Research Topics: Sexual Harrassment

Sexual Harrasment in the Workplace

I NEED 2 PAGES FOR THE FOLLOWING PLEASE INCLUDE INTRODUCTION, CONCLUSION AND REFERENCES THANKS. Consider the following case: Peggy had been working for a real estate agency for two months. During this time she developed a friendship with another fellow real estate agent, John. John helped Peggy learn the various policies and procedures of the office. During a recent office party John asked if Peggy would be interested in going to dinner together the next night. Peggy said no, explaining that she had made other plans already. A week later Peggy got her first big sale and this accomplishment was announced to the other real estate agents. Later that day she walked by John’s desk and John patted her on the buttocks and said, “Congratulations, the first one is always the toughest to get!” Peggy was very uncomfortable with the incident and the next day asked to speak with her supervisor, Mike. Mike, who was busy trying to negotiate a real estate deal for a customer, listened as Peggy explained what happened but kept interrupting her to answer the phone. Once Peggy finished her story Mike stated that since this was not an incident of sexual harassment there was nothing he could do. He told her to let him know if anything more serious happens and then he will talk with John about the problem. Following that statement Mike picked up the phone and continued with the negotiation. The above case describes a single incident that occurred between co-workers, one day at work, along with the subsequent meeting Peggy had with her boss the following morning to report the incident. Peggy believes the incident is sexual harassment. The case gives students an opportunity to carefully consider what is, and what is not, sexual harassment. <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14.4pt"> What is sexual harassment in the workplace? Was John guilty of sexual harassment? </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14.4pt"> If you were Peggy, what would you do? </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14.4pt"> What is an organization’s responsibility in regard to sexual harassment among co workers or supervisor subordinate pairs? Do you think that Mike responded appropriately to the problem? </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14.4pt"> Outline a brief personnel policy that an organization could adopt to protect itself from sexual harassment lawsuits. </li> Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Sexual Harrasment in the Workplace

I NEED 2 PAGES FOR THE FOLLOWING PLEASE INCLUDE INTRODUCTION, CONCLUSION AND REFERENCES THANKS. Consider the following case: Peggy had ...

Sexual Harrassment, Discrimination and Human Rights Violation: Discrimination Part 2

Discrimination Part 2   Introduction             One of the issues concerning the workplace of employees includes sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It applies to employment agencies, labor organizations, and to the federal government as well. Forms of sexual harassment include unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, which affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment (“Sexual Harassment”, 2006). Prevention is said to be the best means to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace setting. Employers are encouraged to take necessary precautions to prevent this from occurring, such as clear communication informing employees that sexual harassment will never be tolerated, by providing sexual harassment training to their employees, and by establishing an effective complaint or grievance process and taking immediate and appropriate action when an employee complains (“Sexual Harassment”, 2006). With this, effective action plans must be devised to provide discipline in response to sexual harassment complaints.   Action Plan or Policy             Action plans or policies are essential in response to providing discipline of sexual harassment complaints in a workplace environment. Employers must make appropriate and necessary actions to implement discipline in the company and ensure the physical, financial, mental and emotional protection of the employees. In accordance to the federal laws of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, sexual harassment is also considered a form of discrimination, and must be prevented in a workplace environment. This is why a company must follow policies in implementing disciplinary actions regarding sexual harassment. <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	A strong statement forbidding all forms of 	harassment. The company must 	prohibit all harassments based on race, gender, national origin, religion, 	disability, pregnancy, age, and military status. This policy must also 	include a definition of sexual harassment, such as the legal definition of 	Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s definition of “quid pro quo” and 	“hostile environment” sexual harassment (“Making Your Harassment Policy 	Work”, 2006). </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	An explanation of what conduct is 	prohibited. The policy should 	make clear that such conducts are prohibited, namely, offensive touching, 	verbal harassment, and offensive pictures and written materials (“Making 	Your Harassment Policy Work”, 2006). </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	A sexual harassment policy. 	This step is making clear to the workforce of disseminating a formal, 	written sexual harassment policy, either in form of inclusion in their 	personnel policy manual, as postings on employee bulletin boards, or as a 	circular to be periodically included along with employee’s paychecks or 	other pertinent documents. This will vary based upon the particular 	industry, the general educational background of the employees, and firm or 	workplace culture. In essence, the policy should define unlawful sexual 	harassment and state that any employee conduct, which falls within that 	definition will not be tolerated (“Handling Sexual Harassment in the 	Workplace”, 2006). </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Third Party Intervention. 	Third party interveners can be sexual harassment advisers, human resources 	professionals or other employees. With this, the third party will meet 	privately with each of the persons involved, try to clarify their 	perceptions and attempt to develop a mutually acceptable understanding that 	can insure that the parties are comfortable with their future interactions 	(“Text or Draft Policy on Sexual Harassment”, 1995). This could also help to 	execute discipline to at least, in a way, remind the harasser of his or her 	unacceptable conduct. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Formal Grievance and Disciplinary 	Processes. The applicable 	grievance process consists of the grievant submission of a written 	statement, an investigation by a company representative, followed by a 	decision, and in some cases, the possibility of one or more appeals (“Text 	or Draft Policy on Sexual Harassment”, 1995). The policy must provide a 	thorough investigation of the allegations within a specified time frame, and 	must make clear that resort to the procedure will not be ground for 	retaliation against a complaining employee (“Handling Sexual Harassment in 	the Workplace”, 2006). </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Remedial Action. 	If the investigation reveals merit in the complainant’s allegations, the 	company should acknowledge this fact and take appropriate corrective action. 	Corrective actions do not only include discipline of offenders, but should 	also encompass employer efforts to correct the hostile or offensive work 	environment. Corrective actions may take the form of a transfer, such as 	assigning the employee or supervisor to different duties or transferring the 	complainant to other or more comfortable duties; reprimanding the offender 	or advising him to seek professional medical help, or subjecting him or her 	under disciplinary trainings (“Handling Sexual Harassment in the Workplace”, 	2006). </li> </ul>   Conclusion             Sexual harassment in the workplace threatens an employee’s self-esteem and confidence and stops him or her from working effectively, undermines dignity, and affects the person’s health and happiness (“Sexual Harassment”, 2003). These reasons must clearly be given importance by the employers to foster a pleasant and healthy working environment for all the employees. The fact that it violates human rights and the freedom to live safely and unharmed, must trigger our desires to put an end to it. For this, disciplinary actions and procedures must be implemented in a company for the protection of the employees and the reinforcement of their human rights and dignity. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Sexual Harrassment, Discrimination and Human Rights Violation: Discrimination Part 2

