Sexual Harassment - Research Paper Example

? Sexual Harassment Sexual Harassment The work environment is usually surrounded with a number of legal and ethical issues. These issues usually have either positive or negative impacts not only to the individual employees but also on the overall performance of the organization. Therefore, it is advisable that any organization should have legal and ethical policies that guide the management and employees towards complying with legal and ethical requirements (Key, 1998). One of the main ethical issues that relate to work environment is sexual harassment. Various studies have shown that sexual harassment is one of the most popular ethical issues in the present work environment across the world; most organizations grapple with the challenge of this issue, especially in regard to preventing it (Hunt et al, 2010). Lim and Cortina (2005) argue that this issue has not been given the attention it deserves because in most cases it is quite difficult to ascertain the exact characteristics of sexual harassment. They go further and argue that there are other reasons why this issue has not been given deserved attention even though it is a serious issue. The other reason he provides is that some employees do not understand the issue and do not even realize when they are victims of sexual harassment, while in some instances; victims fail to report sexual harassment offence because of several reasons such as fearing to get fired. Businesses, government, and society takes the issue of sexual harassment very seriously, and there are punitive measures that have been put in place to deter and/or punish the offenders (Pryor et al, 2003). Sexual harassment is the main ethical issue in the work environment. So what is sexual harassment in relation to the work environment? The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2010) identifies sexual harassment as a type of sex discrimination which violates the Civil Rights Act. Legally, sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome visual, physical, or verbal conduct that is of sexual nature and is pervasive or severe, thus having the potential of creating a hostile work environment or affecting the working conditions (Lim & Cortina, 2005)). Unwelcome sexual advances, physical or verbal conduct, and requests for sexual favors constitute sexual harassment in the work environment when: rejection of or submission to such conduct by an individual is used as the basis of making decisions relating to the job affecting that particular individual; such conduct has effect or purpose of interfering, unreasonably, with the performance of an individual work or creating an offensive, hostile, or intimidating work environment; or, submission to such conduct is made either implicitly or explicitly a condition of employment of an individual (Hunt et al, 2010). It is important to note that sexual harassment can happen in various circumstances, which include but not limited to the following: the harasser can the supervisor of the victim, co- worker, or an agent of the employer; the conduct of the harasser must be unwelcome; the harasser as well as the victim may be a man or a woman, and the victim does not always have to be of the opposite sex; sexual harassment may occur without discharge of the victim or economic injury to the victim; and, the victim could be any individual affected by the offensive conduct, and does not necessarily have to be the person harassed (Key, 1998). In modern days, businesses, government, and the society have given more focus to the ethics in the workplace, with the aim of bringing back ethics to the workplace. This need has been prompted by various forms of sexual harassments that have been reported and the attention that such cases has received in law and the media (Lim & Cortina, 2005). It is agreeable across board that sexual harassment at workplace is violation of both societal morals as well as professional code of ethics. As a result, businesses, government, and the society in general have devised ways of addressing this issue with the aim of eliminating it (Pryor et al, 2003). For example, government and most businesses have incorporated ethics training for all their employees, from the junior level to the senior- most management, so that they can understand the benefits of upholding workplace ethics, in the long run. In addition, governments and companies have designed their training programs for workplace training that offer practical solutions to employees who are facing ethical dilemmas. Key (1998) notes that the workplace ethics training resources give employees the kind of ethical framework on the basis of which they can make ethical decisions. Most governmental agencies and companies have developed rewards systems on values and ethics as a way of promoting workplace ethics among the employees. Numerous studies have shown that organizations that strive to promote workplace values and ethics have many benefits compared to other organizations. Hunt et al (2010) says that this can be attributed to the fact that their employees do not feel any stress because they do not compromise their values. Along with that, any kind of misconduct is usually reported thus minimizing the incidents of sexual harassments. As a result, the overall satisfaction and productivity increases as such organizations create a feel- good workplace environment. In as much as this issue is ethical particularly in the work environment, but is legal to a greater extent. Employees are protected under the law against sexual harassment in the workplace. There are various legal provisions that cover sexual harassment and seek to provide legal remedies towards it (Pryor et al, 2003). These provisions apply to all categories of employers regardless of the number of employees they employ. In recent years, the provisions have included sexual harassment legally; there are two main categories of sexual harassment, namely; Hostile Work Environment