Straining
Straining (from English to strain, "pulling, stretching, straining, exerting, tensioning, pressing, demanding") describes a form of discrimination and bullying in the workplace in which a conscious stressful situation is intentionally brought about in occupational and organizational research and health psychology , under which the victim becomes mentally and / or physically ill and collapses under the pressure built up. First used and defined in Italy in 2004 by the German industrial psychologist Harald Ege and used there in labor court proceedings in the form of expert opinions, the term quickly made its way into Italian jurisprudence. In a straining case, the victim is exposed to targeted psychological stress. The so-called strainer removes tasks from the victim, they no longer receive invitations to meetings, they are excluded from the flow of information, and are ignored by subordinates and decisions that should actually fall within their area of competence. Sometimes even office or work equipment such as computers and telephones are withdrawn. The suspension victim feels degraded, sidelined, blocked and punished. Through the deliberately induced withdrawal of work tasks, through isolation (deportation to a " storage room ") as well as excessive and insufficient demands, straining leads to frustration, illness and even suicide .
causes
An employee should first be "put on hold" so that he, worn down by the situation, leaves the company voluntarily. This can happen if another party has won the election or a new board member or head of agency has been appointed and all key positions are now to be filled with their own people. Weak supervisors can also use training to persuade efficient and motivated subordinates to leave the company and thereby protect themselves from potential competition. Straining is generally used when you want to part with an employee, but there are no reasons that stand up to general or special protection against dismissal or civil servants' law, or when you want to save yourself the severance payment in the event of a termination agreement.
Differentiation from bullying
In both cases, there is a conflict in the workplace lasting at least six months with the victim in an inferior position. While bullying takes place repeatedly by definition, a one-time degradation that permanently affects the victim is sufficient for strain . Instead of loud, direct and varied attacks, there is hidden discrimination by changing work tasks. While there are several escalation phases with bullying, these are less pronounced with straining but just as grueling. Since multiple training cases can be included in one bullying case, training is more common than bullying.
literature
- Tim Oehler, Legal Situation and Pitfalls in Mental Illnesses: Burnout ..., Osnabrück 2013 books.google
- Harald Ege, Straining: A Subtle Form of Mobbing , Göttingen 2014, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, ISBN 978-3-525-40365-5
- Frank Jansen, Sebastian Hartmann: Straining and bullying in the light of privacy protection , NJW 2012, issue 22
- Sebastian Hartmann, Mobbing: An Unknown Phenomenon - Tatort Workplace, AuA 2016, Issue 3