No accident: health, well-being, performance … and danger
Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance
ISSN: 2051-6614
Article publication date: 4 March 2014
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a theory of preventive health management for high-risk employees, who are the 1-3 percent with a propensity to become dangerous.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the literature and design a prevention model for high-risk employees that relies on primary, secondary, and tertiary surveillance indicators as well as prevention methods. The behaviors of these employees are often not accidental, even if not always intentional.
Findings
Primary prevention through organizational socialization and supervision can reduce emergence of high-risk employees. Early identification through secondary surveillance then prevention of incivility and deviance can deter escalation to violent behavior. When high-risk employees become dangerous and violent, tertiary prevention calls for containment, caregiving, forgiveness, and resilience.
Practical implications
The paper suggests that HR professionals can advance health, well-being, and performance while averting danger and violence by identifying and managing high-risk employees, anticipating their needs, and providing supportive resources and advising.
Originality/value
The paper applies public health prevention to deviant and violent employees.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Marcus Butts, Sanjiv Sabherwal, Mahmut Yasar, Dean Rachel Croson, and other members of the Research Incubator Seminar on 13 November 2013 for critique and comment on an earlier version of this paper.
Citation
Campbell Quick, J., McFadyen, A. and Lynn Nelson, D. (2014), "No accident: health, well-being, performance … and danger", Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 98-119. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOEPP-01-2014-0006
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited