CASE #1

WHEN THE WORKPLACE BECOMES A CRIME SCENE

On the morning of September 8, 2009, security cameras showed Annie Le, a doctoral student in the Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology, entering the campus building in which she worked as an animal researcher. When Le failed to return home that evening, her roommates reported her missing to local police. Because security footage didn’t show Le leaving the building, authorities immediately closed it off, and Le’s body was found five days later, hidden inside a wall in a basement laboratory. She had been strangled. It was September 13 – the day on which Le, 24, was to be married. On September 17, police arrested Raymond Clark III, also 24, a lab technician who’d been working in the building on the day that Le disappeared. As of this writing, neither Clark nor the police have indicated any motive, but New Haven police chief James Lewis is on record as saying, “This is not about urban crime, university crime, [or] domestic crime, but an issue of workplace violence, which is becoming a growing concern around the country.” How much concern? In 2007, the last year for which there is reliable data, there were more than 5,600 work-related deaths in the United States. Of these, 864, or 15 percent, were due to assaults or other violent acts; homicides accounted for 628 deaths, or 11 percent of the total, with murder passing “Contact with objects and equipment” to take over the number-two spot in cause of workplace deaths (“Transportation incidents” remains number one). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were 7,000 workplace homicides nationwide between 1997 and 2007, but it’s important to remember that most of these resulted from robbery or some other form of violent activity performed by third parties (such as customers or strangers) rather than by coworkers, who were responsible for about 1,000 homicides during the 10-year span.

“That’s a thousand too many,” admits Washington State University management professor Tom Tripp, “but statistically speaking, it’s rare,” he adds, given a workforce of 150 million. It’s also important to remember that “workplace violence” covers a much broader spectrum of behavior than physical violence. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) define workplace violence as “a physical assault, threatening behavior or verbal abuse occurring in the work setting.” Thus “violence” in the workplace includes throwing or pounding on objects, making statements intended to frighten or coerce, and stalking (“threatening behavior”), as well as such nonphysical behavior as yelling, using profanity, and verbal abuse. Incidents like these, however, are also increasingly common: In a recent survey of 7.1 million private U.S. businesses, the BLS found that more than 5 percent – more than 350,000 – had reported some form of workplace violence in the 12 – month period prior to the survey.

Consider, for example, the form of workplace violence called bullying, which we discussed in the Ethics box in Chapter 1, entitled “Do You Feel Like You Have A ‘Kick Me’ Tattooed on Your Forehead?” A survey commissioned by the Workplace Bullying Institute reveals that 37 percent of the U.S. workforce has been bullied, mostly by bosses, who account for 72 percent of workplace bullies. Even though bullying is four times more common than legally defined harassment, 62 percent of employers ignore it. Among the targets of bullying behavior, 40 percent doesn’t report it, and 45 percent suffer stress-related health problems. Stress, of course, is a vicious circle: Such experiences as workplace abuse produce stressed people and stressed people are more likely to commit workplace abuse. Or to put it another way: Stress increases both negative emotionality and negative affectivity, and people prone to such traits or moods are more likely to exhibit deviant behavior. Remember, however, that workplace stress alone is rarely enough to prompt violent behavior – incidents of workplace violence typically involve additional factors as well, such as behavioral or psychological problems (e.g., substance abuse or depression) or life stressors outside the workplace (e.g., marital, family, or health difficulties) (see Chapter 7). What about the case of Raymond Clark, who’s been accused of Annie Le’s murder? “We may never know the exact motive,” admits Police Chief Lewis, because “there’s only one person who can tell us what the motive [was].” Investigators have, however, pieced together a few clues from a combination of Clark’s job description and his general behavior in the workplace. There are two distinct groups of workers in the Yale lab. As a researcher, Annie Le conducted medical experiments on animals, mostly mice. As a technician, Raymond Clark performed a variety of tasks in support of the lab’s research activities. Technicians come from a variety of backgrounds – typically they’re former veterinary technicians, laid off pharmaceuticals workers, or new high school or college graduates. “They clean and maintain lab supplies and prepare chemicals,” says one researcher. “It’s a job. We don’t have that much interaction with them.”

