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WORKPLACE VIOLENCE.
Term Paper ID:30229
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Essay Subject:
Examines escalation of various kinds of violence in the workplace.... More...
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9 Pages / 2025 Words
7 sources, 26 Citations,
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Paper Abstract:
Examines escalation of various kinds of violence in the workplace. Robbery, client violence, co-worker violence. Use of criminal & sociological theories to explain violent behaviors. Duty of employers to provide a safe, healthy workplace. Profiling violent perpetrators, particularly of co-worker violence. Importance of developing security systems & social bonds. Statistics.
Paper Introduction:
Workplace violence has escalated considerably during the last two decades and security firms are increasingly forced to take these behaviors into account as part of their mission with various kinds of companies. There are three basic categories of workplace violence, based on type of perpetrator: actions performed by outsiders; actions performed by clients; and co-worker violence. The first category--which includes, for instance, those who try to rob a place of business--has always been a security concern and the design of any system of protection takes this into account. But both client violence--which constitutes a significant percentage of incidents of workplace violence especially in service settings such as hospitals, public agencies, and nursing homes--and co-worker-perpetuated violence--which includes everything from simple aggressive behavior to homicide--present different kinds of challenges and are the
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L. Theyalso tend to offer warnings through verbal threats, records thatinclude intimidation, declining work performance, erratic attendance,and signs of paranoia or depression. A. What portion of workplace violence is preventable is, of course,a matter of speculation. Berkeley: University of California Press.Keim, J. And it is alsoestimated that at least two million other workers are subjected to someform of physical attack at work while another six million werethreatened and 16 million harassed. Hirschi's idea wasthat "large amounts of structured time spent in socially approvedactivities reduces the time available for deviance" (Alston et al.,1995, p. Psychologicalexplanations and profiles of those who commit workplace violence areplentiful. 18). 22) The final element in the creation of the social bond is belief,which refers to the individual's "belief in the validity of sharedsocial values and norms" (Alston et al., 1995, p. But pre-employment effects rely on the information levels ofhuman resources personnel and supervisors. Early life experiencesof violence directed at the individual are often the source of many ofthe problems manifested by perpetrators of workplace violence. 19). Workplace violence and trauma: A 21st century rehabilitation issue. Public Management, 79(8), 9-13.Fielding, N. It is theseelements that demonstrate the points at which those who engage in co-worker violence most frequently lose, or have never adequatelydeveloped, the social bond that, in effect, acts as a form of selfcontrol. Protecting against workplace violence. Hirschi's (1969) control theory of criminal behavior offersinsights into the connection between such traits and the possibility ofworkplace violence. Taxi drivers, for example, haverates of work deaths that are 21 times the national average (15.1deaths per 1 . J., Harley, D., & Lenhoff, K. Hirschi's social control theory: A sociological perspective on drug abuse among persons with disabilities. 23). (1998). It is these less dramatic forms of workplace violence that makeup the far greater threat to workers and although a workplace homicidecan generate costs running into the millions of dollars "the sheernumber of nonlethal workplace violence cases make them collectivelymore expensive" (Barrett, 1997, p. Keim (1999) suggests zero-tolerance policiesthat are strictly enforced regarding threats of violence and physicalattacks. 1 ). Involvement refers to social bonding per se. (2 ). Journal of Rehabilitation, 61(4), 31- 49.Barrett, S. But it is interesting to note that a high number ofincidents of co-worker violence are, in fact, committed by employeeswho have been fired or otherwise released on what they consider to beunfair or somehow intolerable grounds. Commitment refers to the investment of time and energy in varioussocial activities and institutions. H., & Baron, R. Journal of Rehabilitation, 65(1), 16-24.Linstead, S. And critical tasks need to be carefully laid outwhile plans include such items as "key response personnel, where todirect employees, and who has the authority to speak to the press"(Keim, 1999, p. The explanatory power ofthe theory for workplace situations and a discussion of how this mayaid in the prevention of such violence constitutes the main focus ofthe paper. Human Relations, 5 , 1115-46.Neuman, J. In 1993, for example,another 22,396 people were sufficiently injured to require time awayfrom work. In the case of this element of social bonding applicationsto workplace violence also appear weak. But various strategies exist that can sharpencompanies' preparedness and, perhaps, reduce the likelihood that co-worker violence will occur. 