Module 4 – Case
Workplace Violence
Assignment Overview
Betty Smith was recently hired as the Director of HR at Company XYZ. On her third day at work the CEO called her in his office. He asked her to review the following terrifying timeline:
Date
Event/Location
September 25 2014
A man fired from an Oklahoma food processing plant beheaded a woman with a knife and was attacking another worker when he was shot and wounded by a company official.
January 29 2013
A gunman 70-year old Arthur Douglas Harmon allegedly shot and killed 48-year-old Steve Singer CEO of the Scottsdale-based Fusion Contact Centers LLC a call center company.
December 14 2012
Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut.
December 11 2012
Jacob Tyler Roberts a masked gunman opened fire at Clackamas Town Center a mall in suburban Portland Oregon killing two people injuring one and then killing himself.
July 20 2012
James Eagan Holmes dressed in tactical clothing set offtear gasgrenades and shot into the audience with multiple firearms killing 12 people and injuring 58 others in Aurora Colorado during amidnight screeningof the filmThe Dark Knight Rises.
April 2 2012
Seven people were killed and three others wounded in a shooting rampage by 43-year-old One Goh at an Asian religious vocational school in east Oakland California; police later detained the suspected gunman.
January 8 2011
Jared Lee Loughner killed six people and injured more than a dozen others including a congressional lawmaker outside of a supermarket in Arizona.
February 12 2010
Amy Bishop went on a shooting rampage during a faculty meeting at an Alabama university killing three colleagues and wounding three others as a result of being denied tenure.
November 5 2009
U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan is alleged to have killed 13 people after he went on a shooting spree at the busy U.S. military base in Texas.
April 16 2007
Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and himself on Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg Virginia.
April 20 1999
Students Eric Harris 18 and Dylan Klebold 17 opened fire at Columbine High School in Littleton Colorado killing 12 classmates and a teacher and wounding 26 others before killing themselves in the school’s library.
June 18 1990
James Edward Pough shot people at random in a General Motors Acceptance Corp. office in Jacksonville Florida killing 10 and wounding four before killing himself.
August 20 1986
Pat Sherrill 44 a postal worker who was about to be fired shot 14 people at a post office in Edmond Oklahoma.
July 18 1984
James Oliver Huberty an out-of-work security guard killed 21 people in a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro California.
After reviewing the timeline the CEO asks Betty what their organization can do to prevent such tragedies. After a brief conversation the CEO mentions that the organization will be laying-off 10 employees in the next two weeks. The CEO asked her to think of some safety measures to be considered at their upcoming meeting with the entire management team.
Later that day she receives an email from the CEO asking if it would be a good idea to bring his personal gun to work (for protection) and have it locked up in a safe. She is troubled and calls her friend who is a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) to help analyze this situation.
Case Study Questions
Case Assignment
Drawing on the material in the background readings and doing additional research please prepare a 3- to 5-page paper (not including the cover and reference pages) in which you:
Assignment Expectations
Your paper will be evaluated on the following points:
Module 4 – SLP
Workplace Violence
After reviewing the Module 4 Case Study and your assignment suppose that Betty Smith went home that evening and created a PowerPoint presentation delineating her proposed solution to this dilemma that is full of stats research and examples that she will share with her colleagues at the upcoming meeting. Please create the PowerPoint presentation on her behalf.
SLP Assignment Expectations
Prepare a PowerPoint presentation (15-30 slides) full of stats research and examples delineating your position on bringing guns to work for protection and to prevent workplace violence.
Module 4
Required Material
MM LeBlanc & EK Kelloway. (2002). The prediction experience and consequences of workplace violence. Journal of Applied Psychology 2949. Accessed from Google Scholar.
Aaron Schat & E Kelloway. (2003). Reducing the Adverse Consequences of Workplace Aggression and Violence: The Buffering Effects of Organizational Support. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology Vol. 8 No. 2 110122. DOI: 10.1037/1076-8998.8.2.110