Stalking, Harassment, and Murder in the Workplace
Source: Legal Information Alert
Publication Date: 01-APR-01
Stalking, Harassment, and Murder in the Workplace: Guidelines for Protection and Prevention. Bernadette H. Schell & Nellie M. Lanteigne. 2000. Quorum Books. Hardcover. 255p. ISBN: 1-56720-322-1. $67.50.
Authors Schell and Lanteigne are published experts in executive stress management and workplace violence. Their goal with this work is to provide managers and executives with the information and resources necessary to develop policies and other means by which to identify and deflect stalking before it leads to harassment and murder-and thus workplace tragedy. Helpful case studies taken from actual events show the actions of real-life victims and employers. These studies also demonstrate failed interventions and illustrate how to address potentially devastating situations effectively.
Chapter by chapter, Schell and Lanteigne give detailed information about how stalkers think and behave and what law enforcement and businesses can do to protect employees against them. A unique feature of this book is its analysis of the effect of the “stalking cycle” on victims.
The book is organized into four sections each followed by a concise bibliography and case studies with analyses. Detailed coverage is devoted to pro viding legal strategies and organizational means of dealing with workplace violence and stalking. Warning signs are explained, not only for a stalking problem, but also for false victimization cases. Self help plans for safety and empowerment are provided.
There are several similar titles that cost less and cover much of the same ground. One example is the recent Preventing Workplace Violence: A Guide for Employers and Practitioners by Mark Braverman (Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications, 1999). Braverman presents scenarios and a program to pre vent workplace violence, but his focus is on all workplace violence, whereas the work at hand is unique in its attention to the subject of stalking, a growing subset of workplace violence. Because the literature covering all types of workplace violence is still emerging, there is room for both titles in a collection devoted to the serious study of this burgeoning problem.
Law and business libraries of all kinds should consider purchasing this work, whose publisher is known and respected widely for its books on law and business. This title should be made available to human resource managers and others who are responsible for creating and maintaining workplace security programs and measures. Researchers will be interested as well, as there is still very little information about stalkers in general and about stalkers in the workplace in particular.
Because the problem is growing, interest in reliable research is growing as well. In fact, that was the impetus for Schell and Lanteigne to write this book. It is an excellent resource for researchers as well as a starting place and a manual for those who hope to stop or defend against this kind of workplace violence, which the authors have identified as “the business and organizational curse of the 1990s and the new millennium.”
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