The weight of ‘the others’

An analysis of the group around Xavier and Anne also reveals another development in the situation: even the colleagues who at the beginning were quite favourable to Xavier...ended up supporting Anne. This support offers a symmetrical character to the relationships between the protagonists. But, in the end, it also leads Xavier to feel that he is in the position of a victim. In effect, the colleagues, relatively passive when the relationship between Xavier and Anne began to turn bad, now intervene to mark their disavowal. As a result Xavier has no trouble in pointing out that ‘nobody sees everything she does to hurt me.’

‘In fact, little by little, the group ended up isolating Xavier. During our intervention he was found on one side and everybody else was on the other,’ says Professor Adélaïde Blavier. ‘I became the black sheep,’ Xavier thus claims, describing himself as a scapegoat. One of his colleagues accurately provides one of the keys to this paradoxical situation. ‘Thanks to his essential role in the department, Xavier for a long time thought that he could do what he wanted. Against the importance of Xavier’s capabilities, Anne’s suffering thus had no value.’ Obviously, at a given moment the situation shifted radically. In Anne’s favour.

The role of context

The explanations offered by colleagues, who describe a generally tense climate in the department, a lack of cohesion, besides an atmosphere ‘spoiled’ by this affair, confirm the work carried out by the authors, who point out that ‘conflicts within a group, just as a lack of cohesion within it, are amongst the risk factors for harassment situations, if not one of the causes,’ points out Professor Blavier. The investigation carried out on site effectively shows that the attitude of the business company chain of command and management has played an important role in the harassment situation establishing itself and persisting.

Nevertheless, like that of the team, the reaction of the management personnel has evolved over time. Several years earlier there was not a high regard for Anne: in such a context her difficulties with Xavier attracted little attention from the managers. All the interlocutors are also in agreement that the department manager did not really try to resolve the problem: for a long time he left Anne and Xavier to sort it out amongst themselves. Yet Anne now thinks that the management has tilted in her favour. She even believes that Xavier will be asked to change his attitude. Xavier for his part also perceives a change. According to him, the management is now getting involved in Anne’s favour and is disavowing him, ‘by over reacting to a so called problem of harassment.’

‘On this point,’ points out Adélaïde Blavier, ‘the interviews once again confirm what previous studies have reported: the non reaction of hierarchical superiors constitutes an aggravating factor for the victims.’ In this business company, the lack of communication and a management attitude leaving each employee to get by with their own problems, added to a competitive climate which prevails between the different departments, have probably not constituted elements which protect against harassment.

A backlash

In any case, Xavier is not mistaken in his view of a change on the part of the management. Having previously been highly rated professionally, he was refused a promotion and a salary increase, which had nonetheless earlier been promised. In addition to the bad reputation he now has, he thus feels ‘punished.’ In the end, does this management decision sanction a worsening of Xavier’s attitude as regards Anne? Adélaïde Blavier instead suggests another hypothesis: it is more the perception of Xavier’s personality and his behaviour which has changed in the eyes of his entourage. The proof? A letter which he had sent to Anne seven years previously had not at the time been really considered problematic (which it was in Anne’s opinion). Or it had been taken as being ironic. Yet now it is instead judged unacceptable. It is thus the value attributed to certain acts which has evolved within the organisation: what had previously been ‘doable’ no longer is.