Violence is a vice that every society grapples with in different respects, but when this issue is discussed, rarely does it take the perspective of violence at work. We always limit our thinking to shootings, kidnapping and robbery. Statistics and research now shows that workplace violence has been on a steady rise and at an alarming rate.
Workplace violence maybe defined as any action or threat against workers that increases the potential for attacks to occur in a work environment. It is an occupational, health and safety hazard that may lead to psychological and emotional stress on employees at the same time creating a hostile and tense work environment (cite).
In any occurrence of violence at work, managers are always put on the spot with questions being raised on why they could not avert the danger or avoid it completely. Should managers be held accountable and liable for workplace violence? I strongly feel that managers should not as managers’ roles are limited to work related issues- they do not delve in employees personal issues as this would interfere with work generally and managers in most cases are not professionally trained to deal with such situations (cite). In the case of Edgewater Technology there was no way for the manager to know or speculate the events that transpired.
Development of a precise “profiling” strategy and approach to pinpoint violent employees like Michael McDermott is difficult. Why? One of the main reasons is that what is accepted as baseline character for these perpetrators, may differ greatly depending on various environmental, social, economic and interpersonal experiences (cite).
Michael was defined as a loner but does this mean all loners should be assumed to have violent tendencies? And treat them like ticking time bombs? There are always those exceptional cases which cannot be avoided, where these violent employees are able to interact perfectly with their peers at work and only revert to acts of violence when agitated and feel compelled to vent through violence to champion their cause or seek justice.
In a situation where managers suspect an employee has the potential to become violent, they should approach the matter delicately to avoid being victims. Managers can try to create a work environment that accepts all characters and conducive for all employees regardless of their differences. This could be by having compulsory guidance and counseling for all employees to avoid alienating the one suspected which could aggravate the situation, trying to personally interact with said employee on a personal level and discretely so as to try and understand the employee (cite).
The vice of workplace violence is dire and staggering statistics only confirm this worrying situation. This problem cannot be solved individually but integration of numerous institutions is vital, so that the problem is curbed at different levels and eliminated completely.
Regardless all solutions and suggestions put through, we are still far from eradicating workplace violence. It is a complicated problem even for the most developed countries as it deals with human beings, who are complex creatures of habit, intelligence and intense emotions (cite).
References
Organizational Behavior and Management 9th Edition.
