Violence at Work [Illustrated] (Hardcover)

One of the key themes of the collection is the inter-relationship between various types of workplace violence and organisational structures and management. Job loss, for example, is argued to be a better predictor of future violent behaviour than any other indicator: ‘A number of well publicised mass shootings within American workplaces, such as the post office, have been to some extent triggered by an individual’s perception of being unjustly disciplined or layed off. Thus violent actions which may have been seen as purely the acts of an unstable individual may be in fact the interaction of personal and organisational factors’ (Bowie, Chapter 1).

It is this attention to the wider situational and social context of violence that gives the book its great appeal. As James F. Kenny acknowledges (Chapter 5), workplace violence is rarely ‘random’, ‘senseless’, ‘sudden’ or ‘crazy’. More often than not it is preceded by a series of highly visible, purposeful, interdependent and progressively dangerous behaviours that indicate a potential for violence – warning signs that often remain unnoticed or which are ignored. Workplace violence is also patterned (Mayhew, Chapter 2). Key risk factors include tasks that involve lots of face-to-face customer/client contact; handling cash; off-site or isolated work environments; and reduced job security. Whereas men experience more threats and assaults than women, women in the workplace appear to suffer verbal abuse more than men and are more likely to be the victims of sexual assault, rape, and stalking by co-workers (Santana and Fisher, Chapter 6).

This raises a number of important implications for practitioners. Different victimisation patterns and different forms of workplace violence highlight the need for different and focused prevention strategies. Generalised programmes and universal systems are likely to miss their mark. The key, therefore, lies in localising responses by gearing schemes to fit the type of violence, the type of work, the victim-offender relationship and the motives of the perpetrator (Barron, Chapter 9), all of which need to be routinely monitored by the organisation. Furthermore, such practises must be integrated into the core of the business (Tehrani, Chapter 12).

As an introduction to violence in the workplace, this book provides a scholarly and accessible foundation and is thoroughly recommended to anyone working in the field. It also provides a good introduction to debates relating to violence research more generally and would therefore be of interest to students, researchers and academics alike.