduces profits. Ignoring or supporting mobbing on the part of the authorities as a whole can lead to the disintegration of the work team.

What to do if you are bullied at work

Here's how to protect yourself.

Try to calm down and not take the bad behavior of your colleagues personally

Most likely, criticism is baseless and has nothing to do with your abilities. It reflects the critics' own weaknesses. This is how detractors try to intimidate and control you. Therefore, try to remain calm and not succumb to provocations. Do not try to prove anything to the offenders: it is they who must explain their behavior.

Try to talk to those who insult you

If possible, try to discuss what is happening with the instigator of the bullying. He may not realize that his behavior hurts you. Think ahead about what you will say. Give your version of what is happening and explain why you don't like it. Be calm and polite. Warn that you will not sit idly by while you are being bullied. Often this scares off spiteful critics.

Record all the facts of bullying

Try to record the facts of insults on a voice recorder or video, take screenshots of slanderous posts or messages. This will help prove that you are indeed being bullied. It is not necessary to go to court with the materials - you can use them as an argument to pin the offender to the wall and force him to stop bullying.

Tell us about your problem

Feel free to say that you are being insulted. Report mobbing to a manager or someone who monitors labor discipline, such as a representative of a trade union or human resources department. Perhaps this will help solve the problem in an informal way. Or at least give you advice on what to do next.

See a therapist

Feel free to see a therapist if your mental health has already been harmed. There is nothing to be ashamed of. In addition, a good specialist is really able to help you.

File a formal complaint

If informal reasoning with the abuser fails, proceed to administrative action. Write a formal complaint to the manager or to the labor protection service.

If it doesn't work, sue. Just consult with a lawyer first, because it will be extremely difficult to prove the fact of attacks. Therefore, you may find it useful to record conversations with offenders, fragments of correspondence. Thus, it may be possible to bring the violator for insults or slander.

What is mobbing and how to fight it

« Mobbing - (from the English mob - crowd) - psychological harassment, mainly group, of an employee by the employer or other employees, including constant negative statements, constant criticism of the employee, his social isolation within the organization, exclusion from his official actions social contacts, spreading knowingly false information about an employee, etc. ”

Encyclopedia of labor law

The word “mobbing” is relatively new in our business lexicon. However, the concept denoted by this term is as old as the world. To put it literally in a nutshell, this is “persecution of the crowd” in relation to one person. Particularly in the workplace.
A lot of articles have been written about mobbing as a phenomenon, in which the reasons for its occurrence in a particular work collective are analyzed in detail. Among these reasons are the ambiguously defined circle of business duties of employees, and poor organization of work, and the lack of necessary motivation among employees, and the desire of management to survive this or that employee ... However, this unpleasant phenomenon has another side - psychological. In many respects, it explains the “laws of our unconscious” by virtue of which the need itself arises, the internal incentive for mobbing. After all, I apologize for a certain cynicism, harassing someone is a lot of work; what makes people, to the detriment of their own work (and, it seems, their own benefit), spend time, effort and nerves on this? . .

There are not so many main “internal incentives” for mobbing. Let's start with the main thing - fear . This is one of our strongest emotions. And in particular, in collectives, a wary attitude towards someone who is emphatically “not like everyone else” is often manifested. That is, the same ethological “principle of the white crow”: “A stranger has crept into our flock, we don’t know what to expect from him. Therefore - atu him! And here it should certainly be noted that mobbing due to such fear does not occur in those communities that are recruited "from scratch" - in fact, there are still no "friends and foes" there. But if the team, as they say, is well-established, and even more likely - stagnant, where a kind of “psychological swamp” dominates, the occurrence of mobbing is very likely in it, as soon as someone with a rather extraordinary behavior, appearance, etc. appears in this team .

Another reason that triggers the mobbing mechanism is the internal tension carefully hidden for the time being the whole team. It arises for a variety of reasons (here you can list the entire list of “disadvantages of the organizational structure of an enterprise”, usually provided by business consultants: from “unclear goals and strategies” to an ill-defined scope of duties), but it cannot accumulate endlessly within the team - it requires exit, discharge. And as soon as one of the employees, by their behavior, appearance or something else, provokes some kind of aggression against them, this one-time aggression, fueled by the accumulated general tension, often develops into real emotional bullying.

