| Today's workplace is a working environment far different than twenty to twenty-five years ago. The predictable work environment of two decades ago—such as the expectation to land a cradle-to-grave job—has given way to unpredictability of job permanence. This change and others not mentioned often generate workplace conflict. Today's workplace conflicts can easily and often do lead to acts of workplace violence. This study explored what Human Resource Managers understand about the causes of workplace violence and how that information is being used in business organizations (specifically organization types such as retail, manufacturing or service) to design prevention program responses (i.e., hiring procedures, reporting procedures, safety training programs, conflict resolution programs, etc.). The design of this study is correlational (exploring the relation between organization type: retail, manufacturing, service and workplace violence) and a survey of 23 items (Appendix A) was designed for members and professionals associated with Area 5 Chapters of the Society of Human Resource referred to as SHRM) (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming). A pilot study was conducted using the same instrument with one of the Area 5 SHRM Chapters in Boise, Idaho. |
