The Road To Motivation Is "A Hidden Agenda"

"Mobbing" spells emotional abuse

"Did You Ever Hear of Mobbing?"

One of the most vicious subcultures of collective humanity is a mob.

Whether pursuing the hapless Frankenstein creature, lynching a gunslinger in the Old West or rioting at the gates of a sold-out rock concert, the human mob takes on horrifying dimensions. Single-focused, whipped to a frenzy by a puffed-up martinet and unfettered by normal restraints of morality, the mob is merciless in its assault.

When mob mentality sinks its claws into a colleague or supervisor in the workplace, the results can be terrifying, especially when the demoralized victim internalizes that a fault of his justified the attack.

The collective assault in the office, on the assembly line or on the board room is known as mobbing, according to Gail Pursell Elliott, co-author of a new book titled "Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace."

"People are aware of it, but they never had a name for it," said Elliott, a human-resources and training consultant in Roland, Iowa. "When we speak to people, they know immediately what we are talking about. One person called it 'barnyard mentality', similar to chicken pecking.

Mobbing is defined as a concerted effort by co-workers, subordinates or superiors to force someone out of the workplace through rumor, innuendo, intimidation, discrediting, isolation or humiliation. It is a form of nonsexual, nonracial harassment.

It is a psychological form of bullying without the in-your-face confrontation or physical assault of the macho combatant. The assailant attacks with an iron fist encased in a velvet glove.

Managers and supervisors often are targeted by subordinates or peers. Most disconcerting of all is that "some companies condone this to get rid of someone", said Elliott, a former Cumberland County resident and graduate of Cumberland Valley High School.

German industrial psychologist Dr. Heinz Leymann, who died in January, identified and studied the syndrome in Europe, Japan and Australia for two decades, but the behavior is only now being quantified in the United States, according to Elliott.

The book by Elliott, Dr. Noa Davenport of Colins, Iowa, and Ruth Distler Schwartz of Des Moines, Iowa, is considered the first published book examining the incidence of mobbing in the United States.

Davenport, of Swiss origin, is a cultural anthropologist who has worked internationally in research and administration, in government and nonprofit organizations and in higher education and business. She is an adjunct assistant professor at Iowa State University and principal of DNZ Consulting & Associates, a company that focuses on conflict management education.

Schwartz is president of R.A. Schwartz & Associates, a national consulting and marketing firm. She has held management positions in nonprofit organizations, higher education and the health-care industry.

A nationally certified trainer in communications and behavior management, Elliott has more than 20 years of experience in administration, training and motivation. The name of her business is "Innovations: Training with a Can-Do Attitude"

The 214-page book is filled with examples of mobbing victims who have been systematically professionally and emotionally starved out of their jobs. The victims were interviewed by the authors.

They were victims of a new manager who wanted his own people on the management team. They were employees who were taken out if the loop on projects and left with nothing to do. They were the victims of lies and innuendoes spread by colleagues standing at the water cooler.

Some of the victims tried to tough it out. Others took a different job in the organization. Others resigned.

One interviewee was no longer working in any job. The person was "permanently disabled and unable to re-enter the work force" after a traumatizing incident 15 years previously, Elliott said.

In a worst-case scenario, the victim may be so emotionally scarred that he is driven to suicide. Heinz Leymann, who lived and worked in Sweden,. estimated that 15 percent of the suicides in Sweden were attributed to workplace mobbing.

"Mobbing is very inhuman behavior," Elliott said in a telephone interview. "It has a devastating effect on people, organizations and families".

Sadly, the mob conspirators either wear blinders or justify their actions, believing that the victim wasn't fit for the job. In some Swedish studies, Elliott said, people who mobbed the person had "no idea their actions had such an effect."

The authors include chapters on how mobbing affects the victim and what victims can do to cope, as well as the effects of mobbing on corporate America.

Despite the weighty subject, the book is approachable and readable. "Anybody can pick it up," Elliott said. It is a wake-up notice to employees and managers and a self-help book for victims and families."

"I believe everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect, " Elliott said. Too often today employees are treated as "objects and opportunities, rather than people with wants, needs and desires."