32). Such commitments often imply a goal-oriented approach invarious spheres of activity and events that disrupt this line of action--while they may cause temporary anxiety or realignment of goals--arefar less likely to cause the person to despair of ever getting anywhereand making her/him feel that there is nothing left to lose. Workplace violence and workplace aggression: evidence concerning specific forms, potential causes, and preferred targets. Resistance and adaptation to criminal identity: Using secondary analysis to evaluate classic studies of crime and deviance. It seems that the lack ofstructured time in the unemployed individual then serves as a breedingground for the building up of the resolve to commit the deviant act,much as Hirschi hypothesized. Paranoid perpetrators often"focus on a specific co-worker or supervisor, or manifest in a moregeneral manner, such as difficulty accepting feedback, beinghypervigilant, [or] making numerous accusatory statements to others"(Keim, p. But homicides themselves also constitute only a small portion ofwhat can be considered workplace violence. How security personnelhandle many such incidents, for example, may have a considerableinfluence on whether the most drastic kinds of workplace violence everoccur. (1969). It is estimated that as manyas one in four employees will be victimized by some form of workplaceviolence and while figures for lost workdays can be as high as 1.751million and lost wages comes to $55 million, they cannot include "humanpain and suffering" and do not include "property damage, medical andpsychological care, lost company goodwill, impact on employee turnoverand hiring" and many other factors (Keim, 1999, p. Journal of Management, 24(3) 391-42 . Some theories are inadequately geared toward explaining criminalbehavior that is emotionally-based and, as such, do not seem to beparticularly helpful since the worst instances of workplace violenceare often of this type. AsLinstead notes, "it affects the perspective of self-worth, and theability to cope with success and failure [and] it affects the abilityto grow and develop and to deal with such growth in other persons andinstitutions" (p. (1997). The hints about potential perpetrators ofworkplace violence that can be drawn from the application of Hirschi'stheory do, however, provide security planners with a betterunderstanding of the kinds of people and the kinds of situations thatdevelop into incidents of workplace violence. Workplace violence has escalated considerably during the last twodecades and security firms are increasingly forced to take thesebehaviors into account as part of their mission with various kinds ofcompanies. This could be said of some varieties of socialcontrol theory. 1115). People whochallenge particular norms are more likely to violate them with deviantbehavior. 17). The profiles of those who commitco-worker violence indicate that such attachments are often very weakindeed, e.g., the loners, paranoids, and depressives identified by Keim(1999) as common among perpetrators of workplace violence. Crisisresponse plans need to be developed that draw on the experience ofindividuals in human resources, management, public relations, and otherpertinent sources. The more fully committed anindividual is to such things in terms of time, resources and effort,Hirschi (1969) argued, the less likely such a person is to deviate fromsocial norms in a manner that would result in her/him 'losing' thisinvestment. Sociology, 34(4), 671-87.Hirschi, T. 1116). 32). Thus, as Barrett states, sincestatistics demonstrate workplace violence is a growing problem "it is aforeseeable threat to worker safety [and] employers have a duty to takeall reasonable precautions to prevent it" (Barrett, 1997, p. 18). workers) and as "other high risk occupations such aslaw enforcement officers, hotel clerks, gas station workers, securityguards" and others fill out the list it is clear that the determiningfactor in the general run of workplace homicides is being in a high-risk occupation (Neuman & Baron, p. There are three basic categories of workplace violence,based on type of perpetrator: actions performed by outsiders; actionsperformed by clients; and co-worker violence. Those who do not havestrong links with the other members of the society or with socialinstitutions such as churches and clubs are, therefore, more likely toviolate these norms. But both client violence--whichconstitutes a significant percentage of incidents of workplace violenceespecially in service settings such as hospitals, public agencies, andnursing homes--and co-worker-perpetuated violence--which includeseverything from simple aggressive behavior to homicide--presentdifferent kinds of challenges and are the principal areas whereworkplace violence is growing very rapidly. 33). But the attachment to orinterest in weapons or violence, which are mentioned by Keim (1999) ascommon traits of perpetrators are indicative of weak attachment topertinent norms. That is, heconcentrates his analysis on the social bond that is developed by theindividual. Butthe differences in outsider and 'insider' violence in the workplacelead to some confusion since the often cited statistics on the subjectinclude both types. G., & Fielding, J. Therefore, Hirschi believed that peoplewith strong linkages "are more likely to contemplate their decision andavoid deviant behavior because of the consternation from valuedattachments" (Alston et al., p. 9). Although this group clearlyalso includes behaviors that range from petty disruption to theundoubtedly criminal turning to criminological theory to betterunderstand these behaviors can be quite useful. The individual's degree of self-control relevant to devianceis based on the social bond and it is the strength of these variouselements that keeps anyone from deviant behavior. But preventive measures are much harder toformulate and implement. Hirschi's work (1969) originally focused on thedevelopment of delinquency and the primary social factors that heconsidered were youths' relationships to the family, the schoolsetting, and to their peers. Thus, as Keim notes, it is of greatimportance in developing security systems that "keeping track ofcurrent versus former employees, establishing visitor access, andnoting employee rosters" be established as primary security goals(1999, p. ReferencesAlston, R. Unlike most criminological theories control theorybegins not with the question of why people commit crimes but of whymost people do not commit crimes. 