Kyunghee University Seoul

School of Business Administration

Violence on the w orkp lace and its imp act on Human Resou rces Man agemen t

Handed in by:

Michael Kruk, 2010008237 Johannes Kotremba, 2010008238

September 29th 2010

Index
1 2 What is violence on Workplace? ......................................................................... 4 Types of workplace violence ............................................................................... 4 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 3 4 5 The Criminal Type ........................................................................................ 4 The Customer/Client Type ............................................................................ 5 The Employee on Employee Type ................................................................ 5 The Domestic Type ....................................................................................... 5

Who is vulnerable? .............................................................................................. 6 Causes for Workplace Violence .......................................................................... 7 Management of Workplace Violence .................................................................. 8 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Workplace violence policy statement ........................................................... 8 Pre-employment screening ............................................................................ 9 Identifying problem situations of current employees.................................... 9 Survey and measures ..................................................................................... 9 Training ....................................................................................................... 10

6 5 6

Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 10 References .......................................................................................................... 11 Internet References ............................................................................................ 12

Violence on the Workplace and its influence on HR

Index of Figures
Figure 4.1 reasons and impacts von violence (Mathis, 2008, p. 479) ......................... 7

Index of Tables
Table 3.1 Development of the number of workplace violence victims 1991 2008 ... 6

Violence on the Workplace and its influence on HR

1 What is violence on Workplace?

Workplace violence is violence or the threat of violence occurring in the workplace. This includes physical violence like for example beating, stabbing, shooting, sexual harassment or punching as well as non-physical violence as intimidation, abuse, stalking or threats. (OSHA, 2002, p. 1) These behaviors can even result in psychological traumas, suicide or murder. (HRM, 2002, p. 1) These aggressive behaviors constitute workplace violence, no matter if they are committed by people who are in a supervisory position or by co-workers, clients, vendors, visitors or other third-party persons. (Paludi, 2006, p. 104) Workplace violence is nowadays one of the leading causes of job-related deaths therefore this issue is a growing concern for employers, managers and employees. (OSHA, 2002, p. 1)

2 Types of workplace violence

In order to understand workplace violence from a human resource perspective, the violence has to be categorized into types. To understand and prevent violence on the workplace one simple definition of this issue is not enough because there are different types of violence with different reasons and impacts. Specialists of HR and occupational violence experts came to the conclusion that workplace violence falls into four broad categories. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004, p. 13)

2.1 The Criminal Type

The perpetrator has no legitimate relationship with the employer or the workplace. The violent act is committed by criminals in order to commit robbery or another crime. (Employee Rights, 2010)

Violence on the Workplace and its influence on HR

This type of violence accounts for the vast majority nearly 80 percent of workplace homicides. The motive in these incidents is mostly theft or robbery and in many cases the criminal is carrying a weapon. This circumstance increases the likelihood that the victim will be killed or seriously wounded. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004, p. 13)

2.2 The Customer/Client Type

In this type the damage causing person is receiving some product or service from the employer and is not an employee. Mostly this individual becomes violent because of some dissatisfaction with the product or service provided. This type can be clients, customers, medical patients or students. (Employee Rights, 2010) In some occupations, dealing with dangerous people is inherent in the job, as in the case of a police officer, correctional officer or a security guard. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004, p. 14)

2.3 The Employee on Employee Type

In this case the damage causing person has a relationship with the business or an employee. These perpetrators of violence are existing or former employees. When the violence comes from an employee, there is a much greater chance that some warning sign will have reached the employer in the form of observable behavior. This is where HR or the management has a possibility to prevent the violence. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004, p. 14)

2.4 The Domestic Type

In this case violence committed in the workplace by someone who doesnt work there, but has a personal relationship with an employeean abusive spouse or domestic partner. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004, p. 13)

Violence on the Workplace and its influence on HR

3 Who is vulnerable?
For example about 327.000 workers (1.4 percent) in England are victims of workplace violence. This strikes 1.3 percent of the female and 1.5 percent of male workers. Regarding to this, workplace violence is still a problem in our current working environment. (British Crime Survey, 2008, p. 9) Workplace violence can strike anywhere and no one is immune. It concerns especially workers who exchange money with the public, work alone, work during late night hours, in high-crime areas or in community settings and homes. (OSHA, 2002, p. 1) According to the British Crime Survey the number of victims of violence at work has fallen by 45 percent since 1997 (as shown in table 3.1).

