Workplace Violence - Assignment Example

?Introduction Workplace violence is one of the major causes of fatalities in the workplace, especially for women. Violence in the workplace is a wicked and dangerous problem that deprives organizations with efficiency, high productivity, resources, and even the capacity to operate fully. Therefore, workplace violence remains a grave threat to employees and the larger community. This paper argues that victims of workplace violence experience perceived fear and psychological distress or mental problems immediately after the unpleasant incident. These negative outcomes of workplace violence cause dysfunctions in an organization. Hence it is important to implement effective prevention policies against workplace violence. Perceived Fear and the Psychological Effect of Workplace Violence Numerous studies have reported the effect of workplace violence on the victims’ psychological or emotional wellbeing, as well as on their self-perception. Some examples of the psychological impacts of violence in the workplace are lowered self-worth, distress, vulnerability, anger, fear, depression, denial, humiliation, and guilt. Several researchers have identified post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as an outcome of violence in the workplace among those victimized. Several of the warning signs of PTSD are damaged concentration, weakened memory, recurrent nightmares, disturbance, isolation, bad temper, physiological stimulation, and anxiety (Cavanaugh et al., 2012). Victims of workplace violence immediately feel physical and psychological numbing, distress, denial, and suspicion. Immediately after the unpleasant incident, the victims go through three kinds of effects (Browne-Miller, 2012): (1) withdrawal effects such as truancy, social isolation; reliving effects such as nightmares, recollections; and (3) other effects such as excessive shock, anger, fear, and irritability. Horizontal violence is one of the forms of workplace violence that brings about negative psychological effects on victims. And horizontal violence is most prevalent in health care settings. Increasing rates of continuous horizontal violence or harassment and bullying have been reported to negatively affect the physical and psychological wellbeing of nurses, employee retention, and job satisfaction as well as indirect impacts on patient care quality and possibility of negative health outcomes. Horizontal violence harms the individual’s self-esteem and eventually becomes damaging to the nurses’ career, as violent behavior develops from colleagues who are supposed to be providing support, assistance, and guidance (Becher & Visovsky, 2012). Continuous horizontal violence among nurses is a major problem. In enhancing and broadening the field of research to intervention and prevention level, theoretical perspectives from sociology, psychology, and biology are explained alongside the theoretical explanation of the frequency of horizontal violence against nurses. Several studies discovered that employees are more likely to be victimized by people outside their organizations or by members of the civic sector than by colleagues, even though there are discrepancies. Nevertheless, in spite of the evidently lower prevalence of co-worker violence existing findings indicate that its psychological effects are more damaging and serious than those of public hostility (Mueller & Tschan, 2011). In the study of Kelloway and LeBlanc (2002 as cited in Mueller & Tschan, 2011), public hostility determined perceived fear and possibility of future victimization but was not related to emotional dedication, physiological health, and psychological wellbeing. In contrast, co-worker violence did not determine perceived fear or possibility of future victimization but was strongly related to reduced employee retention, weakened dedication, and poor health. The explanation for this pattern of findings needs additional study to resolve but there are several available possible explanations. First is that public hostility or client-initiated workplace violence is viewed by employees in some professions as being an unavoidable part of their job and thus less prone to bring about negative outcomes. Second is that public hostility is less traumatic because the victim is not likely to encounter the aggressor for a second time (Mueller & Tschan, 2011). On the contrary, co-worker aggression is less likely to be viewed as an inevitable part of the job and more likely to include repeated encounter with the aggressor, causing much more trauma and consequently affect employees’ behavior, commitment, professional outlook, and health (Mueller & Tschan, 2011). Victims and their families are always concerned about the possibility of future victimization or recurrence. In truth, the more insignificant and random the incident, the more fearful and weaker the victims are likely to feel. Cavanaugh and colleagues (2012) found out that numerous victims of workplace violence reveal they are extremely fatigued, have problems concentrating and recalling vital information. Several scholars also emphasized that every time an episode of workplace violence takes place, there is an effect not just on the victims but on many others as well. Workplace violence also affects individuals who have no direct association with the workplace wherein the violence took place but who have been informed about it. Individuals who will not be regarded as substantially affected by the incident will seriously endure a certain level of fear and distress that people who are directly involved with the workplace violence are likely to experience (Browne-Miller, 2012). Merely knowing about incidents of violence perhaps has an effect on numerous people. Based on the findings of numerous studies, it seems that specific policies should be implemented to mitigate the negative psychological effects of workplace violence on the victims and on other people. Primarily, it would be useful if there were consistent reporting procedures all over the workplace. With regard to perceptions about workplace violence, it would appear that the perceived fear of aggression depends on how aggression is perceived. Although it would be useful to have a standard description of what makes up violence, this could be hard to attain because of diverse assumptions about victimization (Becher & Visovsky, 2012). For instance, several workers regard verbal abuse to be a form of aggression, whereas others see it as a natural attribute of the job. Therefore, preventing workplace violence is a complicated issue and requires consideration of a wide range of factors. Conclusion Numerous studies have substantiated the negative psychological effects of workplace violence not just on those who are directly involved but also on those who are indirectly connected to the workplace where the aggression takes place. One of the forms of workplace violence that seriously affects employees’ psychological wellbeing is horizontal violence, which is basically bullying and harassment. Besides these psychological effects, workplace violence also brings about perceived fear and possibility of future victimization. But this perceived fear has been found to differ between those who were victimized by the public and those who were victimized by co-workers. Because of the severe psychological effects of workplace violence, it is imperative to develop and implement policies that would help in preventing violence in the workplace. References Becher, J. & Visovsky, C. (2012). Horizontal Violence in Nursing. MEDSURG Nursing, 21(4), 210-213. Browne-Miller, A. (2012). Violence and Abuse in Society: Understanding a Global Crisis. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. Cavanaugh, C. et al. (2012). Patterns of Violence against Women: A Latent Class Analysis. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 4(2), 169-176. Mueller, S. & Tschan, F. (2011). Consequences of Client-Initiated Workplace Violence: The Role of Fear and Perceived Prevention. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 16(2), 217-229. Read More