Work Place Violence - the United States of America - Case Study Example

Work place violence –United States of America Name Course Tutor Date Introduction In the current industrious society, many problems have emerged and are facing both the employers and the employees. These problems emanates from social, political or cultural context, one of the social the problem that has emerged from the social aspect in the current society is workplace violence. Recent reports reveal that exposure to work place violence is becoming a more serious problem facing many workers in Europe and the rest of the world. Work place violence in its definition is the situation that prevails over a period where one or more persons perpetually receive negative actions from others around him (Tepper, B 2007). Many scholars define workplace violence as an aggressive behavior of deliberate intent to cause both physical and psychological distress to other people in an organization (Kieseker&Marchant 1999:63). It takes many forms i.e. intimidation, bullying, aggression, degradation, humiliation and unfair treatment of other people, Hegney et al (2006:3). Workplace violence can also be done verbally, physically, socially or psychologically to the victim who can be a volunteer, a student, intern, casual worker or even permanent employees. This misconduct can be done in any type of workplace i.e. Offices, shops, restaurants, workshops, cafes, hotels, factories, learning institutions etc. Work place violence is becoming recognized and causing an increasing concern to the current employers. Statistics show that this problem has rapidly increased in the last decade all over the world (Mayhew, C, McCarthy, P, Chappell, D, Quinlan, M, Barker, M and Sheehan, M 2004 , 2004).The increased violence in organizations has prompted the need of employers to review or change their organizations’ policies and mediation procedures (Kieseker&Marchant 1999:61). When organizations adjust their rules and regulations, they are keeping in mind that workplace violence is a form of misconduct that should not be tolerated at all. Even trade unions all over the world have agreed that workplace violence is a crucial issue that ought to be addressed by every government. Human resource practitioners and managers have the role of introducing policies and other work procedures that are aimed at reducing this problem in an organization, Hegney et al (2006:3). Unfortunately, these people themselves are the victims who practice distressful behavior to their employees. When the good procedures and legislations are not put in place to curb this practice, workplace violence behavior and its associated costs are going to be persistent. This paper concentrates on the workplace violence in America. It will show the statistical data related to this behavior, the causes, the impact or cost, and how the stakeholders ought to handle this situation. Studies reveal that about 5-10% of employees in the European nations suffer from the exposure to bullying and other forms of workplace violence (Einarsein 2005:1). The acts of violence at work are even more pronounced in the developing nations such as Asian and African countries where there are no good employer and employee policy procedures. Bullying at work exists in both private and public organizations; the victims can be men or women as well as workers and middle level managers. Many reports points out that workplace bullying are the main source of severe stress among the workers nowadays. Einarstein (2005) points out that acts of harassment at work occur often and they are closely related to severe healthy problems among the workers when they occur regularly. Statistical information Reports reveals that workplace violence affects more than half of United States firms, and nearly 70% of these firms have no clear programs or laid policies to counter this form of misconduct (Dillon 2012:1). While 20% of all the workers in America are physically attacked at their place of work every year. Research conducted in 1993, by Chicago safe workplace institute show that the cost of work place violence in US amounts to $4.2 billion every year. The institute further showed that in 1992b alone, there were about 111 000 incidences of workplace violence, these resulted to about 750 death cases .A similar research was also conducted in 1994, which showed that the loss resulting from workplace violence was $36 billion annual loss. Types of work place violence exhibited in the US. Workplace violence in the United States like other nations occurs in a variety of forms. These types include; violence by strangers, violence by customers, violence by coworkers and violence by personal relation (Einarsen, S 1999).An assailant who has no legitimate relationship at the place of work does violence by strangers. It involves verbal threats, physical assault or threatening behavior; in most cases in this kind of violence, the assailant enters at the work place and commits a criminal act. In the US, strangers’ workplace violence is attributed to the majority of fatal injuries. This kind of violence is very much common in late night retail shops and taxi terminals. On the other hand, violence by customers or clients involves verbal threats or even the physical assailant from the assailant who get service from the organization or is under the custodial supervision of the person threatened. Here, the assailants can be former or current clients, patients, inmates, students, prisoners etc. The threatened person is the one providing services to the public, they include, police officers, nurses, drivers, teachers, lawyers etc. Their clients at their place of work threaten them or commit criminal acts against them. Violence by workers or clients is very common in many firms in the United States and they