Table 3.1 Development of the number of workplace violence victims 1991 2008 (British Crime Survey, 2008, p. 8)

This development traces back to the improved violence prevention measures of British companies. This show how important the introduction and advancement of violence prevention measures is. (British Crime Survey, 2008, p. 8)

Violence on the Workplace and its influence on HR

4 Causes for Workplace Violence

Human resource managers should be aware of the fact that the companys business culture may create an environment that breeds job violence and puts everyone at risk. When companies have an attitude of harassment and intimidation instead of cooperation towards their workplace, negative consequences usually follow. (Employee Rights, 2010) There are four main points when it comes to the causes of workplace violence (Employee Rights, 2010):

Employer issues Employee psychological problems Cultural issues in society Economic stresses

It is soften the case that violence that begins at home with the family can spill over to the workplace. An employer must not ignore signs of domestic violence. Some employers have been sued and found liable for ignoring pleas for help from employees who later are victims of domestic violence. (Mathis, 2008, p. 478)

Figure 4.1 reasons and impacts von violence (Mathis, 2008, p. 479)

Violence on the Workplace and its influence on HR

5 Management of Workplace Violence

The management of workplace violence is an important issue for human resource managers. Employers have a legal and ethical obligation to prevent their workers of violence at the workplace. Preventing violence from happening is the best way to deal with this issue but its also very difficult to handle. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004, p.19) The management of workplace violence can include fowling tasks (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004, p.19): Adopting a workplace violence policy, prevention program, communicating the policy and program to workers. Providing regular training in preventive measures for all employees, supervisors and managers. Supporting victims of workplace violence. Adopting and practicing fair disciplinary procedures. A climate of trust and respect among workers and also between employees and management. Seeking advice from outside resources like threat-assessment psychologists, psychiatrists, social service agencies, if it is necessary.

5.1 Workplace violence policy statement

The written workplace violence policy statement is set by the employer and defines the standard for acceptable workplace behavior within an organization. This statement affirms the companys commitment to a safe workplace by defining different acts that will not be tolerated. This makes clear that physical violence, threats, bullying, harassment and weapons possession are against company policy and are prohibited. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004, p. 20)

Violence on the Workplace and its influence on HR

5.2 Pre-employment screening

Pre-employment screening is a common technique for preventing workplace violence. It makes it possible to identify and screen out potentially violent people before hiring. Those practices like a background check must be consistent with the privacy protections and antidiscrimination laws. The depth of the pre-employment screening should be adjusted to the sensitivity of the job due to detailed checks could be very expensive. Known drug or alcohol abuse, past conflicts, past convictions for violent crimes, hostile attitude are indications for future problems of violence on the workspace. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004, p. 20)

5.3 Identifying problem situations of current employees

Problem situations can involve a particular event, employee or the whole workplace and have a heighten risk of violence. Its important for employers and employees to alert to problematic behavior that can lead to violence. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004, p. 21)

5.4 Survey and measures

A survey for employees about violence on the workspace can help to improve the security in the company. The inputs from the survey can be used to improve the security measures 1. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004, p. 22)

The checklist http://www.pk-rh.fi/pdf/en/violence-control-measures helps to eva-

luate the current situation of measures against violence.

Violence on the Workplace and its influence on HR

5.5 Training
Managers, HR staff, supervisors and employees should be trained for different situations like how to handle a possible violent employee or how to react in cause of violence on workspace. (Mathis, 2008, p. 479)

6 Conclusion
According to the findings made during research violence on the workplace is a serious issue. The employer has to provide a safe work environment as possible and react immediately when first signs of violence or abuse occur in the company. Otherwise the employer will have to face serious lawsuits if incidents should happen. Therefore the human resource managers or departments have to take this issue seriously and implement rules and policies that prevent violence on the workplace. It is also in their responsibility to provide a working atmosphere where bullying or other aggressive behavior has no chance to occur. This includes also special training in preventing and handling of violence for managers, supervisors and employees.

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References

(British Crime Survey, 2009) Buckley, P. (2009). Violence at Work: Findings from the 2008/09 British Crime Survey. London: Health and Safety Executive. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2009) Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2003). Workplace Violence: Issues in Response. Quantico: U.S. Department of Justice. (Mathis, 2008) Mathis, R. L. (2008). Human Resource Management (Vol. 12). Mason: Thomson Learning, Inc. (OSHA, 2002) Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2002). Factsheet: Workplace Violence. Washington: U.S. Department of Labor. (Paludi, 2006) Paludi, M. A. (2006). Understanding workplace violence: a guide for managers and employees. Westport: Praeger publishers.

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Internet References

(Employee Rights, 2010) Yancey Thomas Jr., you-can-lear-basic-employee-rights.com (2010-9-28) http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/ (HRM, 2002) Department of Human Resource Management, Virginia (2010-9-28) http://www.dhrm.virginia.gov/hrpolicy/policy/pol180_wpviolence.pdf

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