Hired out of high school in 2004, Clark was first assigned to the washing center, where he scraped dirty cages and toted 40-pound bags of clothing and bedding. Eventually, he was promoted to full-time animal technician, in which capacity he performed a number of more responsible tasks. Animal technicians, for example, are in charge of ensuring that all the necessary paperwork gets done and that all lab activities are properly documented. “There’s a certain stress that builds with the job,” reports veteran technician David Russell. “If there’s something wrong, you’re the one who’s on the hook.” A single bureaucratic or ethical lapse (an unsanitary workplace or a dehydrated animal) could mean disciplinary hearings that take weeks to resolve. Animal technicians are also responsible for serving as advocates for the lab animals, monitoring their health and seeing that they’re treated according to the university regulations. They’re also responsible for responding to the green neon tags that researchers post to schedule an animal to be euthanized – the technicians take them to the basement, lock them in special cages, and turn on the carbon dioxide. “It’s very easy to get attached to the animals,” admits Russell, and technicians “definitely do get a little desensitized.” Researchers, according to Russel, “tend to view us as janitors, but we’re more than that. We’re policemen. We’re there to make sure everything’s done humanely and ethically.” Technicians, for example, might remind a researcher to put on proper lab apparel or even chide them for inappropriate research-related activities (such as clipping a mouse’s tail to obtain a DNA sample). Some researchers charge that Raymond Clark was a “control freak” and was sometimes rude to researchers – including Annie Le – whom he regarded as careless in their treatment of the animals. “He would berate them for minor infractions,” says one researcher. “Everyone enforces rules, but he enforced them in an officious manner.” As of this writing, Raymond Clark is being held on $3 million bail and awaiting trial.

*********************

CASE ANALYSIS

I. Title: Yale’s School of Crime

II. View Point: HR Director and the Dean of Yale School of Medicine

III. Time Context: September 8, 2009 (case is still on-going)

IV. Problem Statement: How to improve the relationship of the employees of the Yale School of Medicine

V. Statement of Objective: To avoid work-related violence such as any act of violence against persons or property, threats, intimidation, harassment, or other inappropriate, disruptive behavior that causes fear for personal safety at the work site by practicing interpersonal communication and respect among employees in a matter of one semester. VI. Areas of Consideration: * Strengths:
1. Researchers and Technicians are all well-educated.
2. Researchers and Technicians are dedicated and passionate about their respective professions.
3. If the dispute between the researchers and technicians is settled, there will be improvement in the working relationship of the employees and eventually their performance will also improve.
4. High productivity will lead to scientific advancements.

* Weakness:
1. The relationship between researchers and technicians is not good. They are not in good terms with each other.
2. Researchers think highly of themselves with regard to their job description.
3. Employees may experience paranoia in terms of security because of what happened.

* Opportunities:
1. In terms of competition, if the problem between researchers and technicians is settled, they will be more efficient and highly competitive in providing services to clients.
2. If they improve the services, they will be able to compete with other schools.

* Threats:
1. Other schools that are considered rival schools of Yale School of Medicine may take advantage of the incident to market their own school.
2. The incident (crime) may create negative image to the school.
3. The government might interfere and let the school be closed.
4. The parents will no longer enroll their children in Yale School of Medicine because of fear that their children may also be a victim. VII: Assumptions: None

VIII: Alternative Courses of Action:

ACA 1: Re-organization of the duties and responsibilities (not necessarily additional manpower) of the researchers and the technicians

ACA 2: Make written policies and guidelines for the employees to know the scope of their respective responsibilities as well as their rights.

ACA 3: Create incentive programs for extended hours of working. Give monetary and non-monetary benefits to those employees who render job well done.

