The costs of workplace mobbing
Beth has just started a job as an Investment Analyst at a bank. During her first week on the job, she overhears co-workers compare the organisation to a reality TV show, as rumour has it, the previous manager of department was recently "pushed out" due to office politics.
Beth decided to ignore this gossip and concentrate on work. Frank, her line manager is very fond of Beth because she is ambitious and definitely on her way to a senior position. Christiaan, Frank’s boss doesn’t see things the same way. Day after day, Christiaan grows ever more critical of Beth. She begins to slowly see herself singled out or "ganged up on" at work. Co-workers suddenly change the subject when she enters a room. The feeling that people at work are isolating her or out to get to her grows. Beth wonders if she is going crazy, imagining things or being paranoid. She has received compliments about her work from Frank and clients, so where did she mess up? Beth begins to doubt her own abilities as she slips into depression.
Is Beth the latest target of a form of workplace bullying called mobbing and how could this ‘mobbing’ behaviour affect the performance and growth of a company?
Scientist Konrad Lorenz studied mobbing behaviour in animals where the "kill or be killed attitude" used to stay alive, drove the mobbing behaviour. In his book called On Aggression , he says, "The subject of this book is aggression, that is to say the fighting instinct in beast and man which is directed against members of the same species."
In the early eighties, Dr. Heinz Leymann, a psychologist, defined the term ‘mobbing’ as "Hostile and unethical communication directed in a systematic way by one or a few individuals mainly towards one individual."
Noa Zanolli Davenport, PhD and co-author of Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace, sees mobbing as a "ganging up" by the leader, who rallies others into "mob-like" behaviour. Management is often involved or silently condones this group behaviour.
Dr Susan Marais-Steinman spent sixteen years studying the workplace and what she terms ‘workplace violence’. Steinman holds two doctorates, is founder of the Workplace Dignity Institute, and is currently Director of the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Johannesburg. Steinman’s book, Don’t Take Shit from Hyenas in the Workplace uses the hyena as a prime example of a bully operating in a mob or "clan". Hyenas hunt the vulnerable; they always operate in a clan, and rely on its protection.
Many organisations encourage the "kill or be killed" mentality observed by Konrad Lorenz in the animals he studied, thus creating a Hyena breeding ground. According to Steinman, the Clan is headed by the Makula Hyena ("great one" in Zulu). The leader tends to be found in a management or other powerful positions and prefers to strategically manipulate people via underling Hyenas. Ruled by raw ambition and a lack of ethics, Hyenas have a relentless hunger to win at all costs.
Beth had taken her concerns to HR by scheduling an appointment with Karin, the HR representative. Before Beth had a chance to see Karin, she was called into Christiaan’s office. He had heard about the meeting with HR, and had been frantically calling people into his office all morning for some last minute intimidation. In Karin’s office Beth was handed the ICAS (Independent Counselling Services) number, so she could receive telephonic counselling. ICAS is a great service when used appropriately, but for Beth, as she sat in that office and stared at the walls plastered with certificates, Karin’s reaction was just one more sign that the problem was her. Beth felt invisible and mute.
Steinman’s research shows the targets of workplace mobs are usually envied by the perpetrators, because the victims are those who add great value to an organisation.
Beth’s department was like a wall slowly rotted by damp. Sixteen people worked in the department, four people, including Beth, resigned. Work was reallocated, and new staff was hired but nobody stayed for very long. The organisation had to address serious damage to its reputation. Clients wanted the competent analysts that they had built relationships with.
Two weeks after Beth resigned, three more people resigned. HR carried out a pitiful attempt at an investigation into the department. The remaining employees said everything was "fine" while they spent lunchtime on Career Junction.
Company policy should enforce respectful and ethical behaviour. Witnesses of mobbing, corruption or unethical behaviour must be encouraged to come forward. HR and Management have a duty to recognise and investigate early warning signs of mobbing within a department.
Steinman says that where policies existed and were properly enforced, the organisation experienced a 75% reduction in the frequency of bullying incidents.
Davenport asserts that: "By enforcing decency, civility, and high ethical standards in the workplace and by creating a nourishing environment, bullying and mobbing will not surface. There are millions of enlightened managers and leaders and thousands of companies that do just that. They serve as good examples and places of refuge."
