Recently a disgruntled employee walked into a large grocery chain's Midwest distribution center and opened fire on his fellow workers. He killed or injured several people before being killed by the local police. The grocery chain is very concerned about the threat of workplace violence in the future. One way to deal with this threat is for management to hold focus groups to invite employee input. Another way is to make certain that the company hires managers with good interpersonal skills.

In the corporate world, focus groups are conducted by gathering employees in small groups to listen to their opinions, preferences, and expectations towards work. It is a practice that allows managers to spot potential issues with the workers' day-to-day environment and must be mitigated as soon as they are found to promote a healthy working environment.

Focus groups are complemented by the interpersonal skills of managers. Executives must be able to obtain as much information as possible from workers to have the clearest idea of what is happening within the firm. Empathy, motivation, flexibility, patience, and teamwork must be spread by managers to reach that objective.

Violent events like the described in the case show the lack of proper mediums of communication in the workplace and the few to nonexistence interest of managers in knowing how employees feel in their everyday positions.