ABSTRACT
While there is a great deal of concern these days about disgruntled employees “going off’ in the workplace, statistics indicate that these incidents represent a relatively small percentage of workplace violence. Further, as suggested in chapter 2, we have only limited ability to accurately predict those individuals prone to hostility and when they may react. However, those companies that have seen hostile and violent incidents do share certain characteristics. These characteristics depend on whether the violence came from outside or from within the workplace. An awareness of these characteristics is helpful in assessing an organization's vulnerability to hostile or violent behavior. Of greater significance, many of these characteristics can be changed in order to limit the risk.
