Overcoming Mobbing: A Recovery Guide for Workplace Aggression and Bullying

by Maureen Duffy, Len Sperry

Overview

Research shows that as many as 37% of American workers have experienced workplace abuse at some time in their working lives. Mobbing, a form of abuse in which individuals, groups, or organizations target a single person for ridicule, humiliation, and removal from the workplace, can lead to deteriorating physical and mental health, violence, and even suicide.

Overcoming Mobbing is an informative, comprehensive guidebook written for the victims of mobbing and their families. In an engaging and reader-friendly style, mobbing experts Maureen Duffy and Len Sperry help readers to make sense of the experience and mobilize resources for recovery. The authors distinguish mobbing from bullying-in that it takes place within organizational or institutional settings-and demonstrate how mobbing is not about the occasional negative experience at work; rather, mobbing involves ongoing negative acts, both overt and covert, that over time erode workers' confidence in themselves and in their workplaces. Demystifying the experience of mobbing through the use of examples and case studies, Overcoming Mobbing provides effective strategies for recovery from mobbing as well as for prevention. More than a simple self-help book, this guide offers a detailed presentation of the causes and consequences of mobbing, helps readers avoid falling into the trap of misplacing blame, and holds organizations at the center of responsibility for preventing this devastating type of abuse. In addition to those who have experienced mobbing, this book is an invaluable resource for workplace managers and human resources personnel who wish to prevent or reverse mobbing within their own professional settings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199929559
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/10/2014
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	932,999
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Maureen Duffy, PhD, is a practicing family therapist and consultant specializing in workplace and school mobbing and bullying issues and an Affiliate with the Qualitative Research Graduate Program at Nova Southeastern University She provides trauma-informed psychotherapy to targets of mobbing and bullying and their families and consultation and training on workplace abuse to stakeholders including human resource managers and attorneys. She is the coauthor of Mobbing: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions.

Len Sperry, MD, PhD, is Professor of Mental Health Counseling at Florida Atlantic University and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He has provided psychotherapy to mobbing victims and consulted with corporations on mobbing and bullying. He is the coauthor of Mobbing: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Gary Namie, PhD
Preface
Acknowledgments

1. Mobbing Is Not Bullying
2. Ganging Up in Workplaces
3. How Mobbing Happens
4. What It's Like to Be Mobbed
5. How Mobbing Affects Health and Well-Being
6. Mobbing Has Multiple Victims
7. Recovering from Mobbing
8. Mobbing Recovery Tools
9. The Healthy Workplace
10. Toward a Better, Mobbing-Free Future
Appendix: Helpful Websites about Mobbing, Bullying, Trauma, and Related Topics

Editorial Reviews

"This is a very important and useful contribution to the literature on mobbing, bullying, and emotional abuse at work. Employee relations and mental health practitioners, mobbing targets and their families, scholars, and advocates alike will benefit from its command of the relevant research, on-the-ground understanding of the workplace, and practical application. I will be adding it with enthusiasm to my short list of recommended books on this topic." — David C. Yamada, Professor of Law and Director, New Workplace Institute, Suffolk University Law School

"Duffy and Sperry demonstrate that mobbing is one dark side of organizational life. Interpersonal dynamics make it all too easy for an individual to become the object of in-group harassment, and if the organization's leadership is blind to the reality of mobbing, the stage is set for destructive results. This book provides a useful map of the territory and offers a practical view for assessing and managing mobbing as it occurs." — Dr. Joseph Yeager, SommerYeager, LLC, and Developer of the Sommer Survey (SommerYeager.com)

"Whatever the subject, the people most worth looking to for practical advice are those with the deepest, soundest, most thorough understanding of it. Duffy and Sperry demonstrated such understanding of workplace mobbing in their earlier, more theoretical book, Mobbing (OUP, 2012). The advice they offer here will be invaluable to mobbing targets, their family members and friends, indeed to anyone interested in fostering decency and fairness at work." — Kenneth Westhues, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Sociology & Legal Studies, University of Waterloo, Canada

"Mobbing is prevalent, abusive, and preventable. Duffy and Sperry explain clearly what mobbing is-and how employees, managers, and boards can challenge a widespread scourge that destroys lives and damages successful corporate cultures. If you care about the future of humanity and our economy, you should read this book." — Eleanor Bloxham, CEO of The Value Alliance and Corporate Governance Alliance

"This book concentrates on mobbing in the workplace, but also discusses bullying since they are related aggressions. Of particular interest are chapters on mobbing recovery tools and suggestions for creating a healthy civil workplace. There are thorough notes for each chapter and an appendix lists useful websites. This is an impressive and insightful book. Highly recommended." —R. Davis, CHOICE

"Of particular interest are chapters on mobbing recovery tools and suggestions for creating a healthy civil workplace. There are thorough notes for each chapter and an appendix lists useful websites. This is an impressive and Insighful book. Highly recommended." —R. Davis, CHOICE Magazine

From the Publisher