Recognizing Violence against Women as an Obstacle to Organizational Peace and Development: A New Vision for an Old Issue

Abstract

Violence against women takes a variety of forms, extending from domestic abuse to violence in workplace. It is an ancient, universal problem occurring in every culture and social group. However, major traditions of organizational analysis have not devoted signi Ii cant and exp I icit concern with gender. sexuality and violence.Accordingly, the objectives of this paper are twofold; to recognize the most frequent types or organizational violence against women and the impact of such organizational violence on their work-lives and thereby the overall performance and peace of the organization. The methodology adopted has been qualitative and based on case study approach, confined to one public sector organization in Sri Lanka. The study shows how complex the issue of gender-based violence in organizations is. It confirmed that organizational violence seriously affects mental health of the working women concerned, which eventually create a deterioration of the work culture, peace and development in the organization.