Workplace Bullying Articles

Book Review of... Mobbing - Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace

Noa Davenport

Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace

Articles about bully bosses abound. But bullying does not only happen because of bad boss behavior. It happens among employees, and even employees can bully or mob a boss.

A widely acclaimed book about emotional abuse in the American workplace will be reprinted. (PRWEB) June 18, 2005 -- “Every business school should have MOBBING on the reading list, and every HR department should have it in the library,” said James A. Autry, author of Love and Profit: The Art of Caring Leadership.

Written by three Iowa authors, Dr. Noa Davenport, Ruth Distler Schwartz, and Gail Pursell Elliott, Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace, deals with what has become a household word in Europe: Mobbing.

Note from Stop-Bullies.com... P urchase "Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace" by clicking on the graphic to the left.

Mobbing can be compared to bullying. However, mobbing denotes a "ganging up" by co-workers, subordinates or superiors, to force someone out of the workplace through rumor, innuendo, intimidation, discrediting, isolation, and particularly, humiliation. They intentionally target -- and ultimately destroy -- innocent individuals who are trying to do their work well and with dignity. Victims are attacked or undermined -- often with approval by higher management.

Mobbing is a serious form of nonsexual, nonracial harassment. It has been legally described as status-blind harassment.

Mobbing affects the mental and physical health of victims to a great extent and is therefore considered to be a workplace injury. It extracts staggering emotional and economic costs from victims, their families, their organizations, and society.

The authors' intent has been to stimulate public awareness in the United States, to help detect mobbing in American workplaces, and to encourage preventive, timely and appropriate action. The book helps readers to understand what mobbing is, why it occurs, how it affects a victim, how organizations are impacted and what people can do -- as a victim, a family member, a friend, or as a manager. It also encourages the legal community to rethink the current law as it does not provide sufficient protection for this type of serious and widespread harassment.

"This book is a safety manual for avoiding the most terrifying kind of workplace injury. The advice given here is clear, practical, and sound. Its foundation in empirical research is firm. I recommend this book to every employee and manager in America," said Dr. Kenneth Westhues, Professor of Sociology, University of Waterloo, Canada.

Note from Stop-Bullies.com...

You can purchase "Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace" by clicking on the graphic of the book at the top of this article.

Table of Contents from mobbing-usa.com...
INTRODUCTION

Introduces the nature of the mobbing phenomenon, informs about background and history of the research, and the meaning of different terms, i.e. bullying, aggression, harassment.

CHAPTER 1: What Mobbing Is and How It Happens

Describes, analyzes and defines mobbing. Specifies mobbing behaviors. Degrees of mobbing and how it evolves over time. The role of management. Why mobbing is different from any other form of harassment or discrimination.

CHAPTER 2: Why Mobbing Occurs and Persists

Presents reasons from different points of view and attempts to understand the phenomenon from systems thinking: The psychology of the instigators, group dynamics, the workplace structure/culture and the wider society, the role the victim may play in the mobbing.

CHAPTER 3: How Mobbing Affects You

Examines the devastating impact mobbing has on a victim's health and emotional well-being.

CHAPTER 4: How You Can Cope

Advises victims of mobbing about helpful ways to overcome the experience.

CHAPTER 5: Family and Friends, How They Are Affected, How They Can Help

Describes the potential impact of mobbing on family, friends, and significant relationships. Explains the mobbed person's state of mind and how support can best be given.

CHAPTER 6: How Mobbing Affects the Organization--Impact and Prevention, The Bottom Line

Offers suggestions for strategies to detect, halt and prevent mobbing from occurring. Recommends modifications to existing human resource policies and procedures.

CHAPTER 7: The Challenge of Conflict Resolution

Analyzes the triggering event--a conflict--of the mobbing syndrome. Discusses the predicament of the attempt to resolve the conflict.

CHAPTER 8: Mobbing and the Law

Addresses the legal framework and current statutes to address mobbing. Concludes with an appeal to lawmakers.

CHAPTER 9: Acting on Awareness

Discusses implications and the cost of the mobbing syndrome to the American economy and society. Specifies the responsibility all sectors of the society have to deal with mobbing, and the role they play in helping to prevent mobbing.

The book "Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace" is published by Civil Society Publishing. For more information on this issue see also: www.mobbing-usa.com.