WORKPLACE VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM 1
Workplace Violence and Terrorism
William Chavez
American Military University
SCMT101
Dr. Robert Pittman
February 26, 2021
WORKPLACE VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM 2
Workplace Violence and Terrorism
Most companies, businesses, and organizations have a security department embedded in
their structure. Besides the external physical, natural or cyber threats and risks that plague their
areas of work there is often one overlooked security consideration and that is the workplace
violence that can occur internally. Workplace violence is not a new concept, nor will it be
something that will diminish on its own. Security managers as well as other departments such as
human resources can proactively reduce workplace violence by instilling policies, programs, and
allow thorough dialogue to occur in the workplace. Workplace violence has the potential to occur
in a small scope however, if employers are not mending nor handling it properly it can escalate
and cause a huge security concern for the employees, and the companies involved in the matters.
Along with workplace violence, terrorism has been around for centuries and it can also not
diminish on its own. Terrorism can include delusional and mental terrorists but for the most part
they are the opposite from that. Terrorists are rather intelligent people with money, education,
and ideological goals. Terrorism is a complicated matter as many people radicalize for their own
motives, and while some of them might seem similar a lot of them differ and thus, terrorists are
complicated to understand. However, through many scholastic researchers and advisors there
have been initiatives that can categorize some terrorists with a certain group or agenda. If
researchers fail to continue studying terrorism, then another catastrophe such as the 9/11 terrorist
attacks can plague the homeland once again.
Workplace Violence
According to the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) workplace violence is the use of violence or the threat of violence
against workers in the work environment or outside the workplace (DOL, 2002, p. 1). Workplace
WORKPLACE VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM 3
violence is not only limited to the act of physical violence, but it can also occur verbally through
harassment or threats. This form of violence can occur through many different outlets because
people spend a majority of their day with their coworkers in their place of employment. This
ideology allows coworkers to learn and understand each other. It allows them to befriend people
as well as their family members and give them a glimpse into their personal life. Almost all
employees can be subject to this form of violence and it is not always the obvious employee that
will commit this horrendous act. Most of the time, it would be the employees that you least
expect it that carry the ability to affect others in a violent way.
Forms of violence
The most common form of workplace violence is the psychological act of verbally
assaulting or abusing your coworkers. “Verbal violence is an important issue in the workplace
due to its high occurrence and its multiple implications”(Guay et al., 2014, p. 572). This form of
violence is broad and can contain many verbal parameters such as insulting coworkers, belittling
from superior and subordinate employees, foul language, sexual degradation, and depriving
someone from their self-worth and ability to perform in the work environment. If verbal violence
is not properly addressed, it can lead to physical workplace violence and in the worst case
scenario, it can lead to the loss of life. Theoretically, verbal violence occurs on a daily basis and
it is important that managers and work superiors are careful in their choice of words. Yelling at
an employee and verbal assaulting them for a mistake or mishap that occurred out of their doing
can also correlate to verbal violence in the workplace. Most employees tend to get close to one
another and some employees might receive mixed signals or the wrong idea when it comes to
how a work relationship is developing. Just because coworkers are flirting with each other in the
workplace does not mean that a relationship will form from it nor that the employees have
WORKPLACE VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM 4
permission to escalate it into a physical relationship. Just because two employees get along rather
well does not mean it is okay to lose professionalism in the work environment and racially
degrade your coworker though joking around. Not everyone perceives the same information in
the same way and not every employee will feel the same way about words of choice. Words have
the ability to change the way that relationships form and fall apart in a matter of seconds. Words
also have the ability to escalate a situation and because of the high occurrence of verbal violence
in the workplace it is imperative that employers reduce it so that it does not lead to the acts of
physical violence.
Physical violence can include sexually assaulting someone in the workplace as well
placing physical harm to others. Physical violence is not only limited to employees, and it can
also include violence from and to the customers. Employees in any industry are constantly under