Discrimination Part 2 Introduction One of the issues concerning the workplace of employees includes sexual harassment. Se...

Sexual encounter without consent

Sexual Abuse and Sexual Harassment   Sexual Abuse             Any sexual encounter without consent and includes any unwanted touching, forced sexual activity, be it oral, anal or vaginal, forcing the victim to perform sexual acts, painful or degrading acts during intercourse, and exploitation through photography or prostitution.  The Abuser may: <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Use violence to rape the victim</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Use enough force to control the victim</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Coerce or manipulate the victim </li> </ul>   Sexual abuse involves: <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Extreme jealousy</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Calling sexually insulting names</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Criticizing the victim sexually</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Forcing unwanted sex</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Sadistic sexual acts</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Forcing sex after physical assault</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Using coercion to force sex</li> </ul>         Sexual Assault A brutal crime and takes in the form of rape, child sexual abuse, incest, and sexual harassment. Sex assault is a degrading, frightening and cruel crime; a violation of a woman’s physical and psychological well-being.   Within an intimate relationship, sexual assault or rape is more often the result of the man’s need to dominate, humiliate and control the wife ( 2004).   Sexual Assault includes: <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Unwanted touching or grabbing</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Oral penetration</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Anal penetration</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Sexual penetration with an object</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Forced sex</li> </ul>   Types of Sexual Abuse/Rape Date/Acquaintance Rape Occurs between people who know each other. Can happen between friends, people who have met once, or people who may know each other fairly well.       Stranger Rape The victim is sexually assaulted by someone that she does not know. More physically violent and the victim is more likely to suffer from physical injuries.   Marital Rape Frightening and brutal event that usually occur in the context of exploitative and destructive relationship. It is about humiliation, degradation, anger, and resentment. Women are left, if not physically disabled, then psychologically traumatized for a long time ( cited in 1995).   Types of Marital Rape Battering Rape – the husband hit his wife, belittle her, call her names, take her money, and, as another way of humiliating and degrading her, resort to sexual violence. The sexual abuse is often a continuation of beatings (cited in 1995). Force-Only Rape – the husband uses only as much force as necessary to coerce his wife into sex. The goal of the husband is to accomplish the sex act rather then hurt the woman ( 1995). Obsessive Rape – the husband’s sexual interests run toward the strange and perverse and he is willing to use force to carry these activities out. Husbands who commit obsessive rapes are preoccupied with sex and interested not only in reading pornography but in creating it as well, usually by taking pictures of their wives. Performing unusual sexual activities are common among obsessive rapists ( 1995).   Signs of Sexual Abuse <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Changes in behaviour</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Refusal to go to a particular place or see a certain person</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Development of eating disorder</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Substance abuse</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Nightmares</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Sexually transmitted diseases</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Dread or refusal of medical examination</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Pregnancy</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Suicidal attempts</li> </ul>   Effects of Sexual Abuse Psychological <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Fear and Panic attacks</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Difficulty in sleeping, nightmares, anger</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Drugs and substance abuse</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Depression or eating disorder</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Personality disorder (low confidence, low self-esteem)</li> </ul>       Sexual <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Decrease in sexual activity</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Stop having sexual intercourse</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Problems getting aroused</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Pain during sexual intercourse</li> </ul> Physical <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Chronic stomach pains</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Intense menstrual cramps</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Pain during intercourse</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Headaches, migraines and body pains</li> </ul>   Emotional <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">Denial, fear, anger and difficulty in trusting other people</li> </ul>   Sexual Harassment               The perception of sexual harassment as a legal claim is relatively a new concept although there are Civil Rights acts that guarantee and protect rights for all people. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a sexual harassment guideline in 1980 that defines sexual harassment as “the unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature especially when submission to is made a term or condition for individual’s employment, as the basis for employment decisions affecting the individual or has the purpose or effect to unreasonably interfere with work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment ( 1992).   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Sexual encounter without consent

Sexual Abuse and Sexual Harassment Sexual Abuse Any sexual encounter without consent and includes any unwanted touching, ...

