Semantic derivatives of the concept of mobbing

The analysis of the development of studies concerning the phenomenon of mobbing indicate that studies conducted by many authors are directed at the dynamics of negative relationships and the mechanism of psychological conditioning aimed at destabilizing the victim’s psychological balance, bullying, intimidating and inflicting emotional pain on him/her. The fact that there exists an abundance of research aspects on the subject, proves the deep complexity and ambiguity of the phenomenon. The aim of a mobbing action is to demote an employee in the organization or to induce the Target to leave the organization. The principle characteristic of mobbing is power disparity which involves a group or reflects unequal status of the conflict participants. As synonyms to mobbing the following terms are used: intimidation, maltreatment, harassment, persecution, psychological terror, bullying, etc. There is a question of defining the term mobbing in Lithuanian as there is no existing or coined term which would describe as accurately as possible the essence of the phenomenon. It is to be emphasized that discrimination is not limited by any criteria while mobbing is applied to those cases where abuse is intense and lasts a relatively long time (the criteria of duration and repetition). Mobbing activities in their relation to workforce diversity are characterized by a discriminative context. In treating the phenomenon as discrimination in employee relations, a wide cultural context of the causes of the phenomenon is revealed. The factors of mobbing as discrimination in workplace relations are deeply rooted in societal attitudes while abuse is based on understanding the “right” behaviour with workforce diversity. An individual and culture that preconditions his means of expression are those circumstances that determine the functionality of employee relations. Societal attitudes, prejudices, stereotypes and phobias, tolerating the victimization of an individual in the eyes of a group, influence discriminatory workplace mobbing. Even though such attitudes do not serve as victimization causes, they justify and support the actions of a bully or bullies. The growing evidence of workplace mobbing makes it possible to predict the appearance of dysfunctional relations and, consequently, apply preventive measures. The manifestation of any level of perceived or unperceived discrimination in an organization preconditions the appearance of a mobbing conflict