What Constitutes Sexual Harassment - Essay Example

Introduction Workplace is an area where different people from different backgrounds come together to fulfil certain objective or aim. Within such environment, misunderstandings are common and usually there are means and provisions that aid these employees to sort their differences and misunderstandings effectively (McDonald, 2012, p. 14). However, other times these misunderstandings are extensive and measures should be in place that will guide into solving the issue (Willness, Steel and Lee, 2007, p. 135). For example, sexual harassment is a common issue that affects both female and male employees within a workplace (Sara, McDonald and Somali, 2011, p. 145). Therefore, the aim of this paper is to address sexual harassment within the workplace (McDonald, Sara and Somali, 2011, p. 281). Other issues that the paper addresses are measures that can be utilised to minimise sexual harassment within the workplace and legal provisions that are in place that provides an opportunity for the victim to request for redress. The discuss will be based on Australia since different countries have different means of addressing sexual harassment and the discussion will be presented from a human resource management perspective. Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment can be defined as a form of sexual discrimination that may occur at different settings e.g. at the work place, at school, and within social settings. In the case of a workplace, it is a form of any unwelcome sexual attention that someone finds humiliating, offensive or even intimidating. Australian Human Rights Commission (2012) in association with Sex Discrimination Act 1984 defines sexual harassment, as “is any unwanted or unwelcome sexual behaviour, which makes a person feel offended, humiliated or intimidated.” From this definition, sexual harassment is not only constrained in terms of sexual in nature, but also, when someone includes the use of offensive terms about a person’s sex. As an example, it is sexual harassment when a person generally makes offensive comments about women. In addition, the victim of sexual harassment and or the harasser can be either a man or a woman, and at the same time, the harasser and the victim can be from the same sex (Sara, McDonald and Somali, 2011, p. 148). This means that a harasser can be a supervisor, a victim of a supervisor, a client or even a co-worker. Some of the characteristics of sexual harassment range from mild transgressions, annoyances to actual sexual assault or sexual abuse (McDonald, 2012, p. 12). Moreover, illegal employment discrimination can be viewed as sexual harassment and it is a form of psychological and sexual abuse, and bullying. Many organisations across the globe understand the impacts of sexual harassment and thus have formulated and implement strategies that addresses issues associated with sexual harassment. Impact of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Sexual harassment at the workplace can have numerous serious consequences for both the harasser and the victim. The consequence of sexual harassment differs between and within persons and it is mostly based on duration of the harassment and also on severity of the harassment. In addition, the consequence is not only restrained to the actual harassment but also to aftermath of the harassment. In most instances, the aftermath is more damaging compared to the original harassment. The effects of the sexual harassment range from external effects, such as backlash, retaliation to internal effects that may include anxiety, depression, or feelings of betrayal and shame. These effects also differ especially when it comes to victim’s experience, and it varies from mild to severe. In the workplace, sexual harassment may cause economical effects. The economic effect to an individual is when the victim loses his employment or other employment benefits (McDonald, Sara and Somali, 2011, p. 283). The connection between loss of employment and sexual harassment is when a victim is fired for refusing to accept with sexual requirements of a co-worker or a supervisor (Mainiero and Jones, 2012, p. 7). In most instances, such strategies is interconnected with another event, making the event as the reason for firing but in real sense the reason was harassment (Key and Ridge, 2011, p. 1098). Moreover, the victim might be subjected to demotion, denial of promotions, and even forced reassignment. Victim blaming and backlash can also become a major issue within the workplace. Those victims who report harassment may be victimised by the co-workers in terms of backlash. Backlash come in different perspectives and may include shunning of the victim, expressing hostility, and change of attitude towards the harassment victim. Moreover, the victim may face humiliation and objectification through such means as ostracism from professional groups, defamation of reputation and character, and humiliation through gossip and scrutiny. In addition, victim blaming may exist in that the victim may be assumed to have contributed to the harassment or may be liable to consequence of the reported harassment. From a different perspective, the character and behaviour of the victim from the view of other employees may be seen as having contributed to occurrence of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment may also affect the victim indirectly. For example, the social environment of the victim may be transformed. An individual may have reported or told some of their friends about the harassment, the person may constantly wonder on the number of people exposed to the information, and what this group of co-workers think of the incident. The victim may start hearing people taking of the incident and thus the victim because subject of misinformation, office gossip and speculation. Moreover, the victim inner cycle may be affected immensely since the social support network may fall apart. This is because the case of reported harassment can be used any moment when there is complain and for those people who do not know well the victim, they may start shunning the victim. Generally, the victim will not remain as an ordinary co-worker but a subject of underground drama (McDonald, 2012, p. 11). In addition, the victim is exposed to psychological effects. Example of psychological effects that a victim can experience include panic attacks and anxiety, depression, shame and guilt, sleeplessness, loss or fatigue of motivation, difficulty concentrating, loss of self-esteem and confidence, feeling powerless, isolation