Define ‘Sexual Harassment’ and use ‘Oleanna’ to justfy the revision to the current law

INTRODUCTION I agree that sexual harassment as of today’s generation is considered to be as one of the controversial issue as of today’s generation involving ordinary people that will have a sense of substantial impact to the lives of individuals and how the society is responding to the issue according to legal procedures as well as the principles of law in giving importance to the issue for the betterment of such country and its territory and the people that governs the law within the embodiment of truth and justice to all mankind involved. It involves a matter of a civil suit against the supposed alleged individual as handled by the law of the state that he was likely to commit acts of sexual harassment and invasions of privacy against others basically to the opposite sex under their supervision according to the premises of the suit. Thus, in speaking of sexual harassment as it implies an informal complaint and formal grievance procedure, both of which merit action by any institution and that the implemented policy regarding the issue could adhere to the failure to communicate with the people claiming they’ve been harassed. Moreover, UC is dedicated in generating and upholding a community wherein persons participating in their programs and activities can work and learn together in an atmosphere free of sexual harassment and exploitation as they will respond effectively to certain reports of sexual harassment and will take appropriate action in order to prevent and correct that violates such policy.   DEFINITION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects a person’s employment or education, unreasonably interferes with a person’s work or educational performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive working or learning environment. In the interest of preventing sexual harassment, the University will respond to reports of any such conduct. ( February 10, 2006) Sexual harassment may include incidents between any members of the University community, including faculty and other academic appointees, staff, coaches, house staff, students, and non-student or non-employee participants in University programs, such as vendors, contractors, visitors, and patients. Sexual harassment may occur in hierarchical relationships or between peers, or between persons of the same sex or opposite sex. . ( February 10, 2006)           In determining whether the reported conduct constitutes sexual harassment, consideration shall be given to the record of the conduct as a whole and to the totality of the circumstances, including the context in which the conduct occurred. ( February 10, 2006) While romantic relationships between members of the University community may begin as consensual and they may evolve into situations that lead to charges of sexual harassment, subject to this policy. Harassment that is not sexual in nature but is based on gender, sex-stereotyping, or sexual orientation also is prohibited by the University’s nondiscrimination policies if it is sufficiently severe to deny a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from University educational programs and services on the factors distinguished from sexual harassment may contribute to the creation of a hostile academic environment. Thus, in determining whether a hostile environment due to sexual harassment exists, the UC may take into account acts of discrimination based on gender.             SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND OLEANNA Oleanna is a drama about a female college student () accuses her professor () of sexual harassment following a tutorial as it was filmed written by , as it caused considerable controversy for its apparent depiction of the woman as the villain when she destroys a man’s career by charging him with sexual harassment. However, to see Oleanna as merely a dialectic about sexual harassment is to miss its point. It can be seen as a cautionary tale about the dangers of imprecise communication, and also about the natural human drive to fulfill cultural and social stereotypes. The term “Oleanna” apparently refers to a Utopian society; perhaps it is used as symbol of the pseudo-Utopian society that “political correctness” is charged with creating.  is a pompous college professor whose tenure is just coming due. He is celebrating his promotion with the purchase of a larger house for his family, and all through the film his conversations are interrupted with discussions about the impending house sale.           In Oleanna,  is a student of , hopelessly confused by his ideas. The essence of what  is trying to teach seems deliberately unclear to the audience as well, and  byzantine theories about the nature of learning might cause an audience the same anxiety as they cause . When she comes to , saying “I don’t understand,” and “I read your book,” as she constantly and hopelessly refers to her notes, she is begging him to help her so that she can avoid getting an “F” in class. She wails, “I have to pass this course,” and he responds with a terse, “we must abide by the system we have chosen” and that  has brought charges against him for sexual harassment, racism and a myriad of other crimes as I believe that was the more guilty in the movie for she over mind what has her mentor is saying to her and that John is guilty of fatuousness,  perversion of  words makes sense given her inability to truly grasp his meaning. That he makes no attempt to be sure that she understands him properly is his own fault; that she sees herself as the victim of language is her fault as well. She tells him not to call his wife “baby” on the phone, sending him into a rage, and causing him to physically attack her. OLEANNA is about the shifting power between people who fulfill their cultural roles without wishing to do so, and without attempting to avoid the problems about which they complain.       Thus, the message of Oleanna appears to have much less to do with political correctness and sexual harassment and more to do with the difficulties of acquiring and controlling language, especially in the specialized environment of the academy since that acquisition depends on a student-teacher relationship that is unequal, its participants would benefit from coming to some agreement about how power will be exercised during their association. Oleanna ultimately explores the perils of inferior teaching and the subsequent misreadings that necessarily follow in a pedagogical environment that tacitly reinforces hierarchical differences amongst its participants. In fact, this is more a play about teaching, reading, and understanding: how to do those things well and the consequences of doing them poorly as it offers an ominous commentary on education in America and more particularly functions as a dire warning both to and about those doing the educating. Instead of faulting  actions, critics would do well to investigate  professional and personal role, for it is his misreading of the texts – , the situation and even himself that helps prepare his student to be exploited by the “Group” and brings about his downfall.           Since one essential ingredient of effective teaching is the capacity to read students through their written and oral comments to see what they need in their academic pursuits,  inability to understand from the start and failure to interpret the signals she sends suggest that the only possible result of their exchange is confusion and misunderstanding since John repeatedly interrupts  in the middle of her sentences, he is trying to read a text without having completed it. He might as well read half of a novel and then endeavor to explain its meaning. As for the professor’s role as champion of free speech,  first defends academic freedom in the play’s last minutes and significantly only when his own book is threatened. He actually is willing to consider the list of banned books, instead of rejecting the notion outright on the basis of principle. What emerges most forcefully is not a lesson in the importance of free speech, but a rambling diatribe by an egocentric hypocrite squirming under the pressure of a formidable attack: In  case,  teaching has had such a potent effect that she is about to reveal to him a lifelong secret told to no one else, until a phone call interrupts the two. Again, one needs to conceive of this relationship in terms of the power gained from access to language to understand  difficult position and  concomitant abuse of his.       In Oleanna,  is a confused and unattractive young woman who desperately wants to learn about life. is the professor she meets outside of class, who cares little for her and then accuses  of sexual harassment and destroyed his career. Therefore, Oleanna is a play about failed Utopia of Academia with the fact that  housing prospects are intimately tied up in his tenure decision establishes a telling link and its source observation to make turn in Oleanna to point to the Greek roots of “utopia.”  has learned a great deal, too optimistic about the future, for she has acquired talents and values in an environment. As  ”Oleanna” is a deliberate play that has known to reduce couples to the same state of barbarism in which the two wounded characters find themselves just one measure of the real revelation. Then, was guilty in the movie since nothing physical happened between them really, as she said but a lot is happening on the level of speech and the use of language. She objects to the way he approaches her and to the way he speaks. She objects to him touching her, as does not emerge a winner in this battle of the sexes. She simply has more questions to ask at the end. In the same way that she is a victim of his rape he, too is a victim of her rape. Oleanna is a play that makes people ask many important questions about the use of power and about relationships and attempts to deal with concrete social ideas of the mysterious qualities to put aside his characteristic art for choice.     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Define ‘Sexual Harassment’ and use ‘Oleanna’ to justfy the revision to the current law

