Abstract
In the rush to solve the problem of workplace violence there have been few pauses for critical reflection. Many academic writings on workplace violence are content to rely on a self-evident representation of violence to inform understandings. This reliance not only breaks a basic rule of method by taking for granted the very phenomenon to be analysed but also risks erasing, normalising or marginalising other understandings of workplace violence.
Addressing the research problem – how do representations of violence shape the discourse of workplace violence – considers these limitations and difficulties.
A perceived epidemic of workplace violence has received considerable attention in scholarly works. Much of the literature on workplace violence is anxious to point out the increasing rate and severity of workplace violence, offering a wealth of 'evidence' of an escalating trend. Some claim workplace violence has reached 'alarming numbers' and is the number one issue that 'worries companies most.' In response to these sorts of claims, a steady stream of regulatory guidelines and 'practical' managerial advice has emerged offering employers and goverment agencies 'solutions' to the problem of workplace violence. Yet, a considered treatment of violence expected of a scholarly account appears unnecessary – and even luxurious – in the face of the obvious and bloody 'reality' of workplace violence.
Wary of grounding workplace violence in these terms, this thesis engages with a broader tradition of philosophical reflections on violence to provide alternative representations that directly confront the sense of certainty evident in writings on workplace violence. Given these alternative representations, the difficulty lies in refusing to see violence as a simple formula while also resisting indeterminacy. In order to navigate through this complex situation, violence is considered as undecidable. This move draws attention to the way in which decisions are made in concrete everyday situations, what grounds these decisions, and their effects.
Thus utilising a discursive framework, and drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, this thesis critically explores the assumptions about violence that inform discussions of workplace violence. An analysis of an archive of 87 workplace violence texts published in the field of management and organisation studies contends that violence is represented as a set of deviant behaviours committed primarily by employees. Such a representation rests on a number of unacknowledged assumptions that limit alternatives and reflect particular relationships of power. Violence is limited to 'sovereign' manifestations where workplace violence is a problem for organisations rather than a problem of organisation.
In working through these arguments, this thesis indicates the taken for granted codes that shape research into workplace violence. Reflecting on the concept of violence and its sense of certainty will have important implications for considering the context in which violence is understood, experienced, tolerated, accepted or rejected by members of society. This might invite pause for reflection when we see various actions represented as violence. It might also invite us to reflect on the way that so many of the violences of today are treated as if they were something else.