Crisis-Prone Organization as a Factor in Workplace Aggression

• NCJ Number: 203451
• Journal: Security Journal Volume: 16 Issue: 4 Dated: 2003 Pages: 63-76
• Author(s): Robert J. Homant; Daniel B. Kennedy
• Date Published: 2003
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This article discusses the relationship between organizational climate and workplace aggression.

Abstract

Aggressive behavior in the workplace has become a significant concern. Theories accounting for workplace aggression tend to focus either on characteristics of the organization or on traits of the individual. The purpose of this research was to measure the correlation between crisis proneness, across a number of organizations and to measure the correlation between crisis proneness and workplace aggression. A diverse sample of 57 subjects, representing a wide variety of occupations and worksites, responded to a questionnaire measuring the perceived crisis proneness of their organizations. Subjects also rated the amount of aggression at their worksites. The research found support for the hypothesis that the crisis proneness of an organization is associated with the amount of aggression experienced by employees in the workplace. Employees rated the amount of aggression to which they were exposed. These ratings were validated against subjects’ responses to an open-ended question that described a number of aggressive incidents, including verbal threats, fights, sabotage, weapon use, and homicide. The crisis proneness scale correlated highly with both the workplace aggression rating scale and with the coded responses to the open-ended aggression question. This fact increases confidence that there is a causal relationship between workplace aggression and crisis proneness. One explanation could be that crisis-prone organizations deal with problems in ways that alienate workers, causing stress and resentment. Managers need to stay in touch with the type of climate that employees perceive and do all they can to minimize perceptions that they do not respond reasonably to problems or that they value output more than workers. Further research is needed to determine how subjects’ perceptions of the crisis proneness of an organization’s climate may be connected to underlying aspects of the organization’s culture. 5 tables, 34 notes