Topics—Problems
From Silence to Homicide
Sabotage in US companies is endemic and expensive. It is intimately linked to company culture. Here's how to manage it.
2 million people each year are victims of violent crime at work. The Justice Department says assault accounts for almost three out of four workplace crimes.
Some years ago my company worked with a client where, two years before, a fired employee had returned and shot and killed a supervisor, then himself. The trauma of that event still reverberated in the company.
As we talked with employees we found what led to the employee’s dismissal,
theft, (in this case a truck-load of gravel for his home’s driveway),
was quite common in the company. People at all levels took home pens, paper,
supplies from the maintenance yard (a sack of cement, a few bolts), or borrowed
a truck for the weekend. While no excuse for his actions, no doubt this employee
was enraged at being fired for what was accepted practice.
Homicide is Rare, Withholding is Endemic
At the other end of the anger scale from homicide, is a pattern seen in most corporations—withholding. When people are silent, withholding their energy, information, care, or ideas, they are engaging in a form of sabotage. Between the ends of the passivity-to-homicide scale, is an assortment of behaviors that include:
- Silent withholding of commitment, energy, and creativity.
- Not giving information or not reporting something you know is wrong.
- Not reporting “accidental” damage you create.
- “Borrowing” or stealing office supplies and hardware.
- Deliberately damaging product or defacing the building or parked cars.
- Stealing/selling company secrets.
- Harassment in various forms; physical, psychological, sexual, racial, etc.
- Sabotage of computer software.
- Arson.
- Physical violence/abuse.
- Homicide.
Your Job As Leader
Homicide, or violence at work, is an intractable issue because it is entwined with the corporate culture. No manager would say that their company deliberately encourages hostility and violence, yet many companies, perhaps the majority, are quite autocratic or authoritarian. We all know what it feels like in authoritarian setting—it makes us angry. It is why our founding fathers rebelled against England.
When you hear of violence in the workplace, you can be certain it springs from a rigid, closed culture. I'm personally aware of two homicides and one major case of arson. All three occurred in autocratic organizations, two of which were notoriously brutal psychologically.
Authoritarian workplaces are fairly easy to identify.
- Their employees speak disparagingly about the company.
- If the company is a retail outlet, employees don't shop there.
- When you visit the company, you sense that people don't enjoy working together, and relationships are visibly strained.
- Employees don't speak freely with supervisors and managers. They shuffle and avert their eyes when management is present.
- Employees don't identify closely with the company. It is just a place to get a paycheck.
Homicides at work require two elements, an unstable person and a rigid workplace. You can virtually eliminate the chance of homicide by creating a non-dangerous workplace, a workplace that people enjoy, because they satisfy their desires around the work tasks. A well-developed company culture is not a forum for violence.