INTRODUCTION I agree that sexual harassment as of today’s generation is considered to be as one of the controversial issue...

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

p class=”MsoNormal” align=”center” style=”text-align: center; line-height: 200%”> Sexual Harassment in the Workplace   Introduction               It is recognized that for employees to become productive contributing members of the organization, there should be a comfortable working environment conducive to the efficient accomplishment of various tasks. A significant issue which may disrupt a comfortable working environment is sexual harassment. The commission of sexual harassment constitutes a punishable wrong so that it is important for employees to know their rights to be able to protect themselves and uphold their rights against this legal violation as well as for employers to know their statutory responsibilities in order to respect the rights of their employees and maintain a comfortable working environment. Discussion               Sexual harassment refers to a type of sex discrimination. The term is legally defined as the “unwelcome verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is severe or pervasive and affects the working conditions or creates a hostile work environment” ( 1999;  2006) This definition is based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 1964 on sexual discrimination and Title 29, Part 1604 of the Code of Federal Regulations 2002 on sexual harassment.             Based on these definitions and clarifications and facts given in the case,  may not have committed sexual harassment. This is because not all the elements of sexual harassment were existent. Although the act was an unwelcome physical conduct, it may be classified as of a sexual nature, and it affects working conditions since  felt uncomfortable. However, the act is not pervasive since it was only done once and it may not be considered severe since the verbal remark that came with the pat on the buttocks was not sexual in nature or threatening.             However, despite the insufficiency of the action to constitute sexual harassment as defined by law,  may confront  about the incident to inform him that this made her uncomfortable.  may also obtain the aid of a colleague or  to mediate the issue. In the case,  did not respond appropriately because he did not promptly address the issue.             Organizations are accorded by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 1964 with the responsibility to 1) practice reasonable care in preventing sexual harassment and 2) practice reasonable care in promptly correcting sexual harassment which has been committed. Although, there are no specific actions that organizations should comply with, the determination of reasonable care depends upon the context of the organization. (1999)             Awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace and legal rights and obligations of employees and employers together with a system for handling sexual harassment complaints constitute the most significant deterrents for sexual harassment in the work environment. Conclusion             In preventing sexual harassment from being committed in the workplace, organizations should be aware of this concept and implement an effective grievance system consistent with law.    Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

p class=”MsoNormal” align=”center” style=”text-align: center; line-height: 200%”> Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Int...