occur on daily basis. These types of violence are common because the clients react when they are provoked for example, when they are frustrated by denying them their rights (Einarsen, S 1999). The third type of workplace violence experienced in US is the violence by coworkers which involves threats and physical assaults by a person who has an employment related involvement at the place of work. It can be between the management and the junior staff, between the managers of different department or between the subordinates staff themselves. The main reason behind this kind of work place violence is the revenge for unfair treatment by the coworkers. Violence by coworkers can be very serious and can lead to ineffectiveness of the workers on their duties. Lastly, violence by personal relations can be threats of assaults from an assailant who is in the work place tend to confront a person whom he/she had a personal relationship outside the workplace. They include former or current spouse, friend, lover or even a relative. In this kind of violence, the assailant’s behavior is ignited by the difficulties in the relationship or the psychosocial factors that are related to the victim (Einarsen, S 1999). The assailant can transfer this bitterness to the place of work and performs his tasks in a different way as expected by the management. Causes of workplace violence In the current society, many factors are attributed to the workplace violence; the causes tend to vary from one organization to another. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the employer to know exactly what might the possible causes of violence within the organization before it erupts. In American society, the most notable causes of workplace violence are; first, stress at work .Many employees in the United States tend to occupy themselves with more than one occupation. This is because labor demand is high and the available workers attempt multitasking, this behavior tends to wear down the employee strength since they have little time to rest. On the other hand, the employers sometimes force employees to work overtime to meet the set targets. All these situations make employees to be stressed throughout. Overworking the workers often create hostile environment especially if the workers are at the same time struggling with personal issues. Therefore, the combination of the stressful situation at work and the personal issues stress at home may cause a disastrous violence at the place of work. Secondly, when an organization lacks an employee assistance program (EAP), the chances of the eruption of violence at work are very high. When there is an effective employee assistance program, the management can easily diffuse a situation that would likely cause violence (Wiskow 2003: 12). EAP provides an opportunity for the employees to shares the stressors in the social life and probably they would get assistance from the specialists on how to go about with such situations. Therefore, it is very much important and necessary for an organization to consider establishing an employee assistance program to reduce this problem. Thirdly, lack of pre-employment screening is also another common cause of violence at the place of work. It is crucial that when a firm hires a new employee, the firm must carry out a thorough investigation about the person conducts and history before deploying him/her. Most firms that do not conduct background screening of new employees stand high risks of experiencing violence at the work place. Another potential cause of workplace violence is the disgruntled clients and former employees. Somebody who feels that a certain firm has wronged him; he/she can do anything to harm the company (Kieseker &Marchant 1999:67). Former employees who left the companies involuntarily for example, that one who was fired, forced to be transferred, or denied his rightful due pay can cause violence at the work place. In addition to this, those employees who are denied promotion looked down upon and those ones who are not appreciated at their work can easily cause violence. Lastly, authoritarian management style in any organization tends to cause violence in any firm. In fact, a large percentage of violence experienced today is due to poor management style where the authorities put a lot of pressure to the employees’ .Dictatorship should not be encouraged in any given organization. It is advisable for organizations to adopt democratic kind of management where the senior officials seek opinions from the junior workers and the junior workers are free to raise a finger on the issues passed by the management .Authoritative management is often accompanied by poorly distributed assignment, and lack of decision-making autonomy. Costs of workplace violence Many costs are associated with workplace violence. Most of these costs are financial while others are psychological (Kieseker &Marchant 1999:66). For the case of employee costs, we have the employee turnover, litigation procedures, long-term absenteeism, compensation claims, early retirement costs, counseling programs costs and repair of the destroyed premises due to workers’ violence. One of the wall street journal in 1995 showed that over fifty million dollars was paid to the former Wal Mart employees due to the litigation cases related to work place bullying (Kieseker &Marchant 1999:66). Therefore, there costs of workplace violence are always expensive to the employers. To the employees, workplace violence has also detrimental effects. For example, health problems may come because of workplace violence. When somebody has a long-term stress due to the violence he/she gets from the place of work, he may develop ulcers, hypertension and other health related problems .This situation would make such a person not to be productive as