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A Comprehensive Approach to Empowering Victims and Understanding Perpetrators

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2018

Justina Oliveira*
Affiliation:
Southern New Hampshire University
Tyler M. Pascucci
Affiliation:
Southern New Hampshire University
Michelle Fortin
Affiliation:
Southern New Hampshire University
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Justina Oliveira, Southern New Hampshire University, 2500 North River Rd., Manchester, NH 03106. E-mail: [email protected]

Extract

We unequivocally agree with the root of Cortina, Rabelo, and Holland's (2018) argument about the danger in focusing mostly on the victim in situations of workplace aggression. Workplace aggression is indeed initiated by the perpetrator (or perpetrators if there are two equally responsible parties in enacting the aggression). Where we believe Cortina et al.’s arguments are lacking is the hard-drawn line that the perpetrator should be the only subject of study. No, the victim should not hold any blame nor insinuations of blame. However, we hold the premise that both sides (i.e., perpetrator and victim) must be considered, and thus both are inherently subjects of interest in order to thoroughly capture the essence of these scenarios. Therefore, our position is that a focus on the victim is not only important, but it is actually an essential component when contemplating workplace aggression. Furthering research in this area will only be successful if we have candid conversations around the inappropriate nature of a solely victim-focused approach to workplace aggression and discuss the explicit differences (or nuanced ones) that may exist across varying perspectives on workplace aggression in order to more fully understand it. Therefore Cortina et al. have rightly initiated an important conversation within industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology.

Type
Commentaries
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology 2018 

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