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances in the workplace (2002). Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when: <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; line-height: 200%"> Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; line-height: 200%"> Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; line-height: 200%"> Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating hostile, or offensive working environment ( 1999).</li> </ul> Quid pro quo Harassment             In this case, the harasser offers to exchange something of value for sexual favors. For example, a male supervisor might tell or imply to a female direct report that he will recommend her for promotion or provide her with salary increase in exchange for sexual favors (2002). Hostile Work Environment             This is a more subtle type of sexual harassment that creates a hostile work environment. Foe example, a group of male employees who continually make off-color jokes and vulgar comments and perhaps decorate the work environment with inappropriate photographs may create a hostile work environment for a female colleague to the point where she is uncomfortable working in that job setting (2002). Proving Sexual Harassment in the Workplace 1. Quid pro Quo Protected Group – This element is easy to establish, requiring the claimant to do no more than simply stipulate her gender ( 1999). Unwelcome Sexual Conduct – this element requires a showing that sexual consideration is being extorted in return of tangible job benefits, such as a promotion, a raise, or retention of employment (1999). Employment Conditions affected by Victim’s Response – a claimant suing for quid pro quo sexual harassment must show that tangible job detriment or economic harm has been suffered as a result of her reaction to the sexual conduct to which she as subjected. Thus, terms or conditions of employment must have become affected. For example, she may have been fired, passed over for a well deserved promotion, denied a raise, demoted, or had a position eliminated because of her rejection of sexual advances (1999). 2. Hostile-Environment Unwelcome Sexual Conduct – the sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that causes a hostile environment must be unwelcome. Factors that help establish unwelcomeness include outright rejection of sexual behavior or subsequent notification of unwelcomeness once a previously consensual relationship sours. The complainant’s conduct as relevant in determining unwelcomeness, including the complainant’s sexually provocative speech or dress and her objective, as opposed to subjective, reaction to the harassment (A1999). Conduct must affect employment conditions – The unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature must have the purpose or effect of unreasonably affecting the victim’s job performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. It is a requirement to prove that the harassment is sufficiently severe or pervasive as to alter the victim’s conditions of employment and create an abusive working environment (Achampong, 1999).     The HR Scorecard             The HR scorecard is a measurement as well as an evaluation system for redefining the role of HR as a strategic partner. It is based on the Balanced Scorecard framework developed by Kaplan and Norton and is set to revolutionize the way business perceives HR ( 2003). Balanced Scorecard and Balanced Performance Measurement             The Balanced scorecard helps leaders define the mission, vision, goals, and metrics for a company in key areas such as financial, customer, learning, and business process. In terms of change management, the balanced scorecard provides a sequential approach to developing and implementing company strategies so that stakeholders understand what the company is trying to achieve and how it will be measured. By developing targets at the leadership level, involving managers in the metrics, communicating the scorecard through team and individual performance management and using the resulting feedback, an organization develops cohesive direction that provides competitive advantage ( 2002). The balanced scorecard gives emphasis on the importance of measuring business performance form the perspective of strategic implementation rather than relying solely on financial results. There is a tendency for organizations to pay more attention on the financial dimensions of performance rather than the driving forces behind those results. Financial measures are lagging indicators. They are designed to repair past results. Performance drivers on the other hand are within the control of the management in the present. By specifying the important process measures, assessing them, and communicating the firm’s performance based on these criteria to the employees, the managers can guarantee that the whole participates actively in the strategy implementation process (2003).   7 Steps Creating a Strategy Oriented HR System 1. Defining Business Strategy – The focus should be given on the implementation strategy. It is important that the HR managers state the organization goals in such a way that the employees understand what exactly their role in the organization is and thus the organization knows how to measure success in achieving these goals ( 2003). 2. Building a case for HR as a Strategic Asset – Once a firm clarifies its strategies, HR professionals need to build a clear case for the strategic role of HR. The HR professionals must be able to explain how and why HR can support the strategy. It is important to look at as much of case histories and internal as well as external research while going through this stage (2003). 3. Creating a Strategy Map – The firm must have a clear understanding of its value chain. The value chain is the multifaceted collective set of interactions and combinatorial effects that create the customer value in products and service of the firm. It is necessary that the organization’s performance management system account for each of the links and dependencies in the value chain. Creating a strategy map should involve managers from all over the organization. The broad participation is required to improve the quality of the strategy map (2003). 4. Identifying HR deliverables within the Strategy Map – It is the responsibility of the HR personnel to identify deliverables including performance drivers as well as HR enablers in the strategy map of the firm. It is important to identify the HR deliverables that support the firm-level performance drivers on the strategy map. The focus should be on the kind of strategic behaviors that depend on competencies, rewards and work organization (2003). 5. Aligning the HR architecture with the HR deliverables – This step enhances the value creation aspect of the firm by aligning the HR system with the firm’s larger strategy implementation system. For this, internal alignment and external alignment are important. Internal alignment refers to the aligning of components within the HR system. External alignment refers to the alignment of the HR system with the other elements in the firm’s value creation process (2003). 