Imagine that, in response to a newspaper add offering $4.50 for one hour's work, a college student turns up at Yale University to take part in a psychology experiment investigating memory and learning. The experimenter explains that the experiment will look into the role of punishment in learning. The college student will be the teacher and another participant – a kind looking man - will be the learner.
All three - the experimenter, the "teacher," and the participant - then proceed to an adjacent room, where the "learner" is strapped into a chair. Both the teacher and the learner are told that the electrode is attached to an electric shock generator in the other room, and that electric shocks will serve as punishment for incorrect responses. The teacher's role is to teach the learner a simple paired associate task; for every incorrect response, s/he must punish the mistake by increasing the volt by 15 volts.
The experiment begins. The learner makes numerous errors and each one results in a higher voltage shock. At 300 volts he begins pounding on the wall and demands to be let out. After 330 volts there is no longer any noise from the learner.
If at any point in the experiment the college student questions whether s/he should continue, the experimenter says to keep going, using such reasons as "you can't stop now," "he is getting paid to do this experiment" or that "the experiment depends on your continuing compliance."
Workplace Bullying- Programmed for Compliance
Before this actual experiment, psychologists predicted that only 4% of the “teachers” would progress beyond 300 volts and those who would progress to the highest voltage were described as "pathological sadists." However, when psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted the study, he found that with a little bit of coaxing, the majority (60%) of healthy, well-adjusted subjects would administer shocks all the way to 450 volts.
Milgram's interviews with his subjects strongly suggests that, under the right circumstances, most ordinary folks can be motivated to cause pain and suffering to another person. While psychologists are used to looking at violence from an individual perspective—such as who might be likely to commit violent acts—there are organizational factors that may lead someone to be violent in the workplace.
Workplace Violence- Working in an Office Powder Keg
Stressful work environments don’t “cause” someone to act violently. However, a toxic work environment can be the spark that ignites a short fuse. Managers with inefficient conflict management skills, exposure to hostile third parties (customers, clients, vendors), an unrealistic workload, and ambiguous job assignments have all been linked to negative conduct (bullying, sexual harassment, violence) in the workplace.
During tough economic times, fear and uncertainty create a high level of stress, not only in terms of wondering who will be cut in the next round of layoffs, but the increased pressure on those workers who remain. For the emotionally unstable employee, workplace violence can be a response to the rage, fear and uncertainty that exists in an organization because of the high stress caused by unremitting change, incompetent or abusive management, and an excessive work load.
In addition to chronic organizational pressure, a poorly handled termination can be a powerful precipitating event. The single biggest trigger of rampage-type attacks in the workplace by employees is termination. Employees who are ambushed by a termination or who are humiliated during the firing process may seek to regain a sense of control through acts of revenge. In fact, it’s the way the firing is handled – not the firing itself- that is most likely to determine whether an employee is left with a sense of hope or believes the event is the end of the employment road.
Promoting a safe and respectful work environment sometimes means making tough choices, such as weighing the rights of a single employee against safety concerns for the others. What happens when domestic violence threatens to spill over into the workplace and yet the victim refuses a transfer or to take legal steps to protect herself and her coworkers? What about a mentally ill employee who is becoming increasingly combative with coworkers and yet refuses to seek treatment or take medication? It’s time like these that it pays to promote a safe workplace.
The Bottom Line on Workplace Violence
When an employee explodes, most individuals believe that s/he must have some personality flaw or mental health problem. No one wants to look at the situational factors that either exacerbated or contributed to the person’s actions. However, as Milgram’s psychology experiments clearly demonstrated, given the right circumstances, most mentally healthy, well-adjusted adults will engage in vicious behavior and make excuses for doing so. In the real world of work, a toxic work setting can be the spark that sets off an emotionally unstable employee and allows him or her to rationalize violence as a way to level the playing field or regain a sense of control.
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