Workplace Violence
Workplace violence has become a prominent issue in today's society. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, workplace violence is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site. It ranges from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide. It can affect and involve employees, clients, customers and visitors. The categories utilized to describe workplace violence may be necessary to compile data for statistical purposes. It is, however necessary to explore the core issues that surround workplace violence. The causes of violence in the workplace are intertwined and very complex as they are from different natures like economic, social, and psychological. Workplace violence can be defined in different categories such as criminal intent, customer/client, worker on worker, and personal relationship.
Studies have presented questions that aim at resolving the issue of workplace violence. After studies were conducted it was determined that workplace violence was a struggle for power. In addition, it was determined that there was conflict of values between the parties: such as differences in leadership styles, work expectations, etc. individuals who perceived themselves as competent specially targeted the vulnerable and sensitive persons to engage in this power struggles.
Strandmark's article proposes that "the educational system reinforces the belief that the dominant group is superior". Overtime this causes the oppressed group to feel that they are inferior, as a result a state of psychiatric alienation occurs that internalizes the oppression in the individuals. In this context, horizontal violence directed towards others in one's group is a form of adaptive behavior, an attempt to gain control over one's sense of psychic alienation and powerlessness.
Social isolation is addressed in the article International perspectives on workplace bullying among nurses: a review. Workplace violence is manifested passively through acts such as withholding information, not returning phone calls and emails and ignoring a person. The bullied individual might be subjected to an unreasonable workload, unrealistic deadlines and excessive monitoring of their work.
In the USA "prevalence has been reported in the range of 10-38%, and a majority of the bullies are managers or supervisors."
Leadership styles such as highly authoritarian, are believed to create an environment in which bullying occurs more frequently. Therefore management can also be the direct causes of bullying. Some managers even use bullying tactics as their way to get their workers to work harder. In this case, the managers are using organizational rules and policies in an abusive manner.
FBI takes the idea a step further and warns for increased caution and responsibility, as workplace violence is most often, overlooked: "Workplace violence is now recognized as a specific category of violent crime that calls for distinct responses from employers, law enforcement, and the community. This recognition is relatively recent.
According to Karen J. Mathis, a Colorado lawyer specialized in workplace violence, in the United States, the financial damages suffered by organizations, due to this issue, account for $4.2 and $22 billion per year.
There should be a no tolerance to violence policy in the business. Laws must be reviewed to protect the employee. There should an open line of communication with the employer and the employees. Continued exposure to bullying will cause: lower self-esteem, depression, anxiety, post- traumatic stress disorder and financial problems and may even go as far as inability to work.