Editing Mobbing (section)

== In the workplace ==
{{main article|Workplace bullying}}
British anti-bullying researchers [[Andrea Adams]] and [[Tim Field]] have used the expression "workplace bullying" instead of what Leymann called "mobbing" in a workplace context. They identify mobbing as a particular type of bullying that is not as apparent as most, defining it as "an emotional assault. It begins when an individual becomes the target of disrespectful and harmful behavior. Through [[innuendo]], rumors, and public discrediting, a hostile environment is created in which one individual gathers others to willingly, or unwillingly, participate in continuous malevolent actions to force a person out of the workplace."<ref name="amwork">Davenport NZ, Schwartz RD & Elliott GP [http://www.mobbing-usa.com Mobbing, Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace], 3rd ed., 2005, Civil Society Publishing. Ames, IA,</ref>

Adams and Field believe that mobbing is typically found in work environments that have poorly organised production or working methods and incapable or inattentive management and that mobbing victims are usually "exceptional individuals who demonstrated intelligence, competence, creativity, integrity, accomplishment and dedication".<ref name="amwork" />

In contrast, Janice Harper<ref name="amazon.com"/> suggests that workplace mobbing is typically found in organizations where there is limited opportunity for employees to exit, whether through tenure systems or contracts that make it difficult to terminate an employee (such as universities or unionized organizations), and/or where finding comparable work in the same community makes it difficult for the employee to voluntarily leave (such as academic positions, religious institutions, or military). In these employments, efforts to eliminate the worker will intensify to push the worker out against his or her will through shunning, sabotage, [[false accusations]] and a series of investigations and poor reviews. Another form of employment where workers are mobbed are those that require the use of uniforms or other markers of group inclusion (law enforcement, fire fighting, military), organizations where a single gender has predominated, but another gender is beginning to enter (STEM fields, fire fighting, military, nursing, teaching, and construction). Finally, she suggests that organizations where there are limited opportunities for advancement can be prone to mobbing because those who do advance are more likely to view challenges to their leadership as threats to their precarious positions. Harper further challenges the idea that workers are targeted for their exceptional competence. In some cases, she suggests, exceptional workers are mobbed because they are viewed as threatening to someone, but some workers who are mobbed are not necessarily good workers. Rather, Harper contends, some mobbing targets are outcasts or unproductive workers who cannot easily be terminated, and are thus treated inhumanely to push them out. While Harper emphasizes the cruelty and damaging consequences of mobbing, her organizational analysis focuses on the structural, rather than moral, nature of the organization. Moreover, she views the behavior itself, which she terms workplace aggression, as grounded in group psychology, rather than individual psychosis—even when the mobbing is initiated due to a leader's personal psychosis, the dynamics of group aggression will transform the leader's bullying into group mobbing—two vastly distinct psychological and social phenomena.

Shallcross, Ramsay and Barker consider workplace "mobbing" to be a generally unfamiliar term in some English speaking countries. Some researchers claim that mobbing is simply another name for bullying. Workplace mobbing can be considered as a "[[virus]]" or a "[[cancer]]" that spreads throughout the workplace via [[gossip]], [[rumour]] and [[unfounded accusations]]. It is a deliberate attempt to force a person out of their workplace by [[humiliation]], general [[harassment]], [[emotional abuse]] and/or [[terrorism|terror]]. Mobbing can be described as being "ganged up on." Mobbing is executed by a leader (who can be a manager, a co-worker, or a subordinate). The leader then rallies others into a systematic and frequent "mob-like" behaviour toward the victim.<ref>Shallcross, L, Ramsay, S, & Barker M, (2008) [http://www.lindas.internetbasedfamily.com/f/SHALLCROSS_LINDA1.pdf Workplace Mobbing: Expulsion, Exclusion, and Transformation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713045605/http://www.lindas.internetbasedfamily.com/f/SHALLCROSS_LINDA1.pdf |date=13 July 2011 }}, retrieved 17 May 2010</ref>

Mobbing as "downward bullying" by superiors is also known as "bossing", and "upward bullying" by colleagues as "staffing", in some European countries, for instance, in German-speaking regions.<ref>Oberhofer, P [http://www.business-wissen.de/artikel/bossing-und-staffing-mobbing-zwischen-chef-und-mitarbeitern/ Bossing und Staffing], retrieved 25 November 2015</ref>