Sexual Harassment and Bullying at the Workplace

Questions: 1.Fully define the terms Sexual Harassment and Bullying and discuss how they relate to power. 2.Research and explain the consequences of sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace. 3.Research and discuss an example of what organizations are doing to deal with power abuse. What are they doing to prevent and deal with sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace? Answers: 1. According to the definition set out in the Sexual Discrimination Act 1984, Sexual harassment is considered to be an unsolicited sexual behavior that leads a person to feeling offended, humiliated or intimidated (Bowling Behr, 2006). It does not entail any engagement which is manifested out of mutual consent. The law regards sexual harassment as one of the forms of sexual discrimination. Research indicates that in Australia, the number of women who experience sexual harassment is five times higher than that of men. On the other hand, Tracy et al. (2006) observe that bullying can be described as the psychological, physical, social or verbal abuse by either an employer or other persons at work. If bullying turns violent to include assault and stalking, it can be characterized as a criminal offence. Bullying, however, does not constitute acts which objectively are unfair but they form part of the core practices in the organization. If this practice is perpetuated on the grounds of sex, race, age or any other classified category, then it merits to be regarded as discrimination at the place of work. Sexual harassment and bullying have a direct nexus with power. Justice Mathews observed in the case of OCallaghan v Loder [1984] EOC 92022, 92023, 92024, that sexual harassment occurs if a person is subjected to unwelcome and unsolicited sexual conduct by another party which is in a position of power. In a majority of cases, persons who perpetuate sexual harassment and bullying are often in powerful positions because then the victim is intimidated and fearful of the impending consequences in case they raise an alarm. 2. Sexual harassment and bullying at the workplace present overarching consequences not only to the victim employee but also to the institution where they work and the society as a whole. The first outstanding effect of these vices is that the business incurs unnecessary human costs. Persons who are subjected to sexual harassment and bullying generally have a compromised health especially under the psychological part. Conditions such as anxiety, overt anger, depression and being emotionally distressed are often exhibited. As a matter of fact, recent research indicates that victims of bullying and sexual harassment show signs of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Mikkelsen Einarsen, 2002). The effects of these two transgressions are not only confined to the victims. Employees who witness incidents of bullying and sexual harassment are also subjected to mental agony and they often tend to be angered by the many things in the organization. With all these effects to employees in mind , the best returns on human capital cannot be realized. With respect to the organization, workers who are victims of sexual harassment and bullying are often absent due to sickness. In addition to this, even if they come to work, their performance levels are very low. This is majorly because their creativity is very low; loyalty to the organization is compromised and in most cases they engage in counterproductive behavior. They are always not satisfied and contemplate quitting at all times. These negative attitudes greatly hamper optimal performance of a given organization. Finally, these abusive practices once exhibited by a single member of the organization; have the propensity of being adopted by other persons within the institution. For instance, if the victim of sexual harassment or bullying is an employee; they may carry over this abuse to their own employees who subsequently end up abusing their own family members. Therefore, the whole society may end up feeling the pinch of these vices which are started in the organization. 3. A model of how the issue of power abuse within an organization can be found in the procedures of Australian Red Cross. The organizations Equal Opportunity policy establishes independent offices which are meant to tackle various grievances from all employees. There is established the position of the complaints officer who is tasked with handling all complaints by the employees. There is also a contact person at every station who is responsible for resolving any small disputes arising at the workplace while they are still at the rudimentary level. These two positions are bound by a requirement of utmost confidentiality with respect to all cases reported. Therefore, a complainant is free to make allegations about any person, however powerful without fear of being reprimanded or that the information could be divulged prematurely. With these mechanisms in place, very powerful persons in the organization are cautious not to engage in unbecoming conduct because they know that investigati ons can be discreetly commenced against them at any time (Nicolson, 2015). Sexual harassment and bullying have also been adequately addressed by many organizations in order to improve the working conditions of all employees. The very first step towards tackling these vices is to concisely define the meaning of the two terms from the organizations perspective and provide an elaborate list of conduct that may constitute such transgressions. Organizations are very cautious not to be subjected to a law suit predicated on the two grounds; therefore, they have established more effective internal preventive measures and dispute resolution mechanisms. A good structure from this front must first entail a very strict code of conduct which governs all employees from top to bottom regardless of the power they hold. Secondly, Organizations have resorted to using hotlines or specific complaints officials who are free of influence from any powerful figures within the institution. In light of all these procedures, it is also prudent to have all employees aware of consequen ces of conduct which falls under sexual harassment and bullying. This will enormously deter any such malpractices in the institution. Reference List Bowling, N.A. and Beehr, T.A., 2006. Workplace harassment from the victim's perspective: atheoretical model and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(5), p.998. Mikkelsen, E.G.E. and Einarsen, S., 2002. Basic assumptions and symptoms of post-traumaticstress among victims of bullying at work. European Journal of work and organizationalpsychology, 11(1), pp.87-111. Nicolson, P., 2015. Gender, power and organization: a psychological perspective on life at work. Routledge. Tracy, S.J., Lutgen-Sandvik, P. and Alberts, J.K., 2006. Nightmares, demons, and slavesexploring the painful metaphors of workplace bullying. Management communicationquarterly, 20(2), pp.148-185.