ABSTRACT
Workplace aggression may be defined as “behavior by an individual or individuals within or outside an organization that is intended to physically or psychologically harm a worker or workers and occurs in a work-related context” (Schat & Kelloway, 2005, p. 191). Although extreme instances of organizational aggression, most notably workplace homicide, tend to garner the most media attention, in reality, most occurrences of aggression in the organizational context are verbal in nature. Among these verbal acts of organizational aggression are yelling, insulting, cursing others, talking behind others’ backs, and spreading rumors (Baron & Neuman, 1996; Coombs & Holladay, 2004; Geddes & Baron, 1997; Glomb, 2002; Grandey, Dickter, & Sin, 2004). The presence of aggression, aggressive communication, and conflict within the workplace is something that is so ubiquitous that it transcends political structures, industries, cultures, sectors, and any other “meaningful” distinction that one can make about work and workplace differences. For example, a review of aggressive communication in various organizational contexts revealed scores of investigations into the negative effects of verbal aggressiveness within the workplace (see, for example, Rancer & Avtgis, 2006).
