Workplace Violence Essay -- Essays Papers

Workplace Violence â€Å"And who has not thought that the impersonal world deserves no better than to be destroyed by one fabulous sign of his displeasure?† (J. Bronowski, The Face of Violence) Workplace violence has become a concern for both public and private companies, and has prompted these companies to implement anti-violence programs. As well they should, for the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows in their Special Report on Workplace Violence, researched by Dr. Greg Warchol , that in each year for the period of 1992 – 96 more than 2.2 million residents were victims of violent acts while they were working or on duty. (BJS Special Report, July 1998, NCJ 168634) The most common violent act committed was simple assault with an estimated 1.5 million victimizations each year and then followed by an estimated yearly average of 395,000 aggravated assaults, 51,000 rapes and sexual assaults, 84,000 robberies and 1,000 homicides. A stranger to the victim committed the majority of workplace crime while less than 1% were intimates. Men were more likely to be the perpetrator and or the victim of violence. In the public arena retail workers had the highest rate of robbery and aggravated assault victimization while police and teachers were the most often victimized in the public arena. 20 % of violent incidents in the workplace involved an armed offender of which a firearm was used fewer than 10% of the time. This is that data that faces all employers in every sector and by which they must base their approach to formulate programs that will help create a safe and comfortable atmosphere for both their employees and their clients. Many of the conditions that prevail in today’s workplace seem to breed critical incidents. Among them are: 1.) Competitive pressures. Relentless global market forces demand constant changes in methods of production and workplace organization. Employees find themselves having to perform in new ways and more efficiently. In addition, privacy has been eroded by electronic surveillance on the job, drug testing and computerized performance monitoring. Abrasive co-workers or autocratic supervisors create additional stresses. The long-term consequences may be overwhelming psychological stress leading to hostility and outbursts of violent or bizarre behavior. 2.) Domestic dysfunction overspill. Family discord, domestic violence, ... ... Workplace violence as you can see, is a problem that plagues us all. With the pressure on everyone to perform, from the man in the ditch to the CEO, its know wonder were having a problem. And both the public and private sectors of business are in a mad dash to stop the violence that is happening. With all the major corporations having either an anti violence program or rules about such behavior, what is the cost to the individual? Will they have to work harder and more efficiently? Will there be more threats and intimidation to perform, to cover the cost of these programs? Or will business see an improvement in the working relations of its employees? With the right people in charge of these programs, there is hope for improvement, but only if business is serious about the problem! You see very little TV coverage of work place violence, unless it extremely violent. Even then there must be a death, or deaths to bring on the sensationalizing that TV needs. Because of this, will business wait for the coverage to demand a solution or will they head it off. When you’re at work, there’s no reason â€Å"†¦ to be destroyed by one fabulous sign of his displeasure†. Only time will tell.