The Mobbing Encyclopaedia
Bullying; Whistleblowing
Introduction to the concept of mobbing
© Heinz Leymann - file 11110e
Corrected Sue Baxter
Through their national work environmental acts Sweden, Finland and Norway
support the rights of workers to remain both physically and
mentally healthy at work. Yet, in recent years, a workplace-related psychosocial
problem has been discovered, the existence and extent of which was not
known earlier.
This phenomenon has been referred to as "mobbing", "ganging
up on someone", "bullying" or "psychological terror".
In this type of conflict, the victim is subjected to a systematic, stigmatizing
process and encroachment of his or her civil rights. If it lasts a number
of years, it may ultimately lead to ejection from the labor market when
the individual in question is unable to find employment due to mental injury
sustained at the former work place.
I introduced this phenomenon in 1984. It certainly is a very old one,
well known in every culture from the very beginning of these cultures.
Nevertheless, it has not been systematically described until the research
started in 1982 which led to a small scientific report written in the fall
of 1983 and published in early 1984 at The National Board of Occupational
Safety and Health in Stockholm, Sweden (Leymann
& Gustavsson, 1984).
One step back