Harassment

In theory

Many concepts have been used to describe unwanted interpersonal behavior in the workplace. Especially the terms harassment, mobbing and bullying are frequently used, often interchangeably. Of these, harassment seems to be the most encompassing concept, as it is used to describe all types of misbehavior, no matter whether it is psychological, physical and/or sexual. It may be defined as “an overarching term for patterns of intense behavior that have the aim and/or effect of violating a person’s dignity and/or that create a hostile working environment”.

In their analysis of harassment in academia, Naezer et al. distinguish six different manifestations of harassment:

1. Scientific sabotage
2. Sexual harassment
3. Physical and verbal threats: all verbal and physical behaviors that have the aim and/or effect of intimidating people.
4. Denigration: all behaviors that have the aim and/or effect of humiliating or belittling people, and that are overtly expressed in the direct presence of those people.
5. Exclusion: all behaviors that have the intention and/or effect of making people feel like they do not belong to a particular group.
6. Problematizing “special needs”, i.e. needs that are interpreted as “special”, such as the needs of those who are pregnant, young/single parents, ill, disabled, or grieving a loss.

In practice

Whether certain behavior is experienced as harassment is influenced by situational factors such as the relationship between the persons involved. Moreover, the evaluation of specific incidents is partly subjective. In order to increase social safety in organizations, the most helpful approach is to evaluate incidents from the perspective of the victim/target, since feelings of unsafety have consequences for their wellbeing and work performances. The fear that such an approach may lead to overreporting is contradicted by studies showing that harassment tends to be underreported rather than overreported.