Mass Shooting at a Texas Church Calls for Greater Vigilance in the Workplace

By Dr. Marie Gould Harper
Program Director, Management at American Public University

I first read about Sunday’s mass shooting at a small Texas church on LinkedIn. One LinkedIn reader in her comment asked why such a topic was on the site at all. She did not believe that acts of terrorism and domestic violence would be of interest to LinkedIn’s largely professional audience.

A number of us responded, saying that even though our professional interests might vary, some of us prefer to be kept abreast of current events, not just professional topics. I believe it’s important to be well-rounded and able to discuss anything.

However, if I had the opportunity to have a personal conversation with that LinkedIn reader, I would point out what we could learn from the event.

The Texas church shooting that left 26 worshipers dead is another opportunity to study human behavior in 2017 and beyond. Where are we as a society? The idea that anyone in the United States would be bold enough to walk into a church and open fire is mind-boggling and reprehensible.

There was a time where a church was considered a sacred place. Regardless of your religious beliefs, the expectation was there was a reverence for God and the things God represented in all houses of worship.

But we have had several situations in the past couple of years when individuals chose to disrespect places that many of us consider inviolate. What has changed? Why are such acts of violence and murder becoming so common?

Caution Is Needed Not Only in Churches, but in the Workplace

What you don’t know CAN hurt you. It is important to be aware of your surroundings and to react to the unexpected.

Today, it is more important than ever to really know the people with whom you interact. This particular tragedy occurred in a small town church, but violence also occurs in the workplace, which does make it a professional topic for discussion.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), workplace violence is a growing concern among employers and employees because acts of violence in the workplace often lead to injuries or fatalities. Approximately two million American workers are victims of workplace violence each year.

What Are the Predictive Factors for Employee Violence?

We need to train all workers to look for signs and events in the workplace that might trigger stressors related to personality characteristics and a perceived sense of control.

Three factors have been identified as being influential in predicting potential problems:

Psychological characteristics – Doctors Jerold Post, Eric Shaw and Keven Ruby conducted a two-year study for the Department of Defense on insider threats to a critical information system. They identified psychological characteristics shared by individuals at increased risk of deviant behavior, including:

• Vulnerability to ethical “flexibility”
• Reduced loyalty to their employers
• A feeling of entitlement
• Anger at authority
• Lack of empathy
• Loneliness
• Social naiveté
• A need to impress others

Life stages – Virginia psychiatrist Dr. David Charney built on the critical pathway framework by creating 10 life stages. The critical pathway framework describes a person’s transition from being loyal to being destructive.

Charney notes that people don’t just become defiant. Instead, when a person commits an act such as treason, the resentment usually has been building up over time against a system they perceive to have insufficiently recognized and rewarded them. In summary, these individuals are not “born bad.”

Charney’s life stages offer a useful way to observe how people on the critical pathway perceive and deal with their own success or failure. For an insider spy turning from a productive employee to a traitor, for instance, the life stages include:

• Stage One: The Sensitizing Stage
• Stage Two: The Stress/Spiral Stage
• Stage Three: The Crisis/Climax/Resolution Stage
• Stage Four: The Post-Recruitment Stage
• Stage Five: The Remorse/Morning-After Stage
• Stage Six: The Active Spy Career Stage
• Stage Seven: The Dormancy Stages
• Stage Eight: Pre-Arrest
• Stage Nine: The Arrest and Post-Arrest Stage
• Stage Ten: The Brooding in Jail Stage

Similarly, stressors to personal and organizational issues trigger the transition from being a loyal employee to a destructive one. For example, issues in a person’s personal life can trickle into his or her professional life.

Counterproductive work behavior – An employee can be counterproductive when his or her behavior goes against the best interest of the organization. Stress from negative life events can lead to behavioral problems in the workplace.

Supervisors, Managers, Coworkers and HR Professionals: Be Prepared!

Dr. Lynne McClure, a nationally recognized expert in managing high-risk employee behavior before it escalates to workplace violence, developed a list of signals that might occur prior to the violence.

In her article, “Workplace Violence: Violence Can Happen Here” published on The Balance website, Susan M. Heathfield cites Dr. McClure’s book, Risky Business: Managing Employee Violence in the Workplace. Her book lists eight categories of high-risk behaviors that indicate the need for management intervention. McClure says these high-risk behaviors are everyday behaviors that occur in certain patterns and long before threats or actual workplace violence occurs.

These eight categories of workplace violence are:

• Actor behaviors: The employee acts out his or her anger with such actions as yelling, shouting, slamming doors, and so on.
• Fragmentor behaviors: The employee takes no responsibility for his actions and sees no connection between what he does and the consequences or results of his actions. As an example, he blames others for his mistakes.
• Me-First behaviors: The employee does what she wants, regardless of the negative effects on others. As an example, the employee takes a break during a last-minute rush to get a product to a customer, while all other employees are working hard.
• Mixed-Messenger behaviors: The employee talks positively, but behaves negatively. As an example, the employee acts in a passive-aggressive manner by saying he is a team player, but he refuses to share information.
• Wooden-Stick behaviors: The employee is rigid, inflexible and controlling. She won’t try new technology, wants to be in charge or purposefully withholds information.
• Escape-Artist behaviors: The employee deals with stress by lying and/or taking part in addictive behaviors, such as drugs or gambling.
• Shocker behaviors: The employee suddenly acts in ways that are out of character and/or inherently extreme. For instance, a usually reliable individual fails to show up or call in sick for work. A person exhibits a new attendance pattern.
• Stranger behaviors: The employee is remote, has poor social skills or becomes fixated on an idea and/or an individual.

According to McClure, “When the manager, supervisor or HR person sees these behavior patterns, she must document, talk to the employee, discuss the behaviors in terms of their negative effect on work, and require training, counseling, or both. Employers may also see the need for disciplinary action.

“The manager, supervisor or HR person must then continue to monitor the employee’s behavior. The goal is to either to get the employee to change his behavior, via skills acquisition and/or dealing with problems, or leave the workplace by choice or company decision.”

Although I am in agreement with the types of behaviors that Dr. McClure has outlined, I am of the opinion that the first four behaviors are more severe than the last four on her list in which she advocates an action plan that would be created for a rational person.

However, most people who cross the line and act on deviant behavior tendencies are not rational so positive change behavior is not an option. Steps for behavior modification might not be the answer for an employee who has become irrational in speech and action.

However, don’t think you have to take such steps on your own or in-house. Know when to bring in external professional assistance.

About the Author

Dr. Marie Gould Harper is the Program Director of Management at American Public University. She holds an undergraduate degree in psychology from Wellesley College, a master’s degree in instructional systems from Pennsylvania State University and a doctorate in business from Capella University. She is a progressive coach, facilitator, writer, strategist and human resources/organizational development professional with more than 30 years of leadership, project management, and administrative experience. Dr. Gould Harper has worked in both corporate and academic environments.

Dr. Gould Harper is an innovative thinker and strong leader, manifesting people skills, a methodical approach to problems, organizational vision and ability to inspire followers. She is committed to continuous improvement in organizational effectiveness and human capital development, customer service and the development of future leaders.