©2023 Gail Pursell Elliott
When I was in college, which was many years ago, I was horrified when someone painted swastikas on some buildings. During that time, there was coverage in the school paper and an impressive letter to the editor, written by a Jewish student. She and I became lifelong friends. I had Jewish friends in high school and made more after going to college. I had black friends in school, too, as well as friends from other countries, faiths, and backgrounds. We were just friends, not compartmentalized by any of our backgrounds. The idea that anyone would want to resurrect that image of discrimination and hatred was reprehensible to me.
Over the past ten years or so, I’ve watched the emergence of expressions of unabashed bigotry, accompanied by an increase in violent acts. Civility and restraint are far from the status quo. There are those who think any overt actions are their right. Politicians and current world events have triggered additional disturbing reactions in the past few months. Now we are seeing more hateful and threatening messages scrawled on college walls. We have seen an increase in nazi-like groups, antisemitism, racism, and other ‘isms and these attitudes have now begun to surface with a vengeance.
No one is immune to exposure to the news, even second hand, and we all have opinions and viewpoints of our own. Most of us have our own personal preferences and biases based on our life experiences or lack of experience with groups of people different from our own. Our workplaces are not isolated from what is happening around us. While we have discrimination laws and policies, which are designed to control behavior, attitudes are controlled by each individual. The more diversity training emphasizing understanding and acceptance is placed on a back burner or eliminated, the fewer opportunities people have to adjust their attitudes and widen their perspectives.
This brings to mind a book written by Eric Hoffer in 1951, The True Believer. In his book, he examines how mass movements emerge and their contributing dynamics. I see a connection between the mobbing process and some of the points made in his book. Although Mobbing within an organization is on a smaller scale, the dynamics are similar. Hoffer’s book was reissued in 2010, on Amazon as a perennial classic.
If factionalism and disruptive behavior is becoming more evident in society, it cannot help but emerge in some form in the workplace. We have seen past evidence of racially based bullying and mobbing in the workplace many times. Rumors, whispered judging of someone’s lifestyle, unkind joking, are indicators of mobbing. When they begin to be used to isolate, intimidate, and push someone out, then a full mobbing has developed and will poison attitudes and behaviors throughout the organization. In many cases, coworkers have only gotten to know the targeted person enough to get more rumor material but not to understand another human being. In all cases, people become targeted not by who they are but what they represent.
Given the current climate, it might be wise to have a refresher on discrimination policies and procedures coupled with a mobbing/bullying overview. The purpose of which is to remind people that all have the right to be treated with dignity and respect, without exception. People are welcome to have their opinions, preferences, and beliefs. But inciteful, disruptive attitudes have nothing to do with the job at hand and have no place at work. They should be left at the door.
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Gail Pursell Elliott, is known as the Dignity and Respect Lady and has been writing and presenting about Mobbing and Bullying since 1998. She is an expert in the field and has appeared on television, radio, and talk shows. She is the author of several books and has been writing the Bully at Work column for Workplace Violence Today since its inception. To contact Gail, visit her website at https://innovations-training.com
Mobbing and Bullying 