Harassment and Quid Pro Quo Harassment (Key, 1998). Hostile Work Environment Harassment is that which alters or interferes with the performance of employee’s work, or creates an offensive, abusive, or hostile work environment. In order for a workplace environment to be considered hostile, the law requires that the following factors be established: the frequency that the conduct was repeated; was the harasser a co-worker or a supervisor? Did others join in perpetrating the harassment? Was the harassment directed at more than one employee? And, whether the conduct was physical, verbal, or both? On the other hand, Quid Pro Quo Harassment is that which requires an employee to tolerate sexual harassment so as to keep or obtain job, get job promotion, raise, or benefit (Hunt et al, 2010).. The legal framework was put in place in order to address sexual harassment in the workplace. Due to the high stakes that are involved in sexual harassment, many employers are often unprepared to the interests of their employees, as well as their own interests (Key, 1998). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the courts have repeatedly indicated that the government, businesses, and the society should take effective and affirmative steps both to intervene quickly when it occurs and, to prevent sexual harassment from occurring (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2010). Therefore, there are measures that are at the core of law towards addressing sexual harassment. They include company policy, procedure, and enforcement. All institutions with employees are encouraged to take all steps that are necessary to prevent occurrence of sexual harassment. Some of these steps include: expressing strong disapproval, putting appropriate sanctions in place, raising the subject affirmatively, informing employees how to raise sexual harassment issue, and their right to raise the issue of harassment under the law (Pryor et al, 2003). Besides, all institutions should have prudent measures so as to find the possibility of whether sexual harassment occurred or not. The procedures should encourage employees to bring forward complaints relating to sexual harassment. Most importantly, all institutions that have employees should enforce sexual harassment procedures and policies aggressively, consistently, and aggressively. They should ensure that they have personnel who are responsible for enforcement conduct thorough, prompt, and documented investigations regarding the sexual harassment complaints (Lim & Cortina, 2005). Despite being viewed as a form of harassment at workplace, sexual favoritism is used by some employees at workplace to get promotion or to get a job. Sexual favoritism occurs when only those people who respond positively to sexual advances from their seniors are promoted while deserving employees are denied promotion, salary increment or merit rating (Kirbbride and Howells, 2008). This is contravenes the provisions of the Equal Opportunities Act which calls for equal opportunities and non discrimination at workplace. With sexual favoritism, undeserving employees are rewarded while leaving others who deserve to be rewarded out. Moreover, in some cases such as when a person is seeking employment and decides to offer herself to one of the managers at workplace in exchange for an assurance for a job is usually a contravention of the moral code of conduct. It degrades a person self respect and negatively impacts their performance since they have an assurance that the managers cannot fire them given the fact that they can always bribe them with sex. CFR Section 1604.11guidelines brings out three situations of sexual favoritism which include isolated occurrence of favoritism to get paramour, favoritism resulting from coerced sexual act and prevalent sexual favoritism (Pont, 2005). Claims on sexual favoritism are made rarely and are hard to prove in a court. Many young people are tempted to engage in sexual favoritism as a way to achieve their goals at workplace. However, if faced by such a dilemma of whether to give in to sexual advances in order to gain promotion, a job or salary increase, there are various options available to such a person. The person can either decide to quit the job, take the case to a court of law, give in to the advances or raise the matter with the management in the organization. I am against giving in to any such advancement since this is a breach of the moral code of ethics. Sex should only be based on mutual trust and agreement and not a tool for gaining favors. In addition, given the hard economic times and the difficulty of getting a new job, I would be hesitant to leave the job and choose to keep my position. The other option would be taking up the matter to court. However, this may be hard to prove in a court in addition to the fact that it is hard get the claim into a court (Kirbbride and Howells, 2008). When faced with a situation that requires sexual favoritism, I would have to evaluate the kind of sexual favoritism in an organization. In case of widespread sexual favoritism, I would be hesitant to raise the matter with senior management at the organization given that they may also be involved in the same. Therefore, as an employee of any organization I would hold my moral standards high and would never give in to sexual advances in return for some favors. However, I would start to search for a new workplace so that I can get out of the oppressive managers. Sexual harassment degrades the work environment and can result to devastating impacts on health, morale, confidence and performance of the affected. This vice leads to anxiety and stress which can result in an employee taking days off the work because of sickness or to seek another place. Sexual harassment at workplace results in negative effects on the physical and emotional health of a woman (Kirbbride and Howells, 2008). The most common complaints from victims of sexual harassment include anxiety, sleeplessness, depression, weight loss, headaches and loss of appetite. Sexual harassment also leads to financial impacts. Financial effects on the employee include loss of wages due to absence at workplace. Furthermore, the employee may experience financial impacts as resulting from termination or transfer. The organization also suffers from sexual harassment given that the productivity and efficiency of employees because sexually harassed employees leads to low motivation (Hunt, Davidson, Fielden, and Hoel, 2010). (Pont, 2005) explains that victims of sexual harassment find themselves being victimized by their colleagues through backlash. Backlash entails a change of attitude towards a victim of sexual harassment which happens by expressing hostility towards or avoiding the victim. Victims may also experience objectification or disgraces by being subjects of discussions at work and gossip at work place. In addition, backlash is also manifested by defamation of reputation and character. According to the EEOC guidelines, the most effective way that can be used to prevent sexual harassment at in a work environment is by taking steps which prevent it occurring. These include openly discussing the subject and expressing strong disapproval for the vice. This discourages anyone with intentions of doing and helps build strong moral standards. The other strategy to prevent sexual harassment is by coming up with appropriate measures in addition to creating awareness among employees on their rights on this issue. Pont (2005) further explains that it is critical to develop ways of ensuring that employees are sensitive on this vice. When courts are looking at a sexual harassment claim, they do so by looking at all indicators that help unravel whether sexual harassment has taken place. They look into the measures employed by the company to prevent sexual harassment. Pont (2005) note that a program for preventing sexual harassment begins with the commitment of the senior management to ensure that the work environment is free from sexual harassment. However, this is not enough if there is no clear communication channel to prevent its occurrence. Pont (2005) advocates for a written policy which states that sexual harassment is not to be tolerated, outlines procedures for filing complaints, make a commitment to treat the complaint confidentially and guarantee that there are no negative consequences after filing a complaint. This ensures that victims are protected from the backlash effect. The organizations must also provide trainings on sexual harassment to all employees periodically. The objective of these trainings is to equip employees with interpersonal skills required to overcome ethnic, gender and other social differences (Hunt, Davidson, Fielden, and Hoel, 2010). They assert that trainings must also explain state and federal laws that deal with sexual harassment to empower their employees in case they wish to raise a complaint in court. To effectively deal with sexual harassment, organizations should implement well defined procedures for raising complaints. The person receiving complaints must never be the direct supervisor of the victim since this would erode the confidence of the complaint (Hunt, Davidson, Fielden, and Hoel, 2010). To build confidence in the victim and to deter those with this vice; complains must be investigated promptly and thoroughly. The other measure that should be implemented by organizations to prevent sexual harassment is conducting of workplace audits periodic to get an assurance that sexual harassment is not happening or any other form of discrimination. Sexual harassment is the main ethical issue in the work environment. Sexual harassment is described as unwelcome, physical, visual, or verbal conduct sexual in nature having devastating impacts on victims. Sexual harassment has a potential of creating unfriendly work environment and affecting the working relationship. Employees are protected by law from sexual harassment under various provisions such as Hostile Work Environment Harassment and Quid Pro Quo Harassment. Sexual favoritism which is a form of sexual harassment occurs when a person gives in to sexual advances in return for promotion or salary increase. Although these are positive gains on individuals, the result in various impacts such as financial and health effects to the employee and the organization. There are various options available to a victim of sexual harassment at the workplace including quitting the job, raising the issue with the management, or taking the matter to the court. However, the victim must always evaluate the kind of impacts resulting from their actions in response to the vice. To prevent sexual harassment organization must offer training, develop a policy framework and carry out periodic audits at work place. References Hunt, C. M., Davidson, M. J., Fielden, S. L., & Hoel, H. (2010). Reviewing sexual harassment in the workplace - an intervention model. Personnel Review, 39(5), 655-673. Key, S. (1998). Sexual harassment in the workplace: Perspectives, frontiers, and response strategies, vol.5. Business and Society, 37(2), 228-233. Lim, S., & Cortina, L. M. (2005). Interpersonal Mistreatment in the Workplace: The Interface and Impact of General Incivility and Sexual Harassment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(3), 483-496. Middlemiss, S. (2008). The law dealing with sexual favouritism in the workplace? International Journal of Law and Management, 50(1), 5-16. Pont, J. (2005). Ruling to have limited impact on workplaces. Workforce Management, 84(9), 28-28. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/219795940?accountid=45049 Pryor, J et al (2003). A social psychological analysis of sexual harassment: The person/situation interaction. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 42, 68–83. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2010). Facts about Sexual Harassment. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-sex.html. Read More