Workplace violence: causes, prevention, and organizational response

Workplace Violence

This is a paper that outlines the issue of workplace violence and its implications on security managers. It has 16 sources.

In order to prevent violence in the workplace and other crimes, it is essential to have in place the Classical theory and/or Biological theory of behavior, which has punishment and rehabilitation/treatment respectively enforced as solutions.

In the United States today, there are several organizations of different sizes. Each of these organizations perhaps aims at achieving the best and highest profits. A way to do this is to get the maximum productivity out of ones employees. There are several methods of doing this. Modern organizational leadership skills are applied to managing employees in order to achieve the greatest results. Business leadership today is a field that requires the best of skill in managing business practices. Indeed, leading a business is a responsible job, and in this highly competitive and globalized world quality leadership in an organization is of great importance.

Managing businesses today is a sensitive process that defines whether or not a business will be successful. Business Leadership today is a science that requires the best of skills that one should be equipped with to survive in places like the international market or as top producers in a single country. Competition is tough nowadays since there are many who are aware of all the tricks in managing business. With certain businesses emerging as the leaders in the market they also have to prove themselves and remain there. However it must be noted that all this an be frustrating for an individual supervisor if sues is not on his or her side Such frustration refers to the fact that some supervisors vent their frustrations out on their employees, resulting in physical, emotional harm, etc.

In addition to supervisors being abusive towards his or her employees, it must be realized that employees might also indulge in bullying within the organization in order to achieve the most, be respected, etc.

The above situations are in fact ones that are highly obstructive to productivity, even though a current situation may represent decline in an organization. It must be realized that if such violence or abuse takes place the organization will fail to get on its feet again.

In order to protect employees from being harmed by their employees there needs to be some kind of chain action employed so that it is prevented. The security management is perhaps the best department to handle such issues, and for this they need to have a concrete theory on which they may base their actions for protection.

Analysis:

theory that could be applied to organizational illnesses or misdeeds is one that would correct/punish an individual who has wronged employees and breached a code of conduct. At the same time, it is also desired that such an employee need not be driven out of the organization. This is because s/he may be of immense value to the organization. In contrast to what a supervisor or senior employee might have done to breach a code of conduct in an organization, the following is expected:

In accordance with what employers and supervisors should be doing is employees work better when their leader inspires rather than abuses them. This is how a sense of belonging is created in the organization, which promotes better organizational output. The following are few of the ways that aim at achieving its goal:

Idealized Influence - This is a behavior that arouses followers to feel a powerful identification and strong emotions toward the leader.

Inspirational Motivation - A leadership behavior that models high values as an example, and includes communication of an inspiring vision. It also promotes powerful symbols to arouse greater effort and a feeling of belonging.

Individualized Consideration - This behavior provides coaching, support and encouragement of specific followers.

Intellectual Stimulation - A behavior that influences followers to view problems from a fresh perspective and with a new increased awareness. What is Transformational Leadership (2003)

This above ideal method in some situations is not given much consideration, and so some supervisors and managers might turn to abuse as a means of achieving more and venting frustration. It is said that "People reporting to more considerate bosses are less likely to suffer the ravages of burnout and more likely to experience work satisfaction than those reporting to less considerate bosses....Conversely, there is solid evidence that working for un-supportive bosses is associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and even heart disease." (Hornstien, 1996) These kinds of results are not believed to be associated with individuals who have worked for more considerate bosses. These emotional sufferings are certainly things that employees can do without, and so can the organizations itself. This is because organizational output is drastically affected when employees are stressed.

Also, "The biggest factor that affects workers' happiness is the quality of their immediate supervisor." (Murphy, 2000) Employees working under a boss who deals with them properly and knows how to get the best out of them tactfully are more respected and also act fairly. An organization with such supervisors has the best chances of ameliorating organizational struggles in the market. This is because of the fact that they are cool minded enough to take things patiently and at one step at a time. It is this patience that allows a supervisor or manager to think carefully and take the right decision. After doing so, s/he may calmly instruct the employees to act accordingly. It is more likely that such a manager would get the best out of the employees through motivational strategy rather than dominance or bullying.

Considering the manner in which employees may be bullied by their bosses or supervisors, it is worth defining what a bully is. A bully boss/supervisor creates an environment that is "unhealthy, unproductive and will eventually undo HR's efforts to create a healthy, happy and progressive workplace." (Flynn, 1999)

Further, a bully boss or bully employee may be describes as one who commits "repeated aggressive behavior that deliberately causes physical or psychological torment" (Guynn, 1998). More elegantly put, bullying is "the repeated, less favorable treatment of a person by another in the workplace, which may be considered unreasonable and inappropriate workplace practice. It includes behavior that intimidates, offends, degrades, or humiliates a worker, possibly in front of co-workers, clients or customers." Workplace Bullying (1999)

It must be precisely noted that through bullying behavior "Bosses who are mean to subordinates...are actually causing measurable injury to both their individual victims and to the institutions in which they and their victims work" (Namic, 1999). It is for this reason that security management has to do something about it. These kinds of bosses or supervisors cannot be tolerated as an organization loses its profits and on the whole everyone suffers.

Perhaps even the upper management is not aware of this bullying, and if it is brought out in the open by the employees themselves, they may not be taken seriously. This means that the injustice will prevail and also the real cause of lagging profits will remain concealed and the employees will be blamed for poor productivity. This is the reason why the security management has to look into such matters carefully in order to determine exactly what is going on.