The topic of workplace bullies has become more of an issue over the past several years. Workplace violence, people going 'postal', etc., has become more prevalent. When one or more people create a group to engage in bullying behavior towards another person, the term used is 'mobbing'.

Mobbing is a 'ganging up' on someone to force the person out through the use of rumor, innuendo, discrediting, humiliation, isolation, and intimidation. It is a group bullying process that occurs repeatedly over a period of weeks, months, or even years. The mobber(s) portray the victim as the person at fault. This is one of the nastier forms of emotional abuse and the impact on the individual can be devastating. As a result of the experience, many victims of mobbing suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, disabling physical illnesses, mental and emotional problems, experience the dissolution of their closest personal relationships, and some even have committed suicide. In fact, the Swedish research revealed that about 15% of all suicides in that country were a direct result of mobbing in the workplace.

Mobbing has been researched in Scandinavian countries and in Europe since the early 1980's. Books have been written on the subject. Legislation and occupational safety statutes have been passed in Sweden and are proposed in other countries. Mobbing is a household word in German speaking countries. A major movement against mobbing behavior began in the United Kingdom in 1994.

This term may be new to you, but the behavior is one that you will recognize quickly. It is possible that this has happened to you, to someone you care about, or within your own company. It's a recurring theme in literature.

Risk Management Issue

Mobbing is a serious behavioral risk management issue for organizations. It results in high turnover, low morale, increased absenteeism, decreased productivity, loss of key individuals. It undermines teamwork, trust, and a sense of shared vision.

In 1994, an article in the EAP's national publication talked about corporate behavioral risk management as a growing concern. The author described an incident in which the CEO of an east coast company asked for an internal behavioral risk management assessment. The company was experiencing low morale, high turnover, and there had been two suicides on the Vice Presidency level.

Scott H. Peters, Esq. of The Peters Law Firm. P.C., Iowa, has described mobbing as a "widespread, vicious, workplace tort." Mr. Peters also recommends that "plaintiff counsel should familiarize themselves with this issue as clients will surely become aware of their rights as the decade progresses. Corporate and defense counsel will need to be prepared to advise management and HR leadership as they seek to incorporate mobbing policies into corporate documents."

Once mobbing begins in an organization, it can occur repeatedly and can spring up in more than one area. It's tough to stop unless it's recognized and intercepted in the early stages. The fact that mobbing may be instigated from higher management levels, thus ignored or even condoned, is another crucial issue. Some human resources people have been 'ordered' or directed to support a mobbing process when the mobber is on a higher level of the organization.

Many ethical human resources professionals don't become aware of a mobbing situation until it is well underway. It can be both frustrating and confusing. Most have seen this happen at least once in their careers but never had a name to put to it, nor did they see that it was a syndrome with a specific pattern. When these are presented, most have said that the 'players' in the roles become obvious.

The Road To Motivation Is "A Hidden Agenda"
Copyright 2000 Gail Pursell Elliott (published in ANCOR LINKS, August 2000)

"Another month ends. All targets met. All systems working. All customers satisfied. All staff eagerly enthusiastic. All pigs fed and ready to fly."

Every year companies spend big bucks on motivation and motivational speakers. People get fired up and enthusiastic. Then they go back to business as usual. What we’re all looking for is a prescription for positive renewal that will perpetuate itself. An impossible dream? Not at all! It does take thought, planning, and commitment as well as getting the information into the hands of those who need it the most: your supervisory staff, especially first level supervisors and middle managers.

Psychologists have determined that over ninety percent of the reasons people do things are unconscious and are emotionally based. That means essentially that we all have a ‘hidden agenda’ that’s even hidden from ourselves.

Most people use the expression ‘hidden agenda’ in a negative way. That’s when the term refers to a conscious plan. The ‘hidden agenda’ to which I’m referring is unconscious. It is the part of us that resonates when we have what has been called an "AHA" experience. I call this connection just that: A = A H = Hidden A = Agenda

When your staff seem lacking in motivation and morale they may not be able to tell you why. The easy response is ‘we need more money,’ and most of us in management have heard that explanation at least once. While we all know that being able to provide better wages is an ongoing challenge to many organizations, it’s only one factor that affects motivation, morale, and staff retention.

