One more time: just how do you guard against workplace violence? Workplace violence protection expert, Dr. George Cassidy, bases his philosophies for workplace violence assessments and seminars on the root cause of the aggression, rather than solely focusing on the perpetrator.

Many companies have pre-screened employees, mandated psychological assessments of existing employees and established employee assistance programs. What else can be done to stop the rash of workplace violence further accentuated by the recent tragic incident at the Lockheed Martin facility in Mississippi? George Cassidy, PhD, of the Denver-based Crestone Research Group, argues that there is a vast difference between psychological explanations, where we look to some characteristic peculiar to the individual involved to explain a workplace violence phenomenon and sociological explanations, where we look to the situation the individual is in to explain why they act they way they do.

Denver, CO (PRWEB) August 15, 2003 -- Dr. George Cassidy, senior research consultant for Crestone Research Group has a unique take on the workplace violence issue, one that seems to run contrary to popular wisdom. While most programs offered to employers are heavily loaded toward screening out potentially aggressive employees during the hiring process, Dr. Cassidy's research has led Crestone to place its emphasis instead on workplace culture - the day to day structure of the workplace and its conditions - particularly those pertaining to "fairness" issues.

Dr. Cassidy argues that there is a vast difference between psychological explanations, where we look to some characteristic peculiar to the individual involved to explain a phenomenon and sociological explanations, where we look to the situation the individual is in to explain why they act they way they do. "Workplace violence is not produced by individuals who are 'crazy,'" Dr. Cassidy says, "It is a reaction to the structure of the workplace itself and anyone caught up in it is a potential aggressor. This is why we don't put much stock in those screening tests. Even if you do manage to screen out those who actually are crazies, you haven't solved the problem of workplace violence."

He further explains: "It's the nature of the workplace that sets people off; not some defect in the individual. It is true that some people who find themselves in these settings have a lower tolerance for their perception of "fairness" than others; and if those screening tests serve any purpose, I suppose it could be identifying those with low "thresholds" of tolerance. This is a complicated, multidimensional issue, but pinning the solution on ferreting out "violent" individuals is not the answer. I know that runs counter to prevailing wisdom, but such is the nature of problem-solving."

Dr. Cassidy says that programs that claim to identify potentially aggressive employees are a fairly safe way to start on a workplace violence prevention system, but they are not sufficient to produce a peaceful, productive workplace. "This is not rocket science," he explains, "It boils down to two major features that must be present in the workplace: ethical behavior modeled by supervisory personnel, and a patently good-faith effort on the part of management to ensure fairness in all dealings with employees."

According to Dr. Cassidy, these two components are not easy to come by and usually need to be initiated from the outside. Companies are beginning to respond to this thinking, but it is easy in the aftermath of 9/11 and our obsession with tracking down terrorists to focus on quick fixes that identify potential aggressors and to ignore what is at the root of the aggression. If a company has a workplace violence prevention program in place, Dr. Cassidy highly recommends that the company retain an outside agency to evaluate its effectiveness.

Dr. Cassidy is an Urban Sociologist/Demographer with a special interest in the structure of organizations, particularly workplace settings. His received his Doctorate from Brown University in 1988 in Sociology/Demography; Master's Degree from the University of Chicago in Social Science in 1973; and Bachelor of Arts degree from Colorado State University in Anthropolgy in 1971. Recent research includes the following: "Assessment and Evaluation of the Domestic Violence Enhanced Response Team (DVERT)," Colorado Springs, Colorado; and "Design and Implementation of Participant and Facilitator Protocols for Community Problem Solving," Colorado Regional Community Policing Institute. He is a member of the American Sociological Association; Education Committee, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce; and the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

Crestone Research Group offer services in three major areas: Organizational Analysis (corporate culture, program evaluation/assessments and strategic planning); Market Research (demographic studies, community assessments, neighborhood profiles, questionnaire design and administration and opinion polling); and Program Design (topical training seminars, e.g. diversity training, gender sensitivity, violence prevention; policy programs, e.g. workplace violence prevention programs; and ethics-based vs. compliance-based work plans). The group's range of services reflects the research areas of expertise of its senior partners. These include topics in social and health psychology, urban and workplace sociology, and demography. Partners have had extensive non-academic as well as academic career backgrounds.

Crestone Reseach Group is located at 1331 Vine Street in the Capitol Hill area near Downtown Denver. Dr. Cassidy may be reached at 303-947-6209 or by email at gcassidy@socialsciencetogo.com. Additional information is available at the firm's website, http://www.SocialSciencetoGo.com.

# # #

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS NEWS RELEASE, CONTACT:

Maggie Chamberlin Holben, APR
Absolutely Public Relations
303-984-9801
maggie@absolutelypr.com