Mobbing in the army: Recent view of the socio-psychological background of the problem

A specific environment, where mobbing appears on the greatest scale, not only considering the amount of cases, but more importantly the number of persons involved, is the Army of the Czech Republic. Mobbing is not just a leftover of times past to be easily dealt with by enforcing military drill. Unfortunately, under present conditions in the Army, disruption of relations has become a standard, often to substitute for a life according to the military codes. It is a system where one group of soldiers exists on detriment of another. The goal of the research has been to find out the extent of influence of the socio-psychological background on mobbing within military units. First of all, 184 articles of 12 selected newspapers over the period of years 1991 - 1995 have been analyzed. On the basis of this analysis the authors were able to evaluate the quality of ideas and opinions the recruits come to their service with. These opinions joined by the idea of ritualized periodical shirting of mobbing, together with anticipation of walking away unpunished make up the grounds for existence of mobbing. The quality of relations within a group, quality of activities involved in, quality of the group leadership, rituals and ceremonies of induction and the overall conditions within the units are the most dynamic factors that influence mobbing.