Frequent Development Of Workplace Bullying: 3 Phases
Workplace harassment, also called mobbing, is a subtle form of violence that occurs in work environments. Many times, and sometimes for spurious reasons, companies or organizations, aggressors and observers or witnesses use euphemisms to refer to this type of violence.
Thus, words such as “work conflict”, “power struggles”, “fights between colleagues”, “incompatible characters”, etc. are used, as if these problems were something isolated between workers or had more to do with the normal dynamics within of the organizations.
But the truth is that Workplace harassment goes beyond a mere conflictive relationship between colleagues Let’s delve deeper into the characteristics of this class of problems.
At least three distinctive characteristics can be identified in workplace bullying.
1. Violence is exerted towards a victim who barely resists
Furthermore, there are often witnesses to this violence who will look the other way, avoiding getting involved in the matter or, if they do, they will take sides with the aggressor.
2. It is systematic and repeated violence over time
However, they are usually episodes of medium or low intensity. Sometimes they are reduced to just phrases and comments that could be judged as inconsequential by an outside observer. High-intensity acts of violence are rare.
However, it is precisely this low intensity and repetition that makes the situation more dangerous in the medium term (as a simile we could compare it to the “Chinese drop” torture).
3. Violence is exercised intentionally and with an objective
The victim may not notice or understand such hidden interests It is also possible that observers do not understand them either, either because they avoid paying attention to the situation of injustice or because many times the acts of aggression are subtle and are only perceived by the victim.
To achieve this goal, the stalker follows a series of strategies that involve isolation, hostility, discredit and other forms of psychological violence.
Development of workplace harassment
These acts of violence carried out continuously cause significant health damage and other types of economic and social damage Workplace harassment could be understood as a process extended over time in which the victim goes through a series of stages that leave different psychological consequences.
A possible course could be, for example, the following.
1. Stage of underestimating the damage
At the beginning of workplace harassment, the worker thinks that it is a temporary situation resulting from a problem or a misunderstanding that prevent you from putting yourself on guard and taking measures to defend yourself.
2. Blame yourself
Subsequently, once you realize that you understand that the situation is not going to stop, you can ask yourself “why me?” which erodes your self-esteem because he attributes the harassment to certain characteristics of his personality, blaming himself for it.
In these initial stages, it is not uncommon for the victim to also wonder if they are being too sensitive or exaggerated in the situation. The fact that the episodes have a low intensity that is often only perceived by the victim themselves has to do with these thoughts. She begins to doubt her own perceptions, which can lead to a phenomenon known as “derealization” (a perception of the outside world as something strange or unreal).
The continuity of bullying over time causes anxiety processes and depressive symptoms, which, in turn, worsens the situation in part because facilitates impunity for the aggressor that justifies their behavior based on the problematic situation the victim is going through.
The “somatization” of the experience is also common, which, together with the stress it creates, can cause stomach pain, skin irritations, headaches, etc.
In short, workplace harassment has much more serious consequences for the victim than a simple “work conflict.”
