Emergency Notification

COVID-19 and Monkeypox: Visit the Health Advisories website for the latest vaccination and mask information and to Report a Case.

Site Navigation

Lemon, Kathy

Associate Professor

School of Social Work

Research Interests

I am interested in workplace bullying and mobbing in higher education settings and how abusive conduct interferes with academic freedom.

What is workplace bullying?

Workplace bullying (AKA: discrimination, harassment, hostile work environment, retaliation, bias) is abusive conduct that occurs on an individual and/or organizational level. On an individual level workplace bullying can include:

Insults
Ridicule
Being ignored
Being shouted at
Spreading gossip

On an organizational level, workplace bullying can include:

Being assigned an excessive workload
Replacing important areas of responsibility with menial ones
Being given unreasonable deadlines
Persistent criticism of one's work

These behaviors become abusive when they are repeated consistently and become increasingly extreme over time.

What is workplace mobbing?

Mobbing (AKA canceling) is an extreme form of bullying in which the abusive conduct is carried out by a collective with the intent of pushing the employee out of the organization. The collective is emboldened to engage in dehumanizing behaviors toward the target due to an imagined or greatly exaggerated violation of the social norms or prevailing ideologies of the organization.