Violence at work: consultants and managers walking the line

Management consultants and the managers they advise face a growing dilemma: they have few skills and generally no training in identifying potentially violent employees, and yet, managers and their company are likely to be held liable for the violent acts of employees because when employees have been killed by co‐workers, victims’ survivors have filed ‐ and won ‐ premises‐liability lawsuits against employers. When concerned consultants or managers seek to understand the growing phenomenon of workplace violence, the academic‐ and practitioner‐oriented literature offers little more than news‐oriented accounts. In an attempt to provide insights into the area of workplace violence, provides two case histories that offer anecdotal‐based insights. The two cases describe the steps used at two different employers when confronted with a potential for employee violence in the workplace.