MOBBING IN THE ARMY - RECENT VIEW OF THE SOCIOPSYCHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM

A specific environment, where mobbing appears on the greatest scale, n ot only considering the amount of cases, but more importantly the numb er 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 grou p of soldiers exists on detriment of another. The goal of the research has been to find out the extent of influence of the socio-psychologic al background on mobbing within military units. First of all, 184 arti cles of 12 selected newspapers over the period of years 1991 - 1995 ha ve been analyzed. On the basis of this analysis the authors were able to evaluate the quality of ideas and opinions the recruits come to the ir service with. These opinions joined by the idea of ritualized perio dical shirting of mobbing, together with anticipation of walking away unpunished make up the grounds for existence of mobbing. The quality o f 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.