And another reason for mobbing is… idleness . In the broadest sense of the word. When employees are busy performing their tasks (and ideally concerned about the prospect of financial rewards for this performance), they do not need to spend time and energy on “psychological terror”. They are busy with work. And when employees are underloaded, “undertasked”, and most importantly, they are not focused in their work on some positive end result, do you need to somehow structure your working time? By the way, in this case, mobbing often falls from underloaded employees to overloaded: they say, we are not busy with anything, but he sits and works! He only wants to please the authorities: come on, here we are already! . .

Here it is necessary to explain why the desire to "please the authorities", even if hypothetical, is sometimes perceived by the rest as "a signal to declare war on you." This almost always happens in those teams where it is possible to achieve financial and career growth only by "winning the favor of the immediate superiors." And among the employees there is an unspoken competition - who is more likely to be the boss's favorite, who will please him more actively. And aggression (sometimes frankly preemptive) invariably falls on any employee, it will seem to the rest of the "more successful rival in this fight." He will be hounded before he actually has time to be in the bosses' favorites.
This is also one of the reasons why newcomers are the first to be bullied in such teams. First of all, a new person is a stranger, which means that it causes unconscious fear. Then, he brings with him a kind of "unknown" - who knows what he has in mind? And this, especially in a team devoured by internal tension, again becomes a trigger for "psychological terror. " And finally, for some reason this newcomer was sent to us, for some reason his presence was needed by the boss (not to mention situations where the new employee is a direct creature of the authorities) ...

Speaking of bosses. So far, we have been talking about the so-called "horizontal mobbing" - pressure from colleagues. But there is also “vertical mobbing”: one of its variants is pressure “from above”. Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to call this phenomenon "mobbing", that is, bullying the CROWD (which is why they have now come up with a separate term - bossing). For if the boss puts psychological pressure on you, he, as a rule, does not do it in the crowd. And here are slightly different mechanisms, causes and incentives.

Most often, when bossing, the boss solves some of his deeply personal problems. For example, he needs to get rid of an objectionable employee. But if an employee is objectionable because he does not comply with the terms of his employment contract, you can always think about how to dismiss him according to the law. If the employee has become objectionable to the boss for some personal reasons, then here is the puncture, first of all, of the boss himself: he does not know how to competently build his relations with his subordinates. It's like the saying about two arguing, of which the one who is smarter is more to blame. So it is here: the leader (at least ideally!) Should have a greater ability to avoid conflicts and build constructive communication strategies. And if, instead of building such strategies, he “squeezes out” an employee, moreover, valuable for the entire structure as a whole, what can be said about the professional suitability of such a boss as a leading unit? ..
And the most common reason for bossing (although not always openly declared) is usually that the boss was once with the victim of his pressure in a relationship that went beyond the official, and then, for various reasons, had to return to the official distance again. And psychologically moving away is always unpleasant . .. That's the way the authorities get rid of former "close acquaintances."

Another latent reason for bossing can be the frank desire of the boss to assert himself at the expense of his subordinates. But in this regard, pressure from his side will most likely become a reason for horizontal mobbing "in the team entrusted to him." For example, the boss will give two employees the same task, drawing them into an unspoken competition. And he will frankly have fun watching how they are trying not so much to optimally complete the task, but to “take down their competitor from a distance.” And this is just one of the examples. In all such cases, the employees will “eat each other”, and the boss will feel like a sort of powerful puppeteer, pulling the strings of puppets. The only question remains - what does this psychologically flawed person with underrealized self-esteem do in the chair of the LEADER, especially in the staff of a large and serious structure? .. For the benefit of the “divide and rule” approach is very doubtful, especially for the company as a whole. Such a situation easily gets out of control, no matter how sure you are.