6. Designing the Strategic HR measurement system – This step requires a new, modern perspective on measuring HR performance. It also requires HR to resolve several new technical issues that it might not be familiar with. To accurately measure the HR-firm performance relationship, it is imperative that the firm develops valid measures of HR deliverables. This task has two dimensions. Firstly, HR has to be confident that they have chosen the correct HR deliverables. This requires that HR have a clear understanding of the causality in the value chain for effective strategy implementation. Secondly, HR must choose the correct measures for those deliverables (2003). 7. Implementing the strategy by using the Measures – This step is about the use of the HR scorecard. The HR scorecard not only helps the firm measure HR’s impact on firm performance, but also helps HR professionals have new insights into what steps must be taken to maintain HR as a strategic asset. It helps the HR professionals to dig deeper into the causes of success and failure and helps them promote the former and avoid the latter (2003).                 Career Development Process               Career development is an organized, planned effort comprised of structured activities or processes that result in a mutual career plotting effort between employees and the organization. Within this system, the employee is responsible for career planning and the organization is responsible for career management (1998). Career development is an ongoing, formalized effort by an organization that focuses on developing and enriching the organization’s human resources in light of both the employees’ and organization’s needs.   The Organization/Employer’s Role in Career Development             The organization has primary responsibility for instigating and ensuring that career development takes place. Specifically, the organization’s responsibilities are to develop and communicate career options within the organization to the employee. The organization must carefully advise an employee concerning possible career paths to achieve that employee’s career goal. The organization must supply information about its mission, policies, and plans and provide support for self-assessment, training, and development. Significant career growth can occur when individual initiative combines with organizational opportunity (2002).   The Manager’s Role             Although not expected to be a professional counselor, the manager can and should play a role in facilitating the development of a direct report’s career. First, and foremost, the manager should serve as a medium and sounding board. Managers should encourage employees to take responsibility for their own careers, offering continuing assistance in the form of feedback on individual performance and making information available about the organization, about the job, and about career opportunities that might be of interest. The manager should show an employee how to go about the process and then help the employee evaluate the conclusions (2002).   The Employee’s Role             In today’s dynamic work environment, individuals are increasingly responsible for initiating and managing their own career planning. Career planning is not something one individual can do for another; it has to come from the individual. Career planning requires a conscious effort on the part of the employee. Each employee must identify his or her own knowledge, skills, abilities, interests, and values and seek out information about career options in order to set goals and develop career plans. Before employees can engage in meaningful career planning, they must not only have an awareness of the organization’s philosophy but they must also have a good understanding of the organization’s more immediate goals (2002).   Job Evaluation Methods Job Ranking            Job ranking, the simplest and oldest way to evaluate jobs, is used primarily in small organizations. In this method the raters simply rank the various jobs examined. No attempt is made to determine the critical factors in each job. Instead, an overall judgment is made of the relative worth of each job, and the job is ranked accordingly. Job ranking can be done by a single individual knowledgeable about all jobs or by a committee composed of management and employee representatives. The ranking method is simple, inexpensive, fast, and easy to understand. However, it is non-quantitative and rather subjective, for although jobs are compared with each other, there is no precise set of job-related factors used in this comparison (2002).   Job Classification             The job classification method is a non-quantitative job evaluation technique that compares the whole job with a predetermined standard. In this approach, jobs are assigned to predefined grades or classes. These descriptions of each grade feature degrees of job responsibility, skill and education required, and the like. Job descriptions for other jobs in the organization are then examined, and those jobs are classified into grades or levels that seem most appropriate. This method requires a decision at the outset on the number of pay grades, to be included in the wage and salary plan. While this system has the advantage of simplicity, it is less precise than the point and factor comparison methods (2002).   Point Method             The point-factor method breaks the job into components and evaluates each of these job elements against specially constructed scales. A quantitative approach, the point method is rather complex to design but relatively simple to understand and administer once it is in place. It is the most widely used method of job evaluation. The principal advantage of the point method is that it provides a more refined basis for making judgments than either the ranking or classification methods and thereby can produce results that are more valid and less easy to manipulate (2002).   Factor Comparison Method             The factor comparison method, like the point method, permits the job evaluation process to be accompanied on a factor-by-factor basis. It differs from the point, however, in that the compensable factors of the jobs to be evaluated are compared against the compensable factors of key jobs within the organization that serve as the job evaluation scale. Key jobs can be defined as those jobs that are important for wage-setting purposes and are widely known in the labor market. Key jobs are evaluated against five compensable factors – skill, mental effort, physical effort, responsibility, and working conditions – resulting in a rank of the different factors for each key job. Normally a committee is selected to rank the criteria across key jobs (2002).       Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances in the workplace (2002). Unwelcome sexual advances, requests f...

