Positively engaging dangerous employees could help keep workplace violence at bay

Two researchers have suggested that employers can prevent workplace violence by keeping dangerous employees positively engaged and closely supervising them to ensure they get the help they need.

James Campbell Quick and M. Ann McFadyen of the College of Business management department, UT Arlington, analyzed FBI reports, case studies and human resource records to focus on the estimated 1 to 3 percent of employees prone to workplace acts of aggression, like homicide, suicide or destruction of property.

The team advances the case for "mindfully observing" employees and found that human resources professionals and supervisors can advance health, wellbeing, and performance while averting danger and violence by identifying and managing high-risk employees, anticipating their needs and providing support and resources.

Quick, who also holds the John and Judy Goolsby-Jacqualyn A. Fouse Endowed Chair in the Goolsby Leadership Academy. Quick also is a distinguished visiting scholar at Lancaster University Management School in the United Kingdom, said that corporations need to plug troubled employees into the social network immediately so they don't store up these negative feelings whenever and wherever they get them.

Research indicates that most organizations have training on ethics and diversity, yet few provide training on incivility.

McFadyen said the study gives guidance on how to train supervisors to recognize and monitor incivility.

The paper has been published in the Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance.