Work Environment - Research Paper Example

? Work Environment: Ethical and Legal Issues Work Environment: Ethical and Legal Issues Introduction With the emergence of globalization, there have been abundant potential market opportunities for business organizations across the world. Today firms take great efforts to improve their production volume so as to seize those opportunities effectively. In order to meet the growing demand in the market, companies tend to improve their production and supply and keep recruiting potential employees who can significantly contribute to their overall productivity. This situation has created many job opportunities for people having different educational and social backgrounds. Although sexually diverse workforce is an effective concept to promote people’s fundamental and constitutional rights, it increases the chances of sexual harassment at the workplace. Even though workplace sexual harassment is considered to be a severe criminal offense in the United States, reports indicate that most of such cases go unreported or unnoticed. Sexual harassment is a potential ethical issue in a workplace environment and it is also an offense in the perspective of law. This paper will discuss the legal as well as ethical issues surrounding sexual harassment in the workplace. Sexual Harassment at Workplace According to the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), sexual harassment is a “form of gender discrimination that is in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act” (workharassment.net). Generally, sexual harassment in the worksite environment can be of two types, harassment by a supervisor and harassment by a co-worker. The harassment by a supervisor often results in employment actions like firing, demotion, and tough work assignment; and therefore it is a more severe issue. Unsurprisingly, majority of the harassment complaints still come from women although the number of men filed complaints is noticeably increasing today. While analyzing the harassment complaints filed by men, it seems that a significant percent of them is against female supervisors. According to a study conducted by Lawyers.com and Glamour Magazine jointly (as cited in workharassment.net), 17% of men reported that they had a previous experience of sexual harassment whereas the same was reported by 35% of women. In order to obtain a clear view of the intensity of sexual harassment at the US workplaces, it is relevant to evaluate the results obtained from a telephone poll conducted by Louis Harris and Association on 782 US workers in 2008. The telephone poll reported that 31% of female participants were harassed at the workplace while it was 7% in case of male participants. The poll indicated that 100% of women had the harassment experience from their male colleagues/supervisors. When 59% of men reported that the harasser was a woman, the remaining 41% said that the harasser was another man. Frustratingly, only 38% targets took action against the harassers. The telephone poll also revealed that 43% of participants were harassed by a supervisor, 27% by a senior employee, 19% by a coworker at their level, and 8% by a junior employee (workharassment.net). A number of causes including sexual attraction, politics, and psychology may contribute to sexual harassment in worksite environments. It is clear that work relationships can be very intense as individuals often need to closely work with each other to achieve the firm’s common shared goals. Sometimes such relationships may cross professional boundaries as a result of uncontrolled sexual attractions. In addition, differences in political ideologies and beliefs may lead to workplace sexual harassment. Finally, psychological reasons such as divorce or death of spouse can also be a potential cause of sexual harassment at workplace. Ethical Concerns The issue of sexual harassment at the workplace raises many ethical concerns. The Deontological ethics can be best applied to identify the ethical concerns raised by this particular situation. As Hudson (2010) points out, Deontology or deontological ethics or rule-based ethics is a normative ethical ideology that evaluates an action’s adherence to a rule or set of rules in order to judge the morality of that particular action. Hence, deontological ethics is considered to be a potential ethical principle to evaluate the righteousness of a particular topic. According to this normative ethical position, first it is vital to decide what rule to follow in order to determine the righteousness of a particular action. The fundamental ethical principle “do unto others as you would have done unto you” can be applied to the situation of sexual harassment in the work environment. While applying deontological ethics, it is clear that workplace sexual harassment does not adhere to this fundamental ethical principle. More precisely, this principle reflects that it is ethically wrong to harass anybody sexually because no one likes to be harassed. Similarly, the duty of non-malfeasance can also be applied to sexual harassment because the act of sexual harassment hurts not only the person being harassed, but the whole organization. The Greatest Happiness principle can also address the ethical concerns raised by sexual harassment at workplace. According to this ethical principle, people must act in a way that would produce greatest level of happiness for all (as cited in Gupta, p.91). In the case of sexual harassment, the greatest happiness is enjoyed by the harasser only but it hurts the interests of the victim. In other words, the act of sexual harassment does not produce happiness for everyone except the harasser and hence this act is ethically wrong. The Greatest Happiness outlook can result in the best legal outcome for the business. To justify, happiness for all means that every employee’s interests are met and hence they all are satisfied. Such a situation would minimize the number of complaints at workplace; and this in turn improves the public image of the company. In short, the Greatest Happiness principle can help a company to maximize its wealth and thereby contribute to shareholder values. Legal Policies The United States have strict laws to prevent sexual harassment in the work environments. In the country, the Civil Rights Act 1964 prohibits sexual harassment at the workplace. Although this policy is initially intended to address sexual harassment of women, today the prohibition covers both females and males. In Williams v. Saxbe (1976), it was held that sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination