The Cycle of Bullying: Analysis of the Initial Phases

Conflict Phase: The Triggering Incident

Psychological harassment does not emerge from a vacuum; it usually has its genesis in an unresolved or poorly managed interpersonal conflict.

At this embryonic stage, the dispute may seem normal, stemming from differences in technical judgment, competition for resources or organizational friction.

However, what distinguishes the onset of mobbing is that the conflict is no longer centered on the "problem" but on the "person".

The aggressor, unable or unwilling to resolve the difference through dialogue, decides that elimination of the opponent is the only viable solution.

This is a critical moment where early intervention by a leader can stop the process, but if ignored or minimized as "kid's stuff," the seed of violence quickly germinates, transforming a work-related discrepancy into a personal persecution.

Stigmatization and Harassment Phase Properly Speaking

Once the aggressor has decided to attack, we enter the stigmatization phase.Here the arsenal of systematic harassment is deployed.

The goal is no longer to win an argument, but to destroy the victim's reputation and psychological equilibrium.

The victim is subjected to behaviors of exclusion, public ridicule, rumor spreading and constant criticism of the work.

The victim, confused, begins to ask "what have I done wrong?", entering a state of helplessness.

The aggressor recruits allies (conscious or unconscious), known as "secondary mobbers", who join the attack for fear of being the next victims or to ingratiate themselves with the power, further isolating the target.

Business Intervention Phase: Double Victimization

Paradoxically, when management or the Human Resources department intervenes at this stage, they often do so to the detriment of the victim.

Lacking specific training to detect manipulation by the aggressor, the company tends to view the problem as a "conflict of two" or, worse, assumes the bully's narrative that labels the victim as "conflicted," "sensitive," or "underperforming."

Instead of protecting the assaulted, the organization begins to question him or her, subjecting him or her to medical evaluations or forced transfers, which constitutes secondary victimization.

The organization's immune system, instead of attacking the virus (the harasser), attacks the healthy organ that signals the disease (the victim).

Summary

Harassment is usually born of a poorly resolved conflict where the aggressor stops focusing on the problem to attack the person, seeking his or her elimination.

In the stigmatization phase, the aggressor deploys systematic harassment through taunts and rumors, recruiting allies or "secondary mobbers" to socially isolate the victim.

Corporate intervention often fails, generating double victimization by labeling the aggressor as conflictive and subjecting him/her to medical evaluations instead of sanctioning the harasser.