More than twenty years ago, the work of psychologist Abraham Maslow and his well known ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ pyramid graphic was the cutting edge topic of management and professional development programs. Other psychologists, such as William Glasser, while taking slightly different approaches to the subject, identified similar categories of basic human needs that affect a person’s decisions, attitudes, morale, and motivation. Glasser identified five basic needs: fun, freedom, power, belonging, and survival.

Since people are basically self-centered and take things personally, let’s translate these basic needs into personal affirmations:

Fun – I enjoy what I do. It matters.

Freedom – I am trusted. I am able to trust.

Power – I am in control of my life

Belonging – I am accepted and appreciated.

Survival – I am physically and emotionally safe.

Now imagine your organization in the shape of a wheel or a tire with five air bladders. Each basic need is represented by one bladder. For the tire to move freely and smoothly, it has to be inflated and balanced in all five areas. If it’s off balance, you’re in for at least one of the following: loss of momentum; continual start and stop situations; a bumpy, roller coaster ride; or worst case scenario – you hit a pothole (such as major change), suffer a blowout and the situation starts getting out of control.

You may believe that you have programs in place to address all of the five needs, but look closely. Are they operational and effective in all areas of the organization? Let’s face it. Company T-shirts, mugs, picnics, bonus trips, and even raises are simply a temporary distraction if people are treating each other like dirt on a daily basis or thwarting each other’s work efforts to grab whatever this month’s brass ring happens to be.

Demotivators are like boulders in the road. You can look at them as challenges, mountains to be climbed, and provide motivational tools to climb over them, or you can remove them so that everyone can get back to the business at hand. Instead of looking for new motivators, first identify what is de-motivating your staff and try to eliminate at least some of those items.

Here are a few day to day situations that will undermine your best efforts:

• Office Politics
• Unclear Expectations
• Dishonesty
• Withheld Information
• Discouraging Responses
• Tolerance Of Poor Performance
• Being Taken For Granted

I haven’t made these up, these are real responses from thousands of employees who participated in a survey on this topic. Be forewarned that you’ll have to make a commitment to this once you begin. Eliminating some of these one day and tolerating them the next is a ‘mega demotivator’ called hypocrisy.

Ralph Marston wrote that "commitment is not only a promise, it is a promise fulfilled." Doing things that build trust and above all doing them consistently is essential to start the ball rolling and keep it rolling. Organizations often start incentive programs, then discontinue them and try something else. This is called a ‘takeaway’ which is another big demotivator. A common statement might be, "We’ve tried everything." If that’s true, that’s also part of the problem.

Here’s one example. A manager had been with her company for about six months when she attended the annual conference and awards dinner for the staff. At the dinner she took special note of an award that was given to the top ‘newcomer.’ This manager decided that the following year the award would be hers, if at all possible. She had a terrific year. She was highly motivated and did an outstanding job. She knew by her statistics that if she didn’t earn the award she would be very close to it. During the year, the company had undergone some major changes. Not only did the manager not receive the award, it was given to no one that year. It had been eliminated or forgotten. No one had been informed. The following year the award was re-instated. Again, no one knew if it would be given again or not until the evening of banquet. And by that time, no one cared.

Every time you begin an incentive program you will ‘hook’ a few individuals at least. They’ll buy into what you’re trying to accomplish. If the program doesn’t ‘go over’ and it’s discontinued, not only do you still have the same group of indifferent employees who didn’t participate, but you’ve expanded it by those who liked the program and had the rug pulled out from under them. That’s why sometimes it seems that the harder you try the worse things look.

People are self-motivating. No one can do it for us. When your company comes up with a reward program, you know beforehand that the person who goes for it knows what you’re trying to accomplish and makes the decision to participate or not. When you ask yourself, "How can I motivate them?" you begin one of those ‘us and them mentality’ control games. Ultimately, everyone loses.

When the wheel of your organization is balanced and strong, potholes (such as change) on the road to your success may make things shudder for awhile but won't stop the momentum of your forward motion. Managers who identify and remove as many demotivating obstacles as they can make it possible for employees to motivate themselves. A good question to ask is "Where and how are we inconsistent?"