2011

Abdullah Alabdullah

Organizational Behavior

4/12/2011

Workplace Violence

pg. 2

Abstract

Workplace violence is a phenomenon that can be experienced in many organizations. Every

worker can be vulnerable to a kind or more of workplace violence. Employers have a role to

protect employees from workplace violence before it happens and to make discussions with

workers after any workplace violent incident. There must be some practices to ensure security in

the workplace against violence.

pg. 3

Table of Content

1- Introduction 4

2- Definition of workplace violence 5

3- Who is vulnerable to workplace violence? 5

4- The role of employers to protect employees 6

5- The Role of Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) in Workplace-Based Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) 7

6- Employer-Driven Workplace IPV Activities 8

7- Taxi Drivers and Workplace Violence and Stress 8

8- Workplace violence at colleges and universities 9

9- Work Environment 11

10- Threats in the workplace 12

11- Reducing the risk of workplace violence 12

12- How can employees protect themselves? 13

13- Role of an employer after an incident of workplace violence 13

14- Conclusion 14

pg. 4

Workplace Violence

Introduction

A great deal of attention was directed to explore the reasons and effects of workplace

violence. Many studies have been conducted to make an evaluation to workplace violence. It was

found that workplace violence is an irritating matter for both employers and employees and can

vary from a verbal threat to a homicide. Anyone can be vulnerable to workplace violence and in

the United States; victims of workplace violence exceed two million workers each year.

Employers have to show employees how to protect themselves from workplace violence. There

must be some practices to ensure security in the workplace against violence. The services that

EAP offers to companies are such as helping in the development of policies, providing training

and seminars to deliver education and awareness raising activities. It was reported that taxi

drivers are the most workers exposure to workplace violence in the last two decades and that

include police and protective services. Like any organization, colleges and universities are open

systems that are vulnerable to workplace violence. There must be a way to protect students, staff

members and faculty members from workplace violence. As organizations differ in many things

they also differ in being a place of violence or not, as some places and some situations can lead

to violence and bullying more than others and a bad and harmful worker cannot exist in a healthy

environment. Workplace violence is known for its effect on lowering morale so workers will not

be able to be productive; they will lose satisfaction in their jobs and will be vulnerable to health

problems. An employee has to learn how to control his temper and avoid any situation that can

lead to violence and that can come by training. The employer also has to make meetings with his

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staff members after an incident to discuss what happened and to exchange information with

employees.

Definition of workplace violence:

According to OSHA Fact Sheet, workplace violence is an action or a threat to make an

action of violence against workers and this violence can happen inside the workplace or outside

it. Workplace violence is an irritating matter for both employers and employees and it can be

little as a threat or verbal assault or can reach physical assaults and homicide which can be a

cause of job-related deaths. There must be a certain policy to stop workplace violence on or by

employees and employers must make sure the employees understand this policy.

Who is vulnerable to workplace violence?

Anyone can be vulnerable to workplace violence which can hit anywhere so there is no

definition of a certain place and can hurt anyone so no one can ensure avoiding it. In the United

States, victims of workplace violence exceed two million workers each year. Some workers are

at risk of being exposed to workplace violence more than others and from these workers those

who have direct business with the public like delivering goods or services or those who work to

late hours in the night or at early hours during the morning either they are alone or in small

groups. Also workers who work in areas that are known for its high rate of crimes or who have

very close contact with the public like social service workers or health care workers such as

nurses that make home visits, or probation officers must be aware of the risk. Community

workers such as gas and water utility workers, cable TV and phone installer, retail workers or

taxi drivers are vulnerable to violence due to the nature of their work that make them too close to

the public (OSHA Fact Sheet).

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The role of employers to protect employees:

To protect employees from violence there must be a certain policy to stop workplace

violence on or by employees and employers must make sure the employees understand this

policy and they must know that any act of workplace violence will be investiga ted and remedied

as fast as possible. This policy will control any situation arises because both the violent person

and the victim know their rights and the rights of others that must not be violated. The employer

can stop violence by making a prevention program or he can just add some information for

preventing violence in an accident prevention program, employee handbook or in a manual of

operating procedures. Employers can increase their protection plan by making educational

sessions to employees about safety issues and what they can do and can be accepted and what is

considered unacceptable action, employees also have to learn how to be aware of workplace

violence and know what to do if they experienced workplace violence to them or to any other

employee (OSHA Fact Sheet).

