|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Abusive Supervisors, Injustice
Better Predictors of Workplace Violence
Than Personality
July, 2005
Violence Prevention Aimed at Employee Screening Probably Misguided
Workplace violence may have more to do with abusive treatment by supervisors than employees with aggressive personalities, and employers are misguided if they believe they can prevent it simply by weeding out job candidates that personality tests indicate have aggressive behaviours, a recent study finds.
"What most organizations do (to prevent violence) is try to exclude people who they believe have the potential to be violent. However, the evidence just doesn't support that practice as being effective," says Queen's School of Business professor Julian Barling, co-author of the study on supervisor-targeted aggression, which was published in the Journal Of Applied Psychology.
Barling's study found aggression by employees against supervisors had more to do with feelings of injustice and abusive supervision rather than an individual's history of aggressive behaviour or low self-esteem. "People care deeply about being treated unfairly. In the workplace, one way some try to address it is to strike back at those that treat them badly," says Barling, who teaches leadership and organizational behaviour at Queen's.
Rather than devoting all their human resources efforts to excluding people with perceived aggressive personalities, Barling instead suggests employers develop stronger leadership training for supervisors that focuses on improving interpersonal skills as opposed to the technical skills needed for the job. "Company management should not take it for granted that supervisors know how to treat people fairly."
The study's findings were based on responses to mailed questionnaires from 105 employees (78 females, 27 males) at two Canadian universities who worked two jobs, with a different supervisor in each job. Significantly, the study found that supervisor-directed aggression in one job did not translate into aggression against the supervisor in the other job, indicating that much of the aggression was due to conditions in the particular workplace as opposed to the individual's personality.
Barling, 54, a native of South Africa and an award-winning instructor at Queen's, recognizes the current sensation in the media is street violence, but points out that workplace violence affects far more people on a daily basis. He and two of colleagues have put together a collection of practical approaches from experts in different fields on ways of reducing workplace violence. Titled Handbook Of Workplace Violence, the book will be published by Sage in the spring of 2006.