Mistreatment in the workplace has been widely acknowledged, but the impact of coworker undermining has not been adequately explored in the literature. Using insights from the job demands-resources model, Anibal López and co-authors suggest that coworker undermining is indeed a job demand that is associated with negative affect and somatic complaints.
The authors explore these relationships in a time-lagged study involving 229 participants who responded to three surveys over a month-long period. In mitigation, the team proposes two main personal resources (i.e. forgiveness and revenge cognitions).
As far as practitioners take aways, organizations:
- should establish clear expectations for appropriate behaviour and ensure that all employees are aware of the organization's policies on workplace conduct.
- need to communicate clearly that undermining behavior will not be tolerated and may result in disciplinary action.
- should create opportunities for employees to provide feedback on their work environment.
Employees could report incidents of coworker undermining by completing an anonymous survey without fear of negative consequences.
