- the individual who takes violent action;
- the stimulus or triggering conditions that lead the person to see violence as a ‘way out’; and
- a setting that facilitates or permits the violence, a setting in which there is a lack of intervention."
- "achieve notoriety or fame;
- bring attention to a personal problem;
- avenge a perceived wrong; or
- end personal pain, to be killed."
He feels that attacks "are the products of understandable and often discernible processes of thinking and behavior."
Dr. Lynne McClure, a nationally-recognized expert in managing high-risk employee behaviors before they escalate to workplace violence, defines these discernible processes in a most understandable manner. She says there are eight categories of warning signs that signal the potential for workplace violence to occur.
Supervisors, managers, coworkers, and Human Resources professionals need to know these signals of potential workplace violence. They are easy to miss and they are not always predictive of violent actions.
Following an incidence of violent workplace behavior, however, coworkers often realize they saw signs and changes in a coworker’s behavior prior to the event and didn’t take action. In fact, training in recognizing signs of potential workplace violence in coworker behavior is one of the key opportunities organizations have for the prevention of workplace violence.
Behaviors That May Predict Workplace Violence
In her book, Risky Business: Managing Employee Violence in the Workplace (compare prices), McClure describes eight categories of high-risk behaviors that indicate the need for management intervention. She says these high-risk behaviors are everyday behaviors that occur in certain patterns - they occur long before threats or actual workplace violence.The eight categories of workplace violence are:
- Actor behaviors: The employee acts out his or her anger with such actions as yelling, shouting, slamming doors, and so on.
- Fragmentor behaviors: The employee takes no responsibility for his actions and sees no connection between what he does and the consequences or results of his actions. As an example, he blames others for his mistakes.
- Me-First behaviors: The employee does what she wants, regardless of the negative effects on others. As an example, the employee takes a break during a last minute rush to get product to a customer, while all other employees are working hard.
- Mixed-Messenger behaviors: The employee talks positively but behaves negatively. As an example, the employee acts in a passive-aggressive manner saying he is a team player, but refuses to share information.
- Wooden-Stick behaviors: The employee is rigid, inflexible, and controlling. She won't try new technology, wants to be in charge, or purposefully withholds information.
- Escape-Artist behaviors: The employee deals with stress by lying and/or taking part in addictive behaviors such as drugs or gambling.
- Shocker behaviors: The employee suddenly acts in ways that are out of character and/or inherently extreme. For instance, a usually reliable individual fails to show up or call in sick for work. A person exhibits a new attendance pattern.
- Stranger behaviors: The employee is remote, has poor social skills, becomes fixated on an idea and/or an individual.
