Violence in Work Place Research Paper

Violence in Workplace

I.                    Introduction

Businesses, cooperation’s and other workplace should begin to take steps to eliminate workplace violence.

II.                 Definition

A.    Definition of Workplace Violence

B.     Violence

III.              Types of Violence

A.    Six Types of Violence

1.      Physical Violence

2.      Sexual Violence

3.      Emotional Violence

4.      Psychological Violence

5.      Spiritual Violence

6.      Cultural Violence

IV.              Causes of Workplace Violence

A.    Emotions

1.      Frustrations

2.      Aggression

B.     Behavior

1.      Interpersonal Violence

2.      Aggression

3.      Lying

V.                Workplace Violence Warning Signs

A.    Forms of Violence Among Co-Workers

B.     Other Forms Of Workplace Violence

VI.              Prevention Plan

A.    Work Environment

B.     Security

C.     Education

VII.           Conclusion

Violence has been a recurring nightmare in the workplace. Any company that experiences violence in its workplace goes through profound change. Many believed that violent incidents only happen somewhere else, not to their company.

Yet statics show that what was virtually unheard of a quarter of a century ago, murder in the workplace became one of the fastest growing types of homicide in the early 1990s. Due to increasing knowledge and intervention, workplace murder has decreased 34% from 1994 to 1998. However, still today, the leading cause of death for women on the job is homicide and other acts for violence at work continue to increase.

In addition to the cost of violence in the workplace to employees and their families, companies also suffer costs such as interruption of business, increased legal and medical fees, and loss of productivity. Victims pay approximately 44 billion of the 57 billion in tangible non-service expenses for traditional crimes of violence. Employers pay almost 5 billion due to these crimes. Planning can do two things; it can prevent human suffering, and save a lot of money.

Today, many of us spend between 35 and 65% of our waking hours at work. We bring to work our needs and our hopes, our passions and our fears. We seek affiliation, status, growth, and fulfillment. For some people, though, the workplace is a frustrating, sometimes overwhelming environment, where individual goals seem incompatible with those of the organization.

Workplace violence is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site. If ranges from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide. It can affect and involve employees, clients, customers and visitor. Violence is "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation."This definition associates intentionality with the committing of the act itself, irrespective of the outcome it produced, which might be called stress. Generally, although, anything that is turbulent or excited in an injurious, damaging or destructive way or presenting risk accordingly, may be described as violent or occurring violently, even if not signifying violence.

Physical violence occurs when someone uses a part of their body or an object to control a person’s action. Sexual violence occurs when a person is forced to unwillingly take part in sexual activity. Emotional violence occurs when someone says or does something to make a person feel stupid or worthless. Psychological violence occurs when someone uses threats and causes fear in an individual to gain control. Spiritual (or religious) violence occurs when someone uses an individual’s spiritual beliefs to manipulate, dominate or control that person.

            Emotion is differentiated from feeling, in that, as noted, emotion is a psycho-physiological state that moves an organism to action. Feeling, on the other hand, is emotion that is filtered through the cognitive brain centers, specifically the frontal lobe, producing a physiological change in addition to the psycho-physiological change. The term emotional isolation has been used to describe people who are not able, for some reason, to confide their feelings in anyone. Frustration is an environmental event or situation that interferes with or prevents an individual from achieving or maintaining a personal goal at work. The experience of frustration at work begins with an event or situation that I call a frustration. Appraisal an environmental situation only can become a frustration for an individual if that individual appraises it as such. Antisocial behavior individuals who experience frustration may respond by engaging in antisocial behavior. Antisocial behavior can be directed at the agent of the frustration and can serve to remove the obstacle. Interpersonal behavior is the bond or behavior between two people depending on the context of their relationship. This could be workmates, couples in a relationship or even business partners. People appreciate each other's skill when they work together. In psychology, the term aggression refers to a range of behaviors that can result in both physical and psychological harm to oneself, other or objects in the environment. The expression of aggression can occur in a number of ways, including verbally, mentally and physically. Lying is when a person doesn't tell the truth, there are many reasons a person may tell a lie. Usually people lie to get themselves out of trouble; some people actually have a disorder that makes them lie without realizing they are doing so.

Forms of violence among co-workers there many forms of workplace violence among co-workers. Unfortunately, the one form that receives the most attention is workplace homicide. But there are far more incidents of violence that do not involve causalities but have the same traumatic effects. Other forms of Workplace Violence it is important to recognize that violent incidents in the workplace may include acts of domestic violence. Often, co-workers and supervisor believe that domestic violence is something that is not their concern, but a private family matter that should not be brought to work.

Work environment the best prevention strategy is to maintain an environment which minimizes negative feelings, such as isolation, resentment, and hostility among employees. Although no workplace can be perceive as perfect by every employee, there are several steps that are several steps that management can take to help create a professional, healthy, and caring work environment. Security maintaining a secure and physically safe workplace is part of any good strategy for preventing workplace violence. The Department uses a variety of security measures to help ensure safety. Education and communication are also critical components of any prevention strategy.

Consequently, Workplace violence affects us all. Its burden is borne not only by victims of violence, but by their co-workers, their families, their employers, and by every worker at risk of violent assault—in other, virtually all of us. Although we know that each year Workplace violence results in hundreds of deaths, more than 2million injuries, and billions of dollars in costs, our understanding of workplace violence is still in its infancy. Much remains to be done in the area of research, particularly in data collection and in Intervention. Without basic information on who is most affected and which prevention measures are effective in what settings, we can expect only limited success in addressing this problem.