Essay on Sexual Harassment at Workplace

Sexual Harassment at Workplace   Introduction             In the working environment, there are some incidents, in which women are being harassed by their male colleagues. The issue of sexual harassment has been prevalent, specifically in working environment in which male employees dominates than women (McKinnon, 1979). According to some researchers, sexual harassment can be defined as the incident between individuals of unequal status, like power or gender, and that the person who has lesser power is the one exploited. (Crenshaw, 1992) Others have supported such definition and notes that the power exploitation is a socio-cultural predetermined behaviour. Some have cited sexual harassment as an act which often involves the abuse of power and that it is a common approach used by other to devalue the role of women in the work environment. According to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EOCC) (2002), sexual harassment has been defined by two major aspects. One is quid pro quo harassment in which sexual conduct is made a condition of employment and the negative to subject oneself to such leads to adverse work situations. On the other hand, the second one is considered as the hostile work environment, which is considered as the sexual conduct which unreasonably hinders work performance or one which creates offensive,  a hostile, or intimidating work environment, that is sufficiently severe to alter conditions of employment.   Sexual Harassment At Workplace Sexual harassment has been recognised by court as legal grounds of action which is essentially based on sexual discrimination in the society.  In time, the policies about the issue had significantly evolved, placing more legal accountabilities on the employers’ part in terms of sexual harassment acts.  Because of this enhancement the claims filed for sexual harassment has increased in number. In the past years,  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), who evaluates and resolves claims of sexual harassment and identifies  if the victim has the right to sue, has been able to handle and manage thousand various cases of sexual harassment. Normally, the claims are placed against the conduct of non-supervisors which include, clients or contractors. Nonetheless, the majority of the cases where characterised by complaints against employees in the top management or the complainant’s immediate supervisor. In addition, most of these alleged claims and complaints were eventually found to reliable and valid. As the top management ave the authorities to direct the subordinates in manners that could affect them, the increasing number of filed claims on supervisors appear to highlight the notion that sexual harassment is not solely about sex or sexual urge, but on the abuse of power as well. The case of filing a complaint for sexual harassment goes under the violation ofi the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In this policy, discrimination that is based on sex is prohibited. Hence, this federal provision considers the discrimination and prejudice of an individual based on his compensation, terms, privileges of employment or conditions for the reason of the person’s sex as an illegal employment act of the employer.  Accordingly, the additional work of doing irrelevant duties as well as the hilarity that supervisors and colleagues find in the situation may also affect an employee in terms of emotional and working behaviour. It can be said that sexual harassment is indeed a common incident in the workplace. While there are legal provisions which response o sexual harassment cases, several difficulties outside the law can still hamper or impede the achievement of a successful sexual harassment claim (McKinnon, 1992). Traditional perceptions as well as and attitudes, stereotyped gender and racial roles, successful claim requirements as well as gender classification and emotions are among the probable factors that can hinder an individual to consider lawsuit in filing sexual harassment complaints. In this regard, essential concepts of sexual harassment should be taken into consideration to be able to understand a specific case of sexual harassment as well as to provide appropriate judgments.             It can be said that the context of sexual harassment cases are indeed complex. Although a law is already accessible and existing  to guide these cases, several aspects of society and culture seem to overshadow h legal provisions. While laws and policies are easily created and passed, the strongly established norms as well as the conventional perceptions will always be existent as they are harder to disregard. For as long as inevitable problems are present, filing a lawsuit for sexual harassment lawsuits will always be as complicated and complex.     Reference   Crenshaw, Kimberle, Race, Gender, and Sexual Harrasment, 65 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1467, 1474 (1992). Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2002). Facts About Sexual Harassment, Online available at http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-sex.html. retrieve February 16, 2010. McKinnon, Catharine, “Women’s Work,” in Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination, pp. 9-23, (1979).     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Essay on Sexual Harassment at Workplace

Sexual Harassment at Workplace Introduction In the working environment, there are some incidents, in which women ar...

