Emotional Workplace Abuse

“This book addresses a critical area of investigation: emotional abuse at work.  Linking feminist theory and organisation literature, the authors provide the reader with unique insight into the extremely harmful and insidious effects of emotional abuse at work.  A must-read for all organisational scholars.”

—Laura E. M. Traavik, Associate Professor, BI Norwegian Business School, Norway


“This book tackles one of the most complex issues in contemporary organisations:  emotional abuse.  It highlights the covert ways that management inaction can create toxic work cultures and have devastating consequences.   Using a feminist framework, the authors reveal the hidden nature of abuse. This is a must-read for anyone involved in an organisational setting, as we all have a role to play in stopping the harmful effects of abuse at work.”


—Kathy Sanderson, Assistant Professor, Lakehead University, Canada



Addressing emotional workplace abuse, this Palgrave Pivot takes a multidisciplinary approach which combines feminist research on violence with organisation and management studies, in order to offer a new approach on workplace violations. The book analyses why it is difficult for targets and organisations alike to name and identify emotional abuse and addresses the severe negative effects of abuse on the targets’ lives. It brings ethical leadership to the fore as a means to foster sustainable organisations. Using empirical data and research, this book highlights subtle forms of violations that take place in the workplace, and provides analysis from the perspective of the target.  A valuable read for scholars and practitioners involved in organisational management and HRM, Emotional Workplace Abuse will help readers to understand the importance of sustainable leadership in preventing emotional workplace abuse.