Employers have to show employees how to protect themselves from workplace violence.

There must be some practices to ensure security in the workplace against violence by using some

video surveillance and alarm systems and by making sure that outsiders’ presence is at

minimum. Employers can prevent outsiders by making employees carry identification badges

and use electronic keys. Employers who have employees that have direct dealings with the

public must make sure that there are drop safes to put extra money and to keep little money with

the employees who work night shifts. employers must also make sure that employees carry

cellular phones and alarm or noise devices if their work is outside the workplace and to keep a

report about every day’s locations, keep work vehicles well maintained and do not go to

suspected or unsafe places and seek police assistance in case of danger (OSHA Fact Sheet).

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The Role of Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) in Workplace-Based Intimate Partner

Violence (IPV)

There must be a great understanding to the role of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)

that involves intimate partner violence (IPV) but companies are not aware of that role which

stands as a barrier to execute their services. The services that EAP offers to companies are such

as helping in the development of policies, providing training and seminars to deliver education

and awareness raising activities in addition to assigning part of the management to the position

of staff consultants. IPV is a huge problem that has many consequences that victims are unaware

of (Lindquist et al, 2010).

From various studies made it became clear that the prevalence rate of IPV victimization

among women is considered high according to the National Violence Against Women Survey

(NVAWS) that found that about 5.3 million IPV victimizations happen among women every

year. IPV consequences are great in victims who can be physically injured or dead. There are

also other consequences that include physiological trauma, substance abuse, depression and

sometimes suicide attempts. Other IPV consequences are the societal costs that are huge and it

was estimated in 1995 to be about 5.8 billion dollars, most of this amount is directed for medical

and mental health care services, in addition to the lost lifetime earnings by IPV homicide victims

accounts and the lost productivity of survivals who stay at home and be paid (Lindquist et al,

2010).

Employers bear a great burden from IPV as it affects performance, productivity and stability

of victims such consequently leads to increased absenteeism, errors and time wasted and lower

productivity. Also a study was made on IPV victims from both males and females and it showed

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that they became distracted at work, coming late to work or wasting hours of work and

accordingly employers lose 8 million days of paid work every year due to IPV. In the workplace

there is always a threat to the victims who are under the control of their perpetrators who know

where they can find them, can abuse them and threaten their employment stability (Lindquist et

al, 2010).

Employer-Driven Workplace IPV Activities

It is becoming clear that IPV is an issue that has bad consequences on the workplace and

employers’ awareness is increasing as shown in a survey made in 2002 on some thousand senior

executives and managers whose result was that 66% of these leaders knew the devastating

consequences of IPV and its impact on the workplace compared to 57% in 1994 and about 56%

knew the employees that are affected and are victims of IPV. Employers are now as mentioned

before are considering development and implementation of IPV prevention activities to decrease

the impact of IPV on employees. A study was made to find the activities concerning IPV made

by private-sector employers, and it was found that some companies offered some preventive

strategies and policies that addresses IPV and prevent it, some educational activities and some

security measures (Lindquist et al, 2010).

Taxi Drivers and Workplace Violence and Stress

In many urban places the taxi cab service is vital and might be the only means of

transportation that is available twenty-four hours and can be find everywhere so it is easy to find

and can go to any destination the passenger wants. In 2002, there were more than 66,000 workers

in taxi and limousine firms that represent about 17% of all the workers who provide transport in

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US and 45% of this number or more are working in cab companies. According to 2008-2009

data about 229,000 workers are taking cab driving as a job and they are distinguished from other

workers in other means of transportation by the level of workplace violence and stress that they

face during doing their daily work and through their dealings with the public. It was reported that

taxi drivers are the most workers exposure to workplace violence in the last two decades and that

include police and protective services. It was found that the highest rate of workplace violence

between 1990-1992 was 22.7% for each 100,000 workers per year and this percentage was found

between taxi drivers and in 1998 it was found that the rate of homicide for taxi drivers was about

four times that of police and law enforcement services and increased to be five times in 2002.

