The Mobbing Syndrome

Two of the most important pages in Noa Davenport's valuable book, "Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace, are pages 40 and 41. The information on these two pages is also a description of what happened to me at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. The "ganging up" mentioned on Page 40, although begun by a co-worker, was actually carried out by management, and to some extent is continuing to this day by management's ongoing refusal to acknowledge what was done, to be honest, accountable, and demonstrate a commitment to health care and healing.
The "Ten Key Factors of the Mobbing Syndrome" listed on Page 41 is exactly what I experienced at St. Alphonsus. I couldn't have written a more accurate list of my experience from January, 2004 until August, 2006 at St. Alphonsus myself. An unknown number of other former employees have suffered the same traumatic experience there, and probably at other Trinity Health facilities also.

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"The Mobbing Syndrome"

"In the following paragraphs we describe the elements of the mobbing process and how it manifests itself in more detail. As mobbing comprises numerous factors that occur in combination and severely affect an individual's health, we chose to call it the mobbing syndrome. We define it as follows."


"The mobbing syndrome is a malicious attempt to force a person out of the work-
place through unjustified accusations, humiliation, general harassment, emotional abuse, and/or terror."

"It is a "ganging up' by the leader(s) - organization, superior, co-worker, sub-ordinate - who rallies others into systematic and frequent "mob-like" behavior."

"Because the organization ignores, condones, or even instigates the behavior, it can be said that the victim, seemingly helpless against the powerful and many, is indeed "mobbed." The result is always injury - physical or mental distress or illness and social misery and, most often, expulsion from the workplace."

Page 40

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"The Ten Key Factors of the Mobbing Syndrome"

"The mobbing syndrome contains ten distinctive factors that occur in various combinations, systematically, and frequently. The impact of these factors on the targeted person then becomes the major element of the mobbing syndrome.

1. Assaults on the dignity, integrity, credibility, and professional competence of employees.

2. Negative, humiliating, intimidating, abusive, malevolent, and controlling communication.

3. Committed directly, or indirectly, in subtle and obvious ways.

4. Perpetrated by one or more staff members -"vulturing."

5. Occurring in a continual, multiple, and systematic fashion, over some time.

6. Portraying the victimized person as being at fault.

7. Engineered to discredit, confuse, intimidate, isolate, and force the person into submission.

8. Committed with the intent to force the person out.

9. Representing the removal from the workplace as the victim's choice.

10. Not recognized, misinterpreted, ignored, tolerated, encouraged, or even instigated by the management of the organization."


Page 41

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