Levels of Violence in the Workplace
This is an excerpt from the paper...
Although there have always been problems in the workplace associated with violence, the level of violence seems to be increasing and the kind of violence experienced is changing. In the past, violence has primarily been associated with attacks from the outside, as in robberies of banks, gasoline stations, and convenience stores. It has been criminals, and outsiders, perpetrating violence against employees in vulnerable positions. However, during the last several years the violence level at workplaces has been increasing because of onthejob violence perpetrated by angry customers, coworkers, exworkers, and others. Criminologists have indicated that the trend toward increased workplace violence represents the greatest increase in violent behavior in society. Some estimates indicate that the increase of actual mass murders in the workplace has soared to 200300% (Elliott and Jarrett, 1994). At this point, the statistics show that there is an average of 15 people murdered on the job each week. Homicide is itself the leading cause of death women in the workplace in this country (McCune, 1994). The Bureau of Labor indicated that 40 percent of women who died at work during the past decade were murder victims (Braverman and Braverman, 1994). Below that level of extreme violence, there are increasing numbers of violent incidents occurring. In a survey of its members, the Society for Human Resource Management discovered that oneth
. . .
eady trying to deal with stressful situations. There are a number of different types of violence associated with health care. One of the more recent problems has been violence at abortion clinics, including two murders at Brookline, Massachusetts abortion clinics. There was also a murder in Florida. While this type of violence can be ascribed to political differences, and extreme value conflicts, it also typifies the increase of violence in that it represents the decision of individuals to solve problems by resorting to violence, even murder.
The problem in health care has been such that the Veterans Administration actually decided to arm its security officers, rather than allow them to deal with security problems simply with chemical sprays and batons. The VA hospitals have experienced increased levels of violence, with murders occurring at two hospitals, in 1986 and 1988. In addition, there have been a number of other shooting incidents, which have wounded the VA police and other employees (Rivenbark, 1995).
Violence in the workplace has most often been associated with American culture, but it clearly is not only an American issue. As an instance of that, Wrigley (1995) reported increased violence in health care in Austr
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Elliott Jarrett, Massachusetts Hospital, Health Administration, Braverman Braverman, Reasons Violence, Workplace Introduction, Veterans Administration, Health Care, WorkCover Authority, Assistance Programs, health care, workplace violence, jarrett 1994, elliott jarrett 1994, elliott jarrett, mccune 1994, violence health care, violence health, violence workplace, increased workplace violence, maggio 1996, increased violence, increased workplace, braverman braverman 1994, violence primarily associated,
Approximate Word count = 2193
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Levels of Violence in the Workplace
|