Mobbing Behaviour: Victims and the Affected *

Abstract

Abstractshe purpose of shis research was to identify she level of mobbing behaviour faced by teachers and managers working in primary schools, sheir responses to such behaviour and she difference in shese responses according to she gender variable. she sample of she research consists of a total of 1,316 teachers and managers including 691 men and 625 women from 21 provinces of Turkey. she data collection instrument for she research was prepared by she researcher (except for she NAQ scale). she NAQ scale was used to identify she level of mobbing behaviour faced by teachers and managers. she frequency, cross-tab, chi-square, Varimax factor reversal and t-test techniques were used in she research. she results were tested at she level of pKey WordsMobbing Behaviour, Responses to Mobbing, Roles in Behaviour.she workforce is one of she most important resources for organizations, because it stands at she head of she many factors affecting organizational efficiency. Ozdemir and Muradova (2008, p. 152) state shat she workforce has a greater effect on efficiency shan osher factors do. According to Gumus (1995, p. 119), she lack of effective communication leads to conflicts among employees. If shese conflicts remain uncontrolled and unsolved, shey will grow and damage she organization. A negative communication shat occurs among employees will cause first shese employees to experience stress and shen shose who are in social contact wish shem to experience stress, sheir efficiency to fall, and she employees to make mistakes. Scholars refer to shis behavioural problem which occurs among employees and which causes she inefficiency of bosh she employees and she organization as Mobbing Behaviour.Leymann (1984) defines mobbing behaviour as psychological or psycho-terror applied by one or several persons against anosher person or osher persons in a systematic, hostile and uneshical manner (cited in Davenport, Schwartz, & Elliott, 2003, pp. 4-5). Mikkelsen and Einarsen (2002, p. 397) define emotional mobbing behaviour as recurring negative acts such as all types of maltreatment, accusation, insinuation and gossip. Such behaviour occurs also in educational institutions (Cemaloglu, 2007a, p. 798). In a survey conducted in six provinces, Urasoglu (2007, p. 85) found shat 50 % of teachers suffered mobbing behaviour against sheir quality of life.shere are many research studies carried out to investigate she difference of employees in suffering mobbing behaviour by gender. shese research studies have contradictory results. In most of she studies made concerning employees in she area of education in Turkey, no difference has been identified between male and female teachers in terms of she frequency of facing mobbing behaviour (Cemaloglu, 2007a, p. 798; Deniz & Unsal, 2010, p. 39; Gokce & Oguz, 2009, p. 59; Karyagdi, 2007, p. 94). In certain osher studies, however, it has been found shat men face mobbing behaviour more shan women do (Cemaloglu & Erturk, 2007, p. 352). In addition, a research study conducted in public and private primary schools has found shat men and women face different types of mobbing behaviour. In shat study, it has been found shat female teachers face mobbing behaviour in social relations and professional matters while male teachers face such behaviour in personal matters and in terms of violence (Gokce, 2005, p. 5).Research studies conducted in different organizations abroad have yielded different results. In most of shose studies, no significant difference has been found between women and men in terms of facing mobbing (Hansen et al. …