UNIVERSITY

Mobbing or bullying

Contact

The Equal Opportunities Working Group provides support and advice in cases of suspected bullying.

E-mail: akg [dot] buero [at] aau [dot] at

Mobbing or bullying refers to a pattern of negative intrusive violating behaviour against one person. The process occurs repeatedly as well as regularly and over a certain period of time with the aim of harassing, offending, socially excluding someone, displacing them from their place of work or study or negatively affecting their work tasks. A distinction is made between mobbing (negative form of behaviour between colleagues), bossing (hierarchical superior acts in an intrusive and violating manner against subordinates) and staffing (a group of subordinates gangs up on their hierarchical superior). Bossing and staffing apply analogously to relations between students and teachers.

Every employee is required to stop and help prevent mobbing.

Bullying is to be refrained from and prevented.

“All university employees are obligated to refrain from and prevent harassment, sexual harassment, bullying and stalking, and to promote respectful, cooperative interaction between university employees.” (Article 5 Paragraph 1 Statute Part E/III Equality Plan).

FAQ Mobbing

What is mobbing?

Mobbing is more than a conflict. We speak of mobbing when there is systematic hostility at the place of work or university, with the aim of expelling the person from work or university life.

Mobbing is characterized by the following features:

conflictual or hostile communication at the workplace (words, gestures, refusal to talk)
regular attacks on a person over a long period of time
personal and unfair attacks that result in a permanent inferiority of the affected person

What can I do?

In all cases, bullying is a form of psychological violence. It is recommended to take stock and keep a mobbing diary. Support and legal advice is provided by the Equal Opportunities Working Group in cooperation with other contact points, in particular the Staff Office for Health Management, Safety and Accessibility.