IX: Analysis:

ACA 1:

Re-organization of the duties and responsibilities (not necessarily additional manpower) of the researchers and the technicians

Advantages | Disadvantages | 1. By reassigning duties and reorganizing the responsibilities of the employees, the Yale School of Medicine will be able to continue to provide a strong academic program for its students.2. Reassignment of duties may solve the dispute between the technicians and researchers because they will be given new tasks / duties to be done.3. Productivity may increase if the job duties that employees are unable to perform will be reassigned to others who can do those duties. | 1. Productivity may decrease because of unfamiliarity of new duties, less time for old duties, and survivor's remorse.2. Employees may disagree with the re-organization of duties and responsibilities because they still want to do their current duties and responsibilities and they have been used to it and been doing them for years.3. This may not solve the problem right away because they will still be seeing each other in the office and the dispute will still remain. |

ACA 2:

Make written policies and guidelines for the employees to know the scope of their respective responsibilities as well as their rights.

Advantages | Disadvantages | 1. These workplace policies, if properly observed, will ensure that they are necessary to business operations.2. The policies and guidelines will clearly address the types of conduct that might constitute unlawful discrimination against each other and if these will be properly observed, work-related violence will be prevented.3. If the employees will abide the rules and policies, there will be harmonious relationship among employees and will benefit the Yale School of Medicine in the long run because of improved productivity of employees. | 1. Preparation and approval of policy take long time to be completed.2. To be able to let the employees know about the new policies and guidelines, the HR would have to shell out additional expense for the dissemination of policies.3. Employees may find it hard to comply with new policies and procedures because they have already used to the old policies and guidelines.4. Policies, if not strictly enforced, will still not be effective. |

ACA 3:

Create incentive programs for extended hours of working. Give monetary and non-monetary benefits to those employees who render job well done.

Advantages | Disadvantages | 1. Productive employees stand out, while the areas lacking in less efficient workers become more apparent. Time spent on a specific task and the quality of individual work can be more thoroughly assessed.2. Incentive programs will benefit efficient and productive employees. This also helps motivates less productive employees to work harder and earn the same benefits.

3. This can lead to increase in quality of the services they render.4. Profitability of the school will also increase due to the improved productivity. | 1. Productive individuals with a large number of benefits or bonuses may become the subject of jealousy from co-workers. This can potentially produce a hostile work environment that is uncomfortable to many. 2. Incentive programs may also produce feelings of a lack of objectivity and even favoritism, with management staff and will result to lower overall morale throughout the workplace.3. Employees may take ineligible over time.4. Incentive plans can become time-consuming and costly to monitor. |

X: Conclusion:

Variables:

* Cost Effectiveness – means economical in terms of tangible benefits produced by money spent

* Timeliness – occurring at a suitable time; well timed

* Easy implementation – the leniency of the action to be carried out, executed, or practiced

Rating System:

* 1 being the lowest and * 3 being the highest

Decision Matrix:

ACA | Cost Effectiveness | Timeliness | Easy implementation | Total | ACA 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ACA 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | ACA 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |

Conclusion:

I Therefore conclude that ACA 2, which is the preparation of written policies and guidelines for the employees to know the scope of their respective responsibilities as well as their rights, will to improve the relationship of the employees of the Yale School of Medicine .

XI: Plan of Action:

Activity | Person Responsible | Period Covered | Budget | Prepare of draft of the policies | HR personnel / officer | 1 to 2 weeks | - | The draft to be presented to the top HR Officer for approval and sign off | HR personnel or Officer / Top HR Officer | 3 to 5 days | - | Translation of policy goals into operational rules and development of guidelines for the program | HR personnel or Officer / Top HR Officer | 3 to 5 days | - | Coordination of resources and personnel to achieve the intended goals: 1. Introduction of new policies through meeting / seminars 2. Sending communication letters with attached newly approved policies, to all employees | Employees / Head of each Department / HR officer(s) | 3-4 weeks | Minimum of P100, 000 for huge number of employees |

****************

e
PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG MAYNILA
(University of the City of Manila)
Intramuros, Manila

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

Human Behavior in Organization

Case Study # 1
When the Workplace Becomes a Crime Scene

Submitted By:

Calma, Karen Z.

Submitted To:

Dr. Honorata M. Pagaduan