The media has played an important role to make people know the violence that taxi drivers are

exposed to but no explanations were found to explain whether behavior has a role in this

violence (Schwer et al, 2010).

Workplace violence at colleges and universities

Many research studies have been conducted to address workplace violence to develop

theories and models to better understand how WPV happens and it was found that WPV is

affected by many influences which can be personal or organizational and can include unjust

treatment and negative emotions of employees. These studies have helped organizations to know

the reasons of workplace violence and try to avoid them by implementing policies and

procedures. Like any organization, colleges and universities are open systems that are vulnerable

to workplace violence. No one is immune from being exposed to workplace violence and an

example of that, the difficult situation that happened in 2007 at Virginia Tech where there was

the most horrible school shooting in the American history where 32 people were killed and 17

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more were injured. There were many problems in handling this incident since there were

attempts from faculty members to draw attention to the problems that resulted to this incident

and were ignored by officials at the university and also the lack of canceling classes and slow

emergency response had led to a lot of criticism. This incident shows that colleges and

universities are also like any other organization vulnerable to workplace violence. This incident

was followed by the tragic incident of Northern Illinois University in 2008 which as indication of

the importance of considering developing policies and procedures in the campuses of colleges

and universities (Howard, 2009).

There must be a way to protect students, staff members and faculty members from workplace

violence. According to Howard (2009), the “throughput” in colleges and universities differ from

that in organizations since they are the people not the product or service that an organization

offers to its customers. Colleges and universities differ from organizations and what can be

applied in an organization could not be applied in a collage or in a university. So we can find in

an organization that they can control workplace violence by improving security and training

supervisors while this can be applied in some parts in college or university but they do not apply

for all parts such as in the classroom when there is interaction between faculty members and

students. Training cannot also be applied since faculty members do not work all time but they

only have to work set hours. These differences between a collage or a university and an

organization must be studied because most models concentrate on for-profit organizations. For

example layoffs will not affect students as much as they affect employees in an organization,

some employees can consider that they were treated unfairly and some students can also feel the

same way but the concept will be different. In college or university the potential perpetrator is

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different since it is in most cases a student who believes that he is unfairly treated and could be

considered the main part of workplace violence (Howard, 2009).

Work Environment

As organizations differ in many things they also differ in being a place of violence or not, as

some places and some situations can lead to violence and bullying more than others and a bad

and harmful worker cannot exist in a healthy environment. Some people can take advantage of

others when put in a workplace where management is weak, they have the chance to practice evil

actions to control others, and they are driven by some biological, environmental and social.

Workplace violence is not limited to a place or to a certain industry more than the other but the

group working together can be the reason for a violent environment, coworkers can be forming

gangs that is not clear or they can ignore the violence of others or they can support it without

knowing which can lead to dangerous consequences on the workplace (Fisher-Blando, 2008).

Workplace violence is known for its effect on lowering morale so workers will not be able to

be productive, they will lose satisfaction in their jobs and will be vulnerable to health problems

that raise health- care costs and employers can face disability claims and lawsuits. Workplace

violence only can survive when using ideas from others and develop and taking the consent of

coworkers. Workplace violence can be reinforced when organizations consider that long service

and not performance is a sign of success. The increase of workplace violence is related to some

aspects such as not taking all rights like not having the degree that suits their work, having

trouble with the management and conflicts about the roles of workers. Workplace violence can

also exists when the organizational culture enables it especially when workers who are exposed

to violence are afraid to tell anyone about what happened to them, others who watch a worker

getting attacked and they stay silent and thus supporting the violent by their silence, or they leave

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the place as if it is not their business On the contrary, employees who are satisfied with their jobs

and have social support at work are not likely to face violence by violence (Fisher-Blando,

2008).

Threats in the workplace

There is little done from most companies about workplace violence although it is the fourth

function that leads to death in the workplace and costs businesses billions of dollars each year. In

2004, a study was made and found that there are threats received by some senior managers in the

past year and some of these threats were in-person or through email and some said that viruses

were downloaded on purpose on their computers. Another study made that showed that

workplace violence is in most cases does not exceed inappropriate language, verbal threats and

abuse and in rare occasions can get tragic (Rich, 2011).