expected. Moreover, the victim would incur financial costs by seeking medication (Kieseker &Marchant 1999:67). Financial costs may also arise when the victim is compelled to pay the organization or other people whom he caused harm during the violence. Other costs of work place violence are isolation, denial, anxiety, stress, suicide low self-esteem etc. Therefore, the costs of workplace violence affect both the employees and the employers. Ways to prevent workplace violence. The task of reducing work place violence in organization varies from one organization to another because each has its unique features and operates in different environments. In taking this step, employers consider the culture, history, size industry and the work force of the organization .Surveys done by researchers in the United States propose several common ways that can be used to prevent workplace violence. First, researchers suggest that fostering a supportive and harmonious work environment is on ultimate ways of reducing this kind of conduct in any working place. This involves creating a mutual culture of respect among the organization community; this reduces harassment hostility and hatred at the place of work. (Kieseker&Marchant 1999:70). The employers tend to communicate openly to the employees; they give direction, control and necessary support to their workers. On the other hand, this means that conflicts and violence at the place of work are minimal when the workers are empowered to work independently and motivated to work collaboratively. Secondly, the organization should be in a position to train employees and their supervisors’ issues to do with conflicts resolutions. Violence at the place of work can be reduced by developing the negotiating skills in employees, enhancing effective communication, exercising team building and faster disputes resolution. Moreover, the management should encourage the employees to have respect for diversity because it lessens interpersonal conflicts .There should be clear policies and procedures of resolving conflicts and each employee should be made aware of these procedures. In addition, every worker should be made to understand whom he/she could report to when he find some difficultness at his place of work (Rayner, C and Hoel, H 1997) Thirdly, organizations are advised to provide personal guidance and counseling through employee assistance program. In most cases, family, financial and interpersonal issues tend to have a great impact to the employees task performance and social interaction at the place of work (Kieseker&Marchant 1999:61). Therefore, when an employee assistance-counseling program has been established in an organization, it plays a crucial role in guiding the victim employee to return to their normal state. This is because such an initiative provides free, easily accessible and confidential resource persons who are able to address personal concerns. Implementation of the security programs that protect employees is another way the firms can use to reduce workplace violence (Barling, J. 1996). Employers can use different ways to ensure the security and safety of their employees. Some of the common ways are full time or after work security guards, emergency warning systems, high-tech monitoring systems, strict visitor signing in, strangers background screening etc (Wiskow 2003: 12). Organizations that regularly, evaluate their safety programs can easily determine if they are meeting their employee needs. They should also ensure that their employees are aware of the security procedures and policies that are available in the organization. Another way of conflicts management in the organization is training the middle level managers and supervisors on how to recognize the signs of troubled workers. Once the managers knows how to detect that a certain employee is troubled, it will be easy for him to take the necessary steps to curb the problem. One effective way to reduce workplace violence is intervening in the in an incident before it erupts by looking at the warning signs (Zapf, D 1999) The subordinate staff also have to be trained on recognize signs of possible abuse among the employees. Frequent absenteeism, depression, isolation are some of the signs that employees exhibit when they are bullied or harassed at work. Lastly, the employers ought to set up a crisis plan for dealing with violent incidents. In this plan, details such as how to report the incident and the key internal authorities have to be included (Kieseker&Marchant 1999:61). The details should also include the safety of the unaffected workers, and some safety precautions to reduce further trouble. Firms are also advised to arrange individual guidance and counseling to the affected groups after the violent incident. When a well-planned crisis management plan is established in an organization, it would help to calm the situation at the place of work immediately after the incident and things would return to normal. Conclusion Workplace violence is a current social problem that is experienced in many organizations around the world. This problem has been on the rise in the last few decades and it has raised concern among the organizations and governments. United States is among the most affected nations around the world that experiences this problem in many organizations. We have many causes of workplace violence and these causes depend very much on the organization’s environment and culture. On the other hand, both the employer and the workers incur costs associated with workplace violence. Researchers have suggested various ways firms can use to reduce this menace and indeed those firms that consider these suggestions do not have frequent workplace violence incidences in their organization. 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