A rhetorical portrayal of the sham face of organizational support : toward a new face of support for public administration workers

he multitude of negative workplace behaviors (e.g., violence, discrimination, bullying, abuse, aggression) harming workers around the world, especially public administration workers, confirms the need for support. Given the magnitude of the hurt and harm that can result from negative workplace behaviors and the evidence that genuine organizational support, when available, can ameliorate their harmful effects, the situation should be a grave concern. This article portrays the "sham " face of organizational support rhetorically: the sham of line management support, the sham of human resources support, the sham of policy and procedure support, and, the sham of employee-assistance support. The article concludes by describing what a new face of organizational support might look like and offers suggestions as to how public administration workplaces can move toward it.