According to Heinz Leymann, founder of research on workplace mobbing, individual personality traits do not cause mobbing. Instead, the phenomenon is related to “social structures and power structures that are dominant in the workplace organization,” (Leymann web file 0005e). As such, the prevalence of mobbing differs between types of organizations. On the whole, mobbing appears to be more common in the public sector compared to the private sector (Kenneth Westhues 2002). Public sector workers will find relevant and informative resources in this section.  

The Workplace Mobbing Sydrome: Response and Prevention in the Public Sector

Linda Shallcross provides an overview of the workplace mobbing syndrome with particular attention to its presence in the public sector.

Workplace Mobbing Sydrome: The Silent and Unseen Occupational Hazard

Kate Hartig and Jeannene Frosch provide an overview of mobbing literature, highlighting the implications of not addressing the problem. A case study of public sector worker "Miss Naive" illustrates female service workers' vulnerability to being mobbed.

Mobbing in the Government

Mauro Corradini, an Italian whistleblower pushed out of his job for exposing employee stealing,briefly describes specific issues of mobbing in the government.

Workplace Mobbing: Experiences in the Public Sector

Researchers Linda Shallcross, Michael Sheehan and Sheryl Ramsay interview a small sample of Australian public sector workers who self-identify as targets of workplace mobbing.

People Matter Survey
(see Section 4 of pdf)

In this investigation researchers measured Victoria public service employees' perceptions of public service employment conditions. Section 4 deals directly with employee experiences of harassment and bullying.

Risk Sectors for Undesirable
Behaviour and Mobbing

Adrienne B. Hubert and Marc Van Veldhoven examine the results of a survey of work experiences completed by 66 764 employees in 11 sectors across the Netherlands. Results demonstrate that there are visible differences in the occurence of mobbing and undesirable behaviour across different sectors.

Bullying/Mobbing in the Public Sector

A local government middle manager describes his experiences of mobbing and the detrimental use of gossip and slander in the workplace.

Payout for City Secretary

This article, written by Adam Fresco, describes the case of a city secretary who was awarded awarded £800 000 after suffering a mental breakdown following collective attacks at her workplace.