However, there is also another type of "vertical mobbing" - from the side of subordinates in relation to superiors. This again often occurs in the same “stagnant team”, where there are already informal leaders. And if a new leader was appointed to such a team, and the subordinates “did not like” him, it will be difficult to envy the leader. Especially if he zealously gets down to business (even from the most constructive motives!) And starts to make some active changes in the usual way on the go. Because in the “psychological swamp” there are no incentives for social growth, there is no movement forward, but everyone has their own “familiar places” and, as they say, “waste”. Especially if its size does not depend on whether the employee is doing something or simply "is at the workplace from now to now." Any manager who tries to stir up this swamp too actively will first of all arouse fear in his address - the very fear that provokes the desire to get rid of its source. And subordinates will at least start a boycott: according to the principle “I am listening to orders while you are with you.” Therefore, if you do not want to provoke such latent, but powerful resistance, beware of announcing major innovations until you look around and figure out what's what.

But the following general question arises: what can be done to, if not completely get rid of mobbing in all its manifestations, to at least reduce its frequency and intensity, and make it not so destructive for the company as a whole? Speaking in general (otherwise it will not work within the framework of the article), then the answers are essentially already known: clearly formulate the tasks and goals of the company, clearly outline the tasks of employees (avoiding intersection and unhealthy competition), take care of the psychological climate within the team, about competent "organization of labor" ... But not every manager, unfortunately, is ready to spend time, effort and money on this. But in the end, it turns out that the main reason for the presence of mobbing, bossing, etc. in the structure. - shortsightedness of the company's management. In a team where a new employee is not a competitor for the attention of the authorities and not a “dark horse” capable of disturbing the long-established calm, but an additional force in achieving common goals, where everyone works together to move one common cause, and the active work of each becomes beneficial to everyone else - mobbing is much less likely. That is why, even at the interview level, it is recommended to take a closer look at the psychological climate within the organization, as well as the strategic goals and objectives of the company. And if there is even a slight suspicion that the management is solving some of its problems, far from developing the structure and making a profit, keep in mind: in this team, the probability of mobbing is almost one hundred percent. And it is far from a fact that you personally will not be his victim.

In order to be a victim of mobbing (if there are prerequisites for it in principle), it is enough to be at least in some way "not like everyone else." Most often, it is either unreasonably claiming that you are “the best”, or unjustifiably feeling “worst”.
The most scandalous and visible mobbing occurs in relation to bright demonstrative personalities - they often behave as if they really are "the best", and in all respects. And the aggression arising in response is at first perceived even ... with pleasure: how, their person is given special attention, even if, to put it mildly, not entirely constructive!
And the most difficult to endure the declaration of "undercover war" are people who are prone to doubts and difficulties in choosing, as well as with non-standard thinking and complex relationships with reality: what is called - "out of this world." Such individuals can be excellent specialists in their field, but they keep themselves somewhat apart in society - because the process of communication itself is already difficult for them. And this “type with incomprehensible behavior” is being bullied – sometimes just “just in case”. And the “type” endures bullying in silence, but suffers heavily from it. And if he does not find any other ways to escape from the pressure of the crowd, at best he loses his job, and at worst, he comes to a serious illness of a psychosomatic nature or to suicide.

But these are extremes, and there can be a lot of intermediate situations. And if, for one reason or another, you become a victim of mobbing, what should you do then?

Again, this is not a conversation for an article, but several general recommendations can be formulated in absentia.

First of all, don't be tempted by unreasonable advice like "if mobbing is directed at you, then you yourself have nothing to do with it." Yes, the phenomenon itself is most often provoked by the problems of the company's management. But why was the crowd's aggression directed specifically at you? Of course, it is not necessary to engage in self-discipline here, but it will be useful to conduct some analysis of the situation, the environment and one's own personality (perhaps with the help of a specialist). Because even if you are forced to change jobs, will it not turn out that in a new place you will provoke the same aggression in your address?

Then, strive to be an unconditional professional in your field , as well as to have a clear understanding of your immediate job responsibilities. And of course, fulfill these obligations. Then at least they won't be able to accuse you of professional omissions.
And one more thing: at least at first, having come to a new job, communicate with the team as evenly and formally politely as possible. Do not immediately try to impose your emotional disposition, get involved in internal squabbles or attract undue attention with extravagant behavior, etc. And if you already need this attention, find a way to fulfill this need outside your workplace for the time being; Of course, if you value this place.

And most importantly - do not stop constantly watching what is happening at your work in general and around you in particular.

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