violence in the workplace

Final topic for I/O psychology class is violence in the workplace.

• two categories of workplace violence
• non-employee against employee
• employee against fellow employees
• level one violence (described below)
• level two violence
• argues increasingly with customers, vendors, co-workers, and management
• refuses to obey company policies and procedures
• sabotages or destroys equipment or property of employer or co-worker
• verbalizes wishes to hurt co-workers/management
• sends sexual or violent notes to co-workers or management
• sees self as victimized by management ("me vs. them")
• level three violence
• recurrent physical fights
• destruction of property
• recurrent suicidal threats
• utilization of weapons to harm others
• murder, rape, or arson
• "typical violent workers"
• does not participate in organizational events
• has few outside interests
• has worked for the company for some time
• has a history of violence
• is a white male between 25-50 years of age
• has lost or is worried about losing his/her job
• has a history of conflicts with co-workers, supervisors, or both
• has difficulty accepting authority
• commonly violates company policies and rules
• works in a company or work group with an authoritarian management style
• abuses alcohol
• justice hypothesis of workplace violence
• procedural justice
• distributive justice
• interpersonal justice
• bullying
• article
• predicting workplace aggression and violence

frustration-aggression hypothesis- argues that frustration leads to aggression; ultimately found to be too broad - aggression was only one possible response to frustration with aggression

• not all frustrated individuals act aggressively, and not all aggressive acts are a result of frustration

bullying- harassing, offending, socially excluding, or assigning humiliating tasks to a person of subordinate status repeatedly and over a long period of time

REACTION

The newest topics we covered have built off of the information we learned at the beginning of the semester. An example is the perceived justice in the workplace- this is something that is taken into consideration when determining or attempting to predict violence in the workplace. I find it so cool when all of the concepts start to intertwine. This information was interesting to learn. To the average person, most of it seems like common sense- treat someone well and they are less likely to be aggressive/violent towards you (except bullying). The article we read dispelled some myths regarding the "typical violent worker."

ANALYSIS

I have worked with aggressive individuals. A job I held a few years ago had me in a leadership role- I oversaw a staff and that did include people who were older than myself. There was one male staffer who did not take kindly to "receiving orders" from a younger female. He went out of his way to avoid my requests of him. He was disrespectful and only listened to my superior who was a male. It was so stupid because I had done nothing to cause this guy to dislike me so much. This could be seen as psychological aggression and some characteristics of level one violence.

aggression- behavior by an individual or individuals within or outside an organization that is intended to physically or psychologically harm a worker or workers and occurs in a work-related context (Schat & Kelloway, 2005)

level one violence

• refuses to cooperate with immediate supervisor
• spreads rumors and gossip to harm others
• consistently argues with co-workers
• belligerent toward customers/clients
• constantly swears at others
• makes inappropriate sexual comments 

My superior and I discussed the issue with our director and we all agreed that we wouldn't be able to change his behaviors towards me. For the rest of his time with our organization, my superior was the one who had direct contact with this individual. It was frustrating and disappointing. This guy had an "old boys club" mentality and it is more sad than anything else. I learned to not take his actions personally and do my best to lead the rest of the people who weren't sexist.

REFLECTION
After having experienced aggression in the workplace and bullying outside of the workplace that affected my ability to perform my job tasks well, I can see how devastating this can be to an organization. Organizations need to be aware of what to look out for in order to prevent these things from happening. If they do occur, they need to be on top of the situation and know how to respond accordingly in order to have a decent outcome.