After completing an investigation, a security manager can determine what line of action he is going to use in order to ameliorate the situation of employees being oppressed or mistreated.

After tracking down and confirming who is responsible for the bullying in an organization, the first thing that a security manager needs to do is let his superiors in the organization know what the problem is. After this, s/he can proceed with whatever action he wants to take. (Braithwaite, 1999)

Since the security manager is now aware of what a boss/supervisor has been up to, s/he may approach him or her tactfully, and inform him or her about this discovery, which has to be corrected or paid for. Keeping this in mind, the organization would not like to lose the supervisor perhaps because of the fact that s/he is still a valuable employee to them and has years of experience in the organization. Hence, the security manager has to adopt a way of dealing with this supervisor so that s/he will not have to leave the organization, but at the same time be punished for what harassment s/he has caused. However, punishment is some thing that is not necessarily applied. Instead, what could be done is rehabilitate the supervisor, and this is something that is humiliating enough. It sends a subtle message to everyone that a particular manager is not currently doing a good job, and s/he has to be rehabilitated or treated for malpractice or shortcomings of any kind. (Braithwaite, 1999)

The reasons for the rehabilitation may or may not be revealed officially, but it is commonly known that these reasons do not remain uncovered for long. This does not refer to the security manager letting the cat out of the bag, but refers to the employees who worked under the supervisor. This is because they know that s/he was not acting as prescribed, and is being punished for it through humiliation. This is indeed an effective process due to the fact that it involves a supervisor being reminded and refreshed about his or her duties and limitations. It is an embarrassing experience for one because of the fact that the rehabilitation process is one in which there are multiple points tat which the supervisor of manager is openly reminded about where s/he fell short or took granted his or her authority. (Braithwaite, 1989)

So far in this paper, mild bullying has largely been discussed, but simple bullying is not always the case. There are several individuals especially in smaller organization that have suffered at the hands of bullies. These sufferings range from deprivation of just dues to physical abuse. In the case of these, security managers are allowed to take strict action against the perpetrators. This is because these are in fact serious crimes. Deprival of income and bonuses is a violation of a worker's rights, while physical abuse not just crosses but leaps the boundary of acceptable action on the part of a supervisor. (Hornstien, 1996)

Individuals commit crimes for various reasons. The reasons for which crimes are committed may be explained on the basis of the circumstances in which criminals have been in prior to breaking the law, biological factors (genes), etc. However, it must also be remembered that this kind of action cannot be excused because of the fact that it also includes the abuse of power, which is serious.

Security managers in this case have to deal appropriately and firmly in order to bring these kinds of employees and supervisors to justice. In accordance with the governing laws of an organization, the criminal may be fined, suspended or even terminated. In extreme cases the criminals may be taken to court. However, if things are not so serious they are handled in the organization itself and those affected by the violent actions are sometimes allowed to speak to ask for compensation. This compensation may be financial, in which case the security manager and the upper management would have to decide on an appropriate amount. (Braithwaite, 1999)

In addition to financial compensation, the management would have to do something about this supervisor so that s/he does not indulge in this kind of activity in future. A desirable form of action to be taken should be one that would set an example for the rest of the supervising and managerial staff, so that a crime may not be repeated.

Individuals are thought to commit crimes because they need to or because of pressure. Sometimes it is the circumstances that an individual may be in that causes him or her to break the law. These circumstances might economic related ones or might be a matter of survival for an individual. This in fact might be the case due in organizations that consist of factories, etc., where a large number of employees work together. Often group formation takes place and results in conflict where one group might dominate the rest.

Some of these individuals may not commit crime because they are in need to do so. They may simply have to prove themselves to others in a particular group, e.g. A gang. Individuals in these kinds of groups may begin by proving themselves through committing petty crimes. These are the acts that eventually lead such individuals to gain confidence for committing more serious crimes. (Cloward, 1960)

It should also be considered that some individuals may be caught in awkward situations which have occurred through no fault of their own, as in gang formation in organizations where they have to belong somewhere in order to be safe. As a result of this they might not have any means of escape besides breaking the law to prove themselves in a gang. These kinds of cases are the most difficult to judge, and a security manager would have immense problem dealing with them.

Aside from such cases, most other cases ranging from voluntary petty crime to homicide, may be judged or explained by the Classical theory, Interactionist theory, Sociological theory and the Psychobiological theories. These theories are worth implementing because of the fact that they take into account the various factors involved that cause an individual to break the law.

The classical theory is one that emphasizes on the free will of the individual. It holds that the individual is responsible at all costs to refrain from crime. It stresses that if one is moral in thought then the chances of committing crime are mitigated. This is what is expected of supervisors as well as employees by the upper management and the security division.

By understanding that crime is an immoral behavior that can weaken the organization and that there are consequences to breaking the law these individuals would rather not do it. However, when individuals are caught in difficult situations or simply have the desire to commit crime that is the time when their ability to rationalize positively or negatively. Whichever way one wishes to choose, the Classical theory holds that punishment is a vital ingredient to preventing crime in an organization in future. This is because the criminal is punished for violating the law and those that intend to break the law in future get to witness the consequences of lawbreaking and punishment thereafter. This is a mechanism believed to deter the chances of crime being committed in society. Why Do People Commit Crime? (2003)