Health and Psychology

Workplace Violence Underwood 1

Workplace
Violence
Lezli Underwood
May 26, 2013
HCA/250
Sarah Caro

Workplace Violence Underwood 2 Violence in our society appears to be on the increase. This is particularly apparent in areas where psychology graduates often encounter their first contact with client groups. Many incidents can be avoided through skilled management, and sometimes violence has resulted from a member of staff forgetting to be aware or act skilfully. (White, 2005) Bullying that can lead to workplace violence may include: * Spreading malicious rumors, gossip, or innuendo that is not true * Excluding or isolating someone socially * Intimidating a person * Undermining or deliberately impeding a person’s work * Physically abusing or threatening abuse * Removing areas of responsibilities without cause * Constantly changing work guidelines * Establishing impossible deadlines that will set up the individual to fail * Withholding necessary information or purposefully giving the wrong information * Making jokes that are ‘obviously offensive’ by spoken word or e-mail * Intruding on a person’s privacy by pestering, spying or stalking * Assigning unreasonable duties or workload which are unfavorable to one person (in a way that creates unnecessary pressure) * Under work – creating a feeling of uselessness * Yelling or using profanity * Criticizing a person persistently or constantly
Workplace Violence Underwood 3 * Belittling a person’s opinions * Unwarranted (or undeserved) punishment * Blocking applications for training, leave or promotion * Tampering with a person’s personal belongings or work equipment. (Oppermann, 2008)

It is sometimes hard to know if bullying is happening at the workplace. Many studies acknowledge that there is a “fine line” between strong management and bullying. Comments that are objective and are intended to provide constructive feedback are not usually considered bullying, but rather are intended to assist the employee with their work. (Oppermann, 2008) You can manage workplace violence by implementing a zero-tolerance policy of violence at work, no matter where the violence originated. You can also manage workplace violence by holding training sessions for each department leader in how to manage the violence in their specific department. The hospital that I work at always has a security guard from our local police department on duty. I believe that this helps to control some of the violence, especially when people see him while arguing. Other ways of managing workplace violence can include organizing a team, if no security guard is present. These teams should include representatives from human resources, security, employee assistance, unions, workers, management, and perhaps legal and public relations departments. The charge to this team is to assess threats of violence (e.g., to determine how specific a threat is, whether the person threatening the worker

Workplace Violence Underwood 4 has the means for carrying out the threat, etc.) and to determine what steps are necessary to prevent the threat from being carried out. (Roberts, n.d.) Workplace violence is unnecessary, however, it does happen. Some people come in to work in a bad mood to begin with and bring it out on other people. Workplace violence can be verbal and physical and can hurt others. It can be prevented in many ways as listed above.

Workplace Violence Underwood 5
Reference Page:
White, A. (2005). Violence in the Workplace. Psychologist, 18, 625-625. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/docview/211825579
Oppermann, S. (2008). Workplace Bullying: Psychological Violence?. Retrieved from http://www.workplacebullying.org/2009/05/04/workplace-bullying-psychological-violence/
Roberts, J.R. (n.d.). VIOLENCE In The Worplace. Retrieved from http://www.jrrobertssecurity.com/articles/violdev.html