What is mobbing? How to Deal with Mobbing?

 Everyone who enters the business life is familiar with the concept of mobbing, even if it is not related to them. We can answer the question of what is mobbing as psychological harassment in the workplace; but this definition will be insufficient to explain the concept of mobbing. As a matter of fact, many employees do not know how to deal with Mobbing beyond this short definition, and what their legal rights are against Mobbing. In the continuation of our article, you can learn the answers to many questions you may have about Mobbing.

 

Mobbing is a word of Latin origin. In English, the meaning of the word is lawless violence. In this context, we can briefly answer what mobbing is as follows: It is the application of psychological violence by one or more people against another person or persons. The response of the Supreme Court of Appeals General Assembly to the question of what mobbing means is as follows: “All kinds of repeated ill-treatment, threats, violence, humiliation, etc., systematically applied to employees in the workplace, by other employees or employers.”

 

 

What is Mobbing in the Workplace?

The concept of mobbing was first used by Lorenz, an ethologist (scientist who studies animal behavior) in the 1960s. The inclusion of this concept in business life as emotional attack and psychological harassment dates back to the 1980s. In order for us to talk about the concept of mobbing in the workplace, it must be done in a systematic way as well as taking place in the workplace.

 

Mobbing in the workplace can be practiced not only by the employer but also by other employees. Types of mobbing in the workplace reveal people who exhibit mobbing behaviors.

 

What is Vertical Mobbing?

Mobbing done by people in the upper position is called vertical mobbing. In this type of mobbing, people who apply an intimidation policy get their power from their status in the workplace. The reason why the superiors mobbing their subordinates is usually that they cannot accept the subordinate to be more successful. Sometimes, the reason why vertical mobbing is applied is that the subordinates are older, have different political views, and are favored by those in higher positions.

 

What is Vertical Mobbing?

The employee's application of mobbing to the manager is called vertical mobbing. As you can imagine, this type of mobbing is not seen very often. The reason for this type of mobbing is usually jealousy. Loyalty to the former manager may also cause vertical mobbing.

 

What is Horizontal Mobbing?

We can answer the question of what is horizontal mobbing as psychological violence between equals . Horizontal psychological mobbing is mostly caused by jealousy and excessive ambition.

 

In order for the entire business world to combat mobbing, institutional arrangements and personal awareness trainings are required as well as state control.

 

What are Mobbing Behaviors?

In order to be more descriptive of what it means to practice mobbing, let's list the behaviors that fall under the scope of mobbing as follows:

 

Behaviors that damage professional or personal reputation: Making false rumors about the person, criticizing the person's appearance, making false accusations, mocking, gossiping.

Behaviors that intimidate the person: belittling the person, using nicknames and humiliating, glaring, swearing, scolding unnecessarily.

 

Behaviors that force resignation: Giving the person extra work or limiting his/her powers, excluding the person from professional activities, depriving the person of organizational knowledge, exclusion both physically and socially, preventing promotion, forcing resignation.

 

Mobbing application process in the workplace starts with a conflict. The conflict turns into a process of psychological harassment and aggressive behavior emerges. When the administration steps in, it is not possible to protect the victim from the prejudice created by the rumors. The process results in the termination of the person's job or the fact that the person cannot stay at the job for longer and has to leave voluntarily.

 

In order to determine whether mobbing is practiced in your workplace, that is, whether there is a risk of mobbing in the work environment , you should find answers to the following questions:

 

How is the communication between middle managers and senior managers?

Is there psychological harassment or pressure between managers and employees?

Are absenteeism and personnel changes frequent in the enterprise?

What is the health expenses of the institution?

Do the managers take into account the opinions and suggestions of the employees?

Has the business management ever been sued with an employee or has there been an employee receiving compensation from the workplace?

Is there a fair distribution of work for those working in similar positions?

What are the Symptoms of Mobbing?

Mobbing results in negative results for both the individual and the organization. Mental and physical symptoms of psychological abuse and violence are:

 

Psychological symptoms: Depression, insomnia, inability to control anger, difficulty concentrating.

Physical symptoms: Weight loss or excessive weight gain, muscle aches, stomach problems, headache, dizziness, rapid and irregular palpitations, skin diseases.

The negative consequences of mobbing practices for the organization are as follows:

 

Sick leave increases.

The recruitment and orientation process of new employees means an increase in personnel costs.

It becomes difficult to employ a qualified employee due to the damage to corporate prestige.

Occupational accidents increase.

The quality of production or service decreases. As a result, the number of customers decreases.

Employees do not have a sense of belonging to the company.

Trained people leave the job and there is a shortage of qualified personnel.

 

Compensation paid to the dismissed may cause a deterioration in the income-expenditure balance of the enterprises.

In the process of combating mobbing, it is necessary to get support from unit managers, human resources managers, HR managers, HR employees or managers. If the request for improvement is met negatively and there is no change in behavior, it is best to seek compensation with evidence of mobbing.

 

What is Mobbing Law?

Mobbing is a situation that can result in a monetary and moral compensation penalty. Many people need to know how to prove mobbing . According to the decision of the 22nd Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation, the determination of the injustice is sufficient. If you are about to file a mobbing lawsuit, you should make sure that you have the records. These recordings are in the form of phone call recordings, voice recording, doctor's report, prescription of drugs used in psychological treatment, comments on social media.

 

If you are a victim of mobbing, you should apply to the following institutions: Ministry of Labor and Social Security, Constitutional Court, CIMER, Alo 170, Public Servants Ethics Committee, Ombudsman Institution, Human Rights Institution of Turkey and Provincial and District Human Rights Boards. According to Article 105 of the Turkish Penal Code, the harasser can be sentenced to imprisonment from three months to two years or a judicial fine. In case the victim quits his job, stays away from school or his family due to mobbing, which he has proven with the insane, the punishment to be given to the person who applies mobbing cannot be less than 1 year.

 

How to Deal with Mobbing?

The most correct answer to the question of how to deal with mobbing is actually to have information about the law of mobbing. In addition to the law of mobbing, you can deal with mobbing by following these simple tips.

 

trust yourself

Get rid of the victim mentality and be self-confident.

Do not delete any of your correspondence.

Talk to your manager about this situation.

Don't blame yourself.

Get social support by sharing this topic with your family or friends.

Get psychological support.

Mobbing examples have unfortunately multiplied. It is a crime under the Turkish Penal Code and labor law that the victim is exposed to mobbing in the work environment . For this reason, we answered questions such as what is psychological mobbing, what is mobbing punishment . If this crime is committed against you, you can file a criminal complaint before the Office of the Chief Public Prosecutor. At the same time, you should not remain silent in the face of mobbing, which shows that there is a problem in strategic human resources management and can also point to glass ceiling syndrome .