A Research Paper on Sexual Harassment

What is Sexual Harassment?               Sexual harassment is considered as a form of harassment which includes any unwelcome conduct or comment which has a negative impact on the victim’s work environment. Sexual harassment, like other types of harassment are considered as a form of discrimination. Examples of such behavior include: 1. Unwelcome remarks, jokes or innuendo 2. Verbal abuse, intimidation or threats 3. Offensive pictures, graffiti, cartoons or sayings 4. Offensive email messages                           According to (Gruber 1997; Gutek 1985) women and men may experience sexual harassment but women are more likely to be sexually harassed. Moreover, women are more likely to experience negative job-related consequences of sexual harassment such as quitting or losing a job due to unwanted sexual advances (Dansky and Kilpatrick 1997).     Types of Sexual Harassment             There are three types of sexual harassment as identified by Gelfand et al (1993). These include gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention and sexual coercion, each of which consists of a variety of verbal and nonverbal behaviors. Gender  harassment involves behaviors that generally result in conveying hostile and degrading attitudes about women such as by gender-based hazing. Unwanted sexual attention consists of behaviors that are more widely recognized as harassing such as repeated attempts to establish a romantic relationship after refusal; unwanted touching; and sexual imposition or assault. Sexual coercion, the least common, yet most universally recognized type of harassment, involves bribery or threats (either explicit or implied) for sexual cooperation.   Workplace Bullying             Workplace bullying is defined by Namie and Namie (2000) as the deliberate hurtful and repeated mistreatment of a Target (the recipient) by a Bully (the perpetrator) that is driven by the bully’s desire to control the actions that Target. Workplace bullying encompasses all types of mistreatment at work as long as the actions gave the effect, intended or not, of hurting the Target, if felt by the Target.             Bullying is characterized by the following criteria: 1. It is aggressive behavior or intentional harm doing 2. It is carried out repeatedly and overtime 3. It is carried out in an interpersonal relationship characterized by an imbalance of power (Einarsen et al 2002).               The term “workplace bullying” is used deliberately to convey the coercive or persecuting nature of the behaviour. It effectively labels what can be a bewildering and confusing experience which victims find very difficult to describe…The incidents are often petty and vindictive having the effect of intimidating or terrorizing their victims, sapping their self-confidence and even making them fearful of entering the workplace (Thomson 1997).   Workplace bullying and sexual harassment are both forms of harassment. Bullying behaviors is based in the misuse of power in human relationships while sexual harassment is a form of discrimination that is based on gender.   How Does the Law deal with Sexual Harassment?             In the United States, the concept of workplace sexual harassment developed first as a legal concept and subsequently as a concept empirically studied by social and behavioral scientists. In the US, workplace sexual harassment is considered a form of gender-based discrimination under Federal Law. In 1980, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a set of guidelines that have become the cornerstone of legal and policy definitions of sexual harassment throughout the United States. These guidelines describe two general types of sexual harassment: (1) unwelcome sex or gender-related behaviour that creates a hostile environment and (2) quid pro quo behaviors, where the unwelcome behaviour becomes a term or condition of employment or advancement. 1. Hostile Work Environment – where the atmosphere of the workplace is made hostile by sexual harassment, even though there has been no tangible economic loss (Robinson et al 1993). Hostile environment harassment captures those behaviors, such as sexual jokes, comments, and touching, that interfere with an individual’s ability to do her/his job or that create an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment 2. Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment – where a tangible economic detriment due to refusal to succumb to sexual advances (Robinson et al 1993). Quid pro quo harassment involves sexual threats or bribery that are made a condition of employment or used as the basis for employment decisions (Welsh 1999).               The 1980 EEOC Guideline             The 1980 EEOC Guidelines took the position that unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute unlawful sexual harassment when one of three situations exists (Schultz 1998; Woodzicka and Lefrance 2005; Gutek 1995): 1 Submission to the conduct is made a term or condition of employment; or 2 Submission to or rejection of such conduct is used as the basis for an employment decision affecting the employee; or 3 Such conduct has the purpose or effect of either (a) unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance, or (b) creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.   Prevention of Sexual Harassment             The organization and its management plays an important role in the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace. In the event that sexual harassment occurs in the workplace, the employer assumes liability for the hostile environment sexual harassment of the following conditions are met: 1. The employer has knowledge of the unwelcome conduct. 2. The employer is in a position to control the offending conduct. 3. The employer fails to take immediate and appropriate corrective action *Baxter and Hermle 1989).   The employer has a big responsibility in preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. As Sherwyn (2008) puts it, for the employers to response promptly and effectively, there must be a strong policy that will aim at the prevention of harassment before it actually happens. Should sexual harassment occur, the employer is also responsible for acting on complaints in a timely and fair manner.   Each and every charge of sexual harassment, regardless of how trivial, must be taken seriously by the management of an organization. The EEOC encourages employers to take effective preventive action to discourage sexual harassment.   According to its “Policy Guidance Memorandum” (1988), an effective preventive program should include express prohibitions against sexual harassment that are clearly and regularly communicated to employees and effectively implemented. There should also be internal procedures for receiving, investigating, and resolving sexual harassment claims. This means that it is in the best interest of the organization to develop a sexual harassment policy (Robinson et al 1993).   Guidelines For Developing A Sexual Harassment Policy Although the exact wording of sexual harassment policies will vary, the following five questions are usually addressed: (1) How does the organization view sexual harassment? (2) What is sexual harassment? (3) What are some examples of sexual harassment? (4) What can the employee who is being sexually harassed do? (5) How will the organization handle the complaint? (Robinson et al 1993)         References Dansky, B. S., and Kilpatrick, D. G. (1997). Effects of Sexual Harassment. In O’Donohue, W. T. (ed.), Sexual Harassment: Theory, Research and Treatment, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, pp. 152-174.   Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., Zapf, D. and Cooper, C. L. (eds.). (2002). Bullying and Emotional Abuse in the Workplace: International Perspectives in Research and Practice. New York: Taylor & Francis.   Gelfand, M. J., Fitzgerald, L. F., and Drasgow, F. (1993). The Structure of Sexual Harassment: A Confirmatory Analysis across cultures and settings. Under review.   Glendinning, P. M. (2001). Workplace Bullying: Curing the Cancer of the American Workplace. Public Personnel Management, 30(3): 269.   Gutek B. A. (1985). Sex and the Workplace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.   Gutek, B. A. (1995). How Subjective is Sexual Harassment? an Examination of Rater Effects. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 17(4): 447.   Gruber, J. E. (1997). An Epidemiology of Sexual Harassment: Evidence from North American and Europe. In O’Donohue, W. (ed.), Sexual Harassment, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, pp. 152-174.   Gruber, J. E. (1997). An Epidemiology of Sexual Harassment: Evidence from North American and Europe. In O’Donohue, W. (ed.), Sexual Harassment, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, pp. 152-174.   Namie, G. and Namie, R. (2000). The bully at work: What you can do to stop the hurt and reclaim your dignity on the job. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks.   Robinson, R. K., Allen, B. K., Franklin, G. M. and Duhon, D. L. (1993). Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: A Review of the Legal Rights and Responsibilities of All Parties. Public Personnel Management, 22(1): 123+.   Sherwyn, D. (2008). Roundtable retrospective 2007: Dealing with sexual Harassment. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 48(2), 145-150.   Schultz, V. (1998). Reconceptualizing Sexual Harassment. Yale Law Journal, 107(6): 1683-1805.   Thomson, C. (1997). Workplace Bullying Project. Adelaide: Working Women’s Centre of South Australia.   Welsh, S. (2002). Gender and Sexual Harassment. Annual Review of Sociology, 169.   Woodzicka, J. A. and Lafrance, M. (2005). The Effects of Subtle Sexual Harassment on Women’s Performance in a Job Interview. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 53(1-2):67+.         Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

A Research Paper on Sexual Harassment

What is Sexual Harassment? Sexual harassment is considered as a form of harassment which includes any unwelcome conduct or...