Violence In Work Essays - Stress, Dispute Resolution,

Violence In Work Violence in the United States has reached epidemic proportions (Mason 1). Increasingly, violent behavior is being observed in the American workplace (McCune 52). This research examines the phenomenon of work-related violence. An overview of the problem is followed by a discussion of possible explanations for such behavior. The increase in the incidence of work-related violence in the United States is characterized by behaviors that range from telephonic threats to murder (Filipczak 39-40). Homicide is now the second most common cause of on-the-job deaths in the United States. Approximately 7,000 work-related homicides occur each year in the United States (Segal 33). More than 80 percent of work-related homicides result from gun-related injuries (Windau 58-9). A general profile of the perpetrator of violent work-related acts is a white male under a high level of stress (Filipczak 39). A more specific profile narrows the age range to 30-40 years old and adds the condition that the individual is entirely dependent financially on the individual's current employment (Schut 125). Victims of work-related violence are predominately males (83 percent) between the ages of 25 and 54 years old (Windau 58-9). The proportion of American workers who have been the victims of physical attacks in connection with their employment over the span of their career is estimated at 15 percent (Lipman 15). Four percent of the total number of homicides in the United States are work-related (Schut 125). With respect to non-fatal violent incidents, however, 16 percent of all such incidents in the United States are work-related. Almost one million non-fatal work-related violent incidents occur each year in the United States (Friedman 4). Approximately 10 percent of these incidents involved the use of handguns (Friedman 4). Violence is most typically an outgrowth of conflict. By definition, conflict is simply a disagreement between two or more parties over some issue, objective, or behavior. A conflict, thus, is a dispute. Violence is an outgrowth of conflict when peaceful dispute mechanisms fail. When family members, co-workers, friends, strangers, ethnic and racial groups, and even entire nations perceive that they are being denied something that they feel they should have (regardless of the validity of their justification for such a perception), the typical response is to identify the party responsible for such denial. When such identification is established, the essence of a conflict situation, the issue and the parties has been defined. Conflict may be the result of genuine inequities among parties, or conflict may stem from cultural differences that shape perceptions. Conflict need not necessarily be detrimental to the parties involved. Effective and peaceable dispute resolution may introduce greater equity into society and bring the parties involved in a conflict closer together; conflict is detrimental, however, when violent behavior is the outcome. The profiles of persons who perpetrate acts of work-related violence always characterize such persons as "loners" (Schut 125). Definitively, loners often experience difficulty both in establishing and maintaining worthwhile personal and group relationships. The integration of individuals into their society stems from the forces that place them within the social system and govern their participation and patterned associations with others. Social values, group memberships, and social roles are conceived as the axes providing the ties that structure social interaction, place the person in society, and order relations with others (Bertrand 22). In effect, actors are integrated into society through the beliefs they hold, the positions they occupy, and the groups to which they belong. Maintaining social patterns, however, is often difficult (Bertrand 23). While great individual variation exists, many people find it increasingly difficult to maintain friendships, neighborhood ties, and family relationships under the changing conditions of their lives. The development and growth of adult groups are functions of four activities described by Bertrand (76). These activities are adaptation, goal attainment, integration, and pattern maintenance and extension. The motives for the development of adult groups include the immediate gratification of personal needs, the gaining of mechanisms for continuing gratification, the pursuit of collective goals, and the gaining of conditions for self-determination. When individuals cannot fulfill these objectives, they may then resort to violent behavior as a consequence. An absence of effective interpersonal communications within organizational settings may be implicated in the estrangement of some individuals from their co-workers and then resort to violent behavior (Weide & Abbott 143). One of the primary requirements for the development of effective interpersonal communications with and between persons is the establishment of interpersonal trust (Bertrand 198). Research indicates that a person will likely distort information received from another that is not trusted. Thus if person 'B' distrusts person 'A', then person 'B' will become evasive, attempt to