Reducing the risk of workplace violence

According to Dobbin (2010), workplace violence comes with no previous warning which

makes it difficult to stop it. Employers can reduce the risk of workplace violence by monitoring

any aggressiveness and drive conversations out of the workplace or with the presence of security

although some companies use pat-down searches and metal detectors but these methods can

cause lack of confidence in the company. One of the well-known examples of workplace

violence is that of the driver of a beer distributor called Omar Thornton who killed eight

coworkers and injured other two in the warehouse of the company in Manchester, Conn., and

then killed himself. Omar was caught by the surveillance stealing beer and he was going to quit

and he looked very calm and no one expected that he will shoot at his coworkers. That incident

gives employers the idea that they must make plans when firing employees and they must think

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about how many people will be there, and take certain precautions because the violent person’s

reaction can be fierce and unexpected. Supervisors must be trained to always be nice with

employees and do not make them angry and words must be said calmly so they do not make the

angry person angrier.

How can employees protect themselves?

There is no known way that guarantees that employees can be safe and not to be exposed to

workplace violence but there are some tips that can help reduce the danger. An employee has to

learn how to control his temper and avoid any situation that can lead to violence and that can

come by training and also they have to be alert and feel responsible to report in writing any

incident even if it is small as soon as it happens and tell his supervisor any concerns about

someone’s behavior so he can ensure safety and make precautions. The employees have also to

ensure their safety when they go to unfamiliar locations and only carry as less money as possible

(OSHA Fact Sheet).

Role of an employer after an incident of workplace violence

An employer has to hold all threads together to keep the workplace environment safe and

suitable for productivity. He has to make good relationships with his employees, encourage them

to report any incident that happens or any threat they could be exposed to it and when it is life

threating they have to call the local police. Any injury happens must be evaluated as fast as

possible and employees have to know that they have the right to prosecute any perpetrator. The

employer also has to make meetings with his staff members after an incident to discuss what

happened and to exchange information with employees about what they know and what they are

supposed to do to avoid future incidents of workplace violence. The employer must provide

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counseling services to help workers overcome the effect of workplace violence incident and he

must make investigations of all violent incidents (OSHA Fact Sheet).

Conclusion

Workplace violence is still an issue that must be addressed and prevented from taking place

in working environment. More studies are needed to find ways of preventing workplace violence

and make organizations a safe place to work and produce. Employers must have open

conversations with employees to know their problems and solve it to decrease violence.

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References:

Dobbin, Ben. (2010). Stopping Workplace Violence Difficult But Risk Can Be Reduced: Experts. Insurance

Journal. Wells Publishing, Inc. Retrieved from

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2010/08/10/112327.htm

Fisher-Blando, Judith Lynn. (2008). WORKPLACE BULLYING: AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR AND ITS EFFECT ON JOB SATISFACTION AND PRODUCTIVITY.

UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX. Retrieved from http://www.workplaceviolence911.com/docs/20081215.pdf

Howard, J. (2009). Employee Awareness of Workplace Violence Policies and Perceptions for

Addressing Perpetrators at Colleges and Universities. Employee Responsibilities & Rights Journal, 21(1), 7-19. doi:10.1007/s10672-008-9087-x

Lindquist, C. H., McKay, T., Clinton-Sherrod, A., Pollack, K. M., Lasater, B. M., & Walters, J. (2010). The Role of Employee Assistance Programs in Workplace-Based Intimate Partner

Violence Intervention and Prevention Activities. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 25(1), 46-64. doi:10.1080/15555240903538980

Rich, Mike. (2011). Workplace Violence Costs Lives, Productivity. Safety Services Company

Retrieved from http://www.safetyservicescompany.com/blog/work-place-violence-costs- lives-productivity

Schwer, R., Mejza, M. C., & Grun-Réhomme, M. (2010). Workplace Violence and Stress: The

Case of Taxi Drivers. Transportation Journal, 49(2), 5-23. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Workplace Violence. Osha fact sheet. Osha.gov. Retrieved from http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/factsheet-workplace-violence.pdf