Power harassment

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Power harassment is harassment or unwelcome attention of a political nature, often occurring in the environment of a workplace. It includes a range of behavior from mild irritation and annoyances to serious abuses which can even involve forced activity beyond the boundaries of the job description. Power harassment is considered a form of illegal discrimination and is a form of political and psychological abuse, and bullying.

[edit] Origin

Although power harassment has occurred in many environments, it received wide publicity in the Japanese work environment, especially during the "economic animal" era.^{[citation needed]} The term itself was coined by Okada Yasuko in 2002^{[citation needed]} and is used mainly in Japan. It is analogous to "abuse of authority" in the workplace.

[edit] Example

Many workers were forced by their superiors to perform tasks outside of their job description and working hours. It was common for workers to be fired or suffer severe repercussions if they did not satisfy their superior's orders, despite there being no justifiable basis for such orders.