New research on mobbing at work

Friendship, love but also mobbing can all occur in contexts where people meet regularly. Mobbing can include ostracism, scolding or being deprived of one’s working duties. The list goes on. Mobbing is the social exclusion of someone from the group.

– There are no easy solutions on how to prevent mobbing but I hope that each individual work place can find advice and support in my thesis, says Louise Svensson, researcher in sociology at Örebro University.

– It is easy to rely on explanations that either relates to the victim’s own personality or for example a manager’s malice or lack of leadership. However, the social process of mobbing is too complex and defies identifying whose fault it is. Several things interact.

Not fitting in

Nine per cent of the Swedish workforce has been subjected to mobbing and bullying at work. Louise Svensson’s doctoral thesis, in which she interviews victims, observers and bullies, shows that context is important. Being an outsider or doing one’s job differently than the rest of that particular office or factory can be decisive.

– It can be that you are used to working independently, although that is not the case in the new workplace. Perhaps the person is questioning things at meetings when others are not accustomed to it being done. Of course, it may also be that the person belongs to a minority – one woman among many men, one man among women or immigrants among Swedes.

Mobbing can also start with a conflict or after an employee has changed position in a workplace. Mobbing can escalate over time or take off suddenly after a certain event. Colleagues can suddenly become bullies.

The different roles

The bully or bullies can be superiors, colleagues or subordinates. It is more common that one or a few people bully rather than a large group. No one wants to see themselves as a bully, but whether one supports the bully or not, everyone can be considered as taking part in the bullying in their own way.

– Many may not even notice the mobbing but for the victim all those who do not show open support become potential bullies. The victim knows who the bullies are, those who explicitly expose him/her to negative actions, but the victim is uncertain about whose side the, what I call, collaborators are on. This uncertainty becomes part of the mobbing.

Louise Svensson’s thesis also shows that colleagues who give open support to the victim are more likely to be bullied themselves. The collaborators, who seem able to avoid being bullied themselves have already a strong position in the group or can do so from their formal position as superior or other agent.

Supporting the victim

– Those who give the victim open support do so for a variety of reasons. The supporter may feel that the sense of community with the victim is more important than the group. The people I have interviewed felt strongly that bullying is morally wrong. Some said that they could not live with themselves if they did not do anything about it.

Mobbing can occur in any organisation that includes more than two people and it occurs to some degree in all industries. In some workplaces, mobbing can be more noticeable – for example where employees have no physical place of retreat. When you are forced to socialize with your colleagues on many occasions there are plentiful opportunities to be bullied. If employees have their private rooms there is the possibility to escape the negative treatment, at least sometimes.

– I do not present any concrete advice, but I hope that this thesis can provide a basis for occupational health and safety managers, whose work includes preventing mobbing. Mobbing can take different forms depending on the form of cooperation.

– For colleagues it can be fruitful to keep the issue separate from the person. We can all try to be professional even though we do not get on well with the person.

Text: Linda Harradine
Photo: Örebro University