and it becomes a barrier to employment (as cited in Schickman, n.d.). Referring to this judgment, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) issued certain workplace regulations stating what constitutes sexual harassment. In Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, the Supreme Court observed for the first that sexual harassment is a violation of Title VII and made employers more liable for sexual harassment at the workplace (as cited in EEOC Enforce Guidence, 2010). The Civil Rights Act 1991extended the scope of protection against sexual harassment by addition provisions to Title VII standards. This policy amendment assisted women to sue punitive damages for sexual harassment. The Ellison v. Brady led to the judgment that a sexual harassment case has to be analyzed from the perspective of the complainant but not the defendant (as cited in Browne, 2006). Under the Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, sexual harassment is an offense even in the absence of motivation of ‘sexual desire’. While analyzing the provisions for Title VII, it is clear that the US legal regime considers sexual harassment as a serious offense because sexual harassment issues may reduce the efficiency and productivity of a worksite environment. According to EEOC, sexual harassment may include acts like “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature” (EEOC). It is to be noted that harassment not necessarily be of a sexual nature, but it can include offensive comments regarding a person’s sex. For instance, making offensive remarks about women in general will constitute sexual harassment. The US Department of State specifically describes its sexual harassment policy. Once an individual is found guilty of sexual harassment, he/she will undergo disciplinary actions ranging from a letter of reprimand to separation for cause based on the particular circumstance. If anyone retaliates against the person who reported a sexual harassment situation, it would constitute the violation of federal law (US Department of State). Recommendations A company can limit its liability exposure and improve the ethical climate or the overall ethics in the worksite environment in a number of ways. Primarily, it is necessary for organizations to have a precise and distinct sexual harassment policy that reflects a zero percent tolerance approach towards sexual harassment situations (ac cited in the Conference Board of Canada, 2001). This policy must be duly reviewed by the persons at the helm of affairs and signed by all employees stating that they are informed of the policy. It is advisable for companies to place the policy around the workplace so as to remind employees about the seriousness of sexual harassment. In addition, employees should be provided with facilities such as hotline numbers, HR management systems, or supervisors’ contact numbers to file complaints against harassers. Evidently, an effective grievance procedure would foster employees to report sexual harassment incidents timely and this in turn is helpful for the top management to take disciplinary actions if necessary. At the same time, it is important to note that mere adoption of such policies would not make employers free from liability. Employers have the responsibility to ensure that these policies are enforced properly. Companies can reduce their liability exposure if employees are given the option to speak to male/female representative. As management professionals point out, sexual harassment training is one of the most effective ways to prevent harassment in the worksite environment. The training may include video presentations, seminars by HR professionals or legal personnel, or publication of reading materials. In addition, management personnel must also be periodically trained on proper office conduct. In California, laws require managements to mandatorily attend training programs every two years to address worksite issues like sexual harassment effectively. It is recommendable for authorities concerned to act swiftly to resolve the issue if there is an accusation of sexual harassment at the workplace (Rice, n.d.). Finally, yearly meetings of supervisors and management staff must be conducted to review the effectiveness of the harassment policy. Admittedly, limiting liability exposure and improving the ethical climate are important. However, an effective sexual harassment policy can assist companies to save millions of dollars that would have lost otherwise in absenteeism, staff turnover, and low productivity. Conclusion From the above discussion it is clear that sexual harassment appears to be a potential ethical challenge for US worksite environments. Ethical theories such as Deontology and Greatest Happiness clearly indicate that sexual harassment cannot be justifiable in an ethical perspective. The Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Acts legally prohibits sexual harassment at the workplace. Strategic measures like an effective sexual harassment policy, well-designed training, better grievance procedures, and swift management responses can play a better role in limiting the number of harassment cases in a workplace environment. References Browne, K. R. (2006). Sex, Power, and Dominance: The Evolutionary Psychology of Sexual Harassment. Managerial and Decision Economics, 27: 145-158. The Conference Board of Canada. (2001). Retrieved from http://www.wallnetwork.ca/inequity/2orserharassment.pdf EEOC. Sexual Harassment. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm EEOC enforcement guide. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/upload/currentissues.pdf Gupta, B. (2002). Ethical Questions: East and West. Rowman & Littlefield. Hudson, W. E. (2010). The Ethical Spy: Towards Intelligence Community Rules of Professional Conduct. The Georgetown Law Journal. 98: 1415-1439. Rice, E. M. (n.d.). Innovative employee solutions. Retrieved from http://www.innovativeemployeesolutions.com/knowledge/articles/preventing-sexual-harassment/ Schickman, M. I. (n.d.). General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Section Sexual Harassment. The employer's role in prevention. American Bar Association Website. Retrieved from http://www.calstate.edu/HR/SHLaw.pdf US Department of State. Sexual Harassment Policy. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/s/ocr/c14800.htm workharassment.net. Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. Retrieved from http://www.workharassment.net/index.php/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace.html Read More