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This article describes mobbing in relation to human bullying behaviour.

Mobbing in the context of human beings either means bullying of an individual by a group in any context, or specifically any workplace bullying.

Etymology

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Though the English word mob denotes a crowd, often in a destructive or hostile mood, German, Polish, Italian and several other European languages have adopted mobbing as a loanword to describe all forms of bullying including that by single persons. The resultant German verb mobben can also be used for physical attacks, calumny against teachers on the internet and intimidation by superiors, with an emphasis on the victims' continuous fear rather than the perpetrators' will to exclude them. The word may thus be a false friend in translation back into English, where mobbing in its primary sense denotes a disorderly gathering by a crowd and in workplace psychology narrowly refers to "ganging up" by others to harass and intimidate an individual.

Development of the concept

Research into the phenomenon was pioneered in the 1980s by German-born Swedish scientist Heinz Leymann, who borrowed the term from animal behaviour due to it describing perfectly how a group can attack an individual based only on the negative covert communications from the group".

Mobbing is also found in school systems and this too was discovered by Leymann. Although he preferred the term bullying in the context of school children, some have come to regard mobbing as a form of group bullying. As professor and practising psychologist, Leymann also noted one of the side-effects of mobbing is post traumatic stress disorder and is frequently misdiagnosed. After making this discovery he successfully treated thousands of mobbing victims at his clinic in Sweden.

According to the author of Workplace Mobbing: Expulsion, Exclusion, and Transformation document, workplace mobbing is not a familiar term in most English speaking countries. Some researchers claim that mobbing is simply another name for bullying. Workplace mobbing can be considered as a 'virus' or a 'cancer' that spreads throughout the workplace via gossip, rumour and unfounded accusations. It is a deliberate attempt to force a person out of their workplace by humiliation, general harassment, emotional abuse and/or terror. Mobbing can be described as being “ganged up on". Mobbing is executed by a leader (who can be a manager, a co-worker, or a subordinate). The leader then rallies others into a systematic and frequent “mob-like” behaviour toward the victim.

In the book MOBBING: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace, the authors say that mobbing is typically found in work environments that have poorly organized production and/or working methods and incapable or inattentive management and that mobbing victims are usually "exceptional individuals who demonstrated intelligence, competence, creativity, integrity, accomplishment and dedication".

UK anti-bully pioneers Andrea Adams and Tim Field used the expression workplace bullying instead of what Leymann called "mobbing" although workplace bullying nearly always involves mobbing in its other meaning of group bullying.

Westhues's checklist of mobbing indicators

Sociologist Kenneth Westhues devised the following list of mobbing indicators, with indicator number 12 probably being the most important:

1. By standard criteria of job performance, the target is at least average, probably above average.
2. Rumours and gossip circulate about the target’s misdeeds: “Did you hear what she did last week?”
3. The target is not invited to meetings or voted onto committees, is excluded or excludes self.
4. Collective focus on a critical incident that “shows what kind of man he really is”.
5. Shared conviction that the target needs some kind of formal punishment, “to be taught a lesson”.
6. Unusual timing of the decision to punish, e. g., apart from the annual performance review.
7. Emotion-laden, defamatory rhetoric about the target in oral and written communications.
8. Formal expressions of collective negative sentiment toward the target, e. g. a vote of censure, signatures on a petition, meeting to discuss what to do about the target.
9. High value on secrecy, confidentiality, and collegial solidarity among the mobbers.
10. Loss of diversity of argument, so that it becomes dangerous to “speak up for” or defend the target.
11. The adding up of the target’s real or imagined venial sins to make a mortal sin that cries for action.
12. The target is seen as personally abhorrent, with no redeeming qualities; stigmatizing, exclusionary labels are applied.
13. Disregard of established procedures, as mobbers take matters into their own hands.
14. Resistance to independent, outside review of sanctions imposed on the target.
15. Outraged response to any appeals for outside help the target may make.
16. Mobbers’ fear of violence from target, target’s fear of violence from mobbers, or both.

See also

• Ochlocracy
• Scapegoating
• Victim blaming
• Victimisation

References

1. Heinz Leyman's personal website kept live since his death
2. Shallcross, L, Ramsay, S, & Barker M, (2008) Workplace Mobbing: Expulsion, Exclusion, and Transformation, retrieved 17 May 2010, http://www.lindas.internetbasedfamily.com/f/SHALLCROSS_LINDA1.pdf
3. Davenport, Noa, Distler Schwartz, Ruth, Pursell Elliott, Gail, Mobbing, Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace, 3rd Edition 2005, Civil Society Publishing. Ames, IA,
4. Westhues K. Checklist of Mobbing Indicators, 2006

External links

• Field, Tim What is mobbing ?
• Gravois, John Mob Rule, Chronicle of Higher Education
• Leymann, Heinz The Mobbing Encyclopaedia (Heinz Leyman's personal website kept live since his death)
• Shallcross, Linda Workplace Mobbing Australia Australian Workplace Mobbing Website
• Westhues, Kenneth At The Mercy Of The Mob
• Westhues, Kenneth Film Depictions of Ganging Up Westhues Website Workplace Mobbing in Academe
• Westhues, Kenneth Workplace Mobbing in Academe Westhues Academic Mobbing Website
• National Anti-Mobbing Association in Poland Workplace Mobbing in Poland Lodz Division (Poland) of National Anti-Mobbing Association Mobbing Website
• The Mobbing Portal http://www.mobbingportal.com Gateway to the Scientific Study of Ganging Up

• Abuse
• Aggression
• Bullying
• Interpersonal conflict
• Sociology
• Injustice
• Persecution