1993 figures from the Bureau ofLabor Statistics, for example, showed 1, 63 workplace homicides butonly 59 of those crimes involved co-workers. Hirschi'sversion of control theory is social in nature. The majority of perpetrators are Caucasian males in theirmid-thirties to mid-forties who "have limited social support,externalize their problems (often through blame), are preoccupied withweapons and/or violence, and identify strongly with work" (Keim, 1999,p. (1999). Socially unacceptable behaviors would harm therelationships with other individuals and groups to whom the well-attached person is linked. There is a legal and an ethical duty on the part of employers toprovide a safe and healthy workplace. The greatest problem in profiling such perpetrators is that "theextent to which non-organizational experiences can shape behaviorwithin organizations" is, while clearly understood, outside theprovince of those who have basic responsibilities in hiring and insecurity functions (Linstead, 1997, p. (1997). As Barrett notes, forexample, workplace homicide is now the first cause of death for womenworkers in America and "the rate at which supervisors are murdered atwork has doubled since 1985" (1997, p. 392). The prevalence of workplace violence incertain occupations dramatically stresses the difference between co-worker violence and outsider attacks. As Neuman and Baron (1998) note, carefulexamination of the statistics shows that the great majority ofworkplace homicides involve outsiders. Attachment is the "symbiotic linkage between a person andsociety" and the strength and stability of this link to others in thesociety is what keeps the individual from acting contrary to socialnorms (Alston, Harley & Lenhoff, 1995, p. The Bureau of Labor Statistics category of workplaceviolence includes a great variety of actions: "hitting/kicking/beating;biting; threat/verbal assault; squeezing/pinching/scratching/twisting;shooting; stabbing; and other" (Keim, 1999, p. Thus surveys such as thatadministered by the Society for Human Resource Management in 1996 thatreport that 45 percent of employees indicated that they feared thepossibility of workplace violence may reflect either the nature oftheir occupations or respondents' reactions to media concentration onthe relatively few instances of co-worker violence (cited in Neuman &Baron). Securitypersonnel need to be aware, for example, of dark corners for hiding,possible hostage-holding sites, and evacuation procedures. 16). He defined fours elements in the socialbond: attachment, commitment, involvement, and beliefs. Many incidents remain unreported(perhaps as much as 5 percent) and "researchers suggest that themeasuring of violent acts is vastly understated in that the figures donot reflect verbal, indirect, and passive aggressive behaviors whichare more prevalent" (Keim, p. (1995). 9). Abjection and organization: Men, violence, and management. His theory concentrates on those factors that keep theindividual from deviant behaviors and the breakdown in these factors isoften the direct source of violent behavior in the workplace.Following a brief review of the rise of workplace violence, Hirschi'stheory will be discussed at greater length. The prevailing assumption amongcontrol theorists (and there are many, of whom Hirschi is merely one ofthe most distinctive and influential) is that without certain elementsin their 'bond' to society anyone would be willing and able to commit avariety of deviant acts. They are often described as involved in dysfunctionalrelationships or only engaging in very limited relationships. And in the everyday worksituation supervisors and management must be constantly aware of therelationship between the smallest forms of aggression and thepossibility that workplace violence can grow from behaviors that seeminsignificant at first. 1 ). But Hirschi's (1969) basic version of control theoryoffers insights into criminal behavior of two kinds that are importantto the discussion of workplace violence: persistent, habitualaggression that escalates into violence and outbursts of violentbehavior that include more mundane types of violence as well ashomicides. Many aspects of security systems do not address the particularnature of those who commit acts of workplace violence. This appears to have little direct connection withperpetrators of workplace violence and, indeed, Hirschi was consideringjuveniles primarily and stressed employment as an example so suchstructured time. In media reports ofworkplace violence "it is common for the most extreme form, homicide,to get all the attention," and news reports tend to focus on the evenmore sensational aspect of "co-worker" violence so that the publicimpression, not surprisingly, is that a number such as 1, 63 homicidesin the work setting consists mainly of this more 'sensational' type ofcrime (Barrett, 1997, p. 33). The causes of delinquency. Understanding such violence is, therefore,an important aspect of the security mission. The first category--which includes, for instance, those who try to rob a place of business--has always been a security concern and the design of any system ofprotection takes this into account. Control theorists concentrate on the controlfactors that keep the majority of people from deviant behavior andargue, generally, that it is when such internal restraining factorsmalfunction or do not exist in an individual's personality then s/hewill commit a crime as circumstances seem to dictate.
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