and withdrawal. Such effects affects the duties of an employee and may result in the victim been fired or punished because of unsatisfactory work. Hence, psychological effects usually affect directly the way in which employees accomplishes certain duties. Sexual harassment may also affect the workplace and the organisation will continue to operate. For example, a victim may have been an important factor within the organisation, and the victim leaving the organisation may affect adversely operations of the organisation. This will economically affect the organisation and hence there should be strategies to ensure that sexual harassment is avoided or prevented completely. Minimisation of sexual harassment Understanding and appreciating differences within the workplace is important for any employee so that sexual harassment can be avoided. Most sexual harassment may be attributed to repeated harassment since it will not be a stand-alone issue. This means that the victim should inform and tell the harasser that she or he does not like what is happening, and try to explain themselves rather than assuming that the harassment will disappear. Effective communication within the workplace should be encouraged prevent misunderstanding between the employees. Nevertheless, measures should be in place to ensure sexual harassment is prevented. Strategies should be in place that ensures reduction of sexual harassment occurring. Sexual harassment within the workplace should be minimised to ensure that the employees operate effectively without any backlashes. An important strategy that can be used may include adoption of a clear sexual harassment policy. The policy should clear its importance and its importance towards the organisation (McDonald, Graham and Martin, 2010, p. 1171). Some of the contents of the policy include definition of sexual harassment, state categorically that zero tolerance to sexual harassment will be championed, and clearly define counter measures if sexual harassment occurs e.g. disciplinary actions (Hunt, Davidson, Fielden and Hoel, 2010, p. 661). Moreover, the policy should have information on how sexual harassment complaints can be filled, means of ensuring that the complain is investigated thoroughly, and that backlashes will not be tolerate. Having such a policy, will reduce or eliminate sexual harassment and will ensure that employees respect each other. In addition, the policy should be monitored and evaluated to ensure that it is applicable to changing times. Informing employees on sexual harassment is important since employees will try to avoid sexual harassment related characteristics (Sara, McDonald and Anthea, 2012, p. 14). Some employees may have minimal or lack of knowledge when it comes to sexual harassment and thus it is important to carry out periodically training sessions for the employees (McDonald, 2012, p. 9). Information that will be presented to the employees may include what constitute sexual harassment, informing the employees that they have the right to work in an environment that is free from sexual harassment, update and review the procedure that is used for complaining and encouraging the employees to utilise the procedure to report their complains. In addition, the managers and supervisor should be trained to understand how to detect sexual harassment and means of addressing complaints. The training should be different from the ordinary employees (McDonald, Graham and Martin, 2010, p. 173). The managers and supervisors should be informed on strategies that each of the people within the organisation could use to solve their differences rather than reporting. For example, the management can formulate and implement an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). Employee Assistance Programme can be defined as a strategy that employees utilise to resolve their work-related and personal concerns without affecting operations within the workplace. Such strategy will ensure that differences are resolved before degenerating. Response to sexual harassment: Acts Within Australia, the government understands that employees are exposed to sexual harassment and the government has passed measures and Acts that ensures employees work effectively without sexual harassment issues. An example of such an Act is the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 that prohibits discrimination of employees is terms of marital status, pregnancy related issues and sex. The Act also aims in eliminating discrimination that involves dismissal of employees based on certain conditions such as family responsibilities (Sara, McDonald and Anthea, 2012, p. 34). An important Act that assists greatly pregnant workers is the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Pregnancy and Work) Act 2003. The Act defines ways and means in which pregnant employees should be treated and strategies that ensures that they have been accorded the best possible assistance. Another important Act that was passed is the Sex and Age Discrimination Legislation Amendment Act 2011 in which some of the presented amendment includes redefining sexual harassment, increased protections against acts of sexual harassment, and prohibition of sexual harassment that was carried out through the use of new technologies. The amended Act provided means of ensuring for gender equality within Australia. These Acts passed by the Parliament provides means and direction of redress if an employee is harassed. The victim may file their complain based on the provisions of these Acts and other provisions that are supported by internal mechanisms to ensure equality within the workplace (McDonald, Graham and Martin, 2010, p. 167). In addition, the employees may request for mitigation approaches from the workplace management and other persons within the workplace resulting in a position where such issues will not reoccur. Conclusion Sexual harassment comes in different forms and sometimes occurs because of lack of information between the victim and harasser. Within a workplace, the harasser may include the supervisor, co-worker, and even manager. Moreover, the harasser may even be a client. Sexual harassment affects immensely the victim economical, psychologically, and socially. In addition, the workplace may be affected if some of the employees leave the organisation because of sexual harassment. Some strategies that can be used to minimise sexual harassment may include effective communication at the workplace, training and educating both employees and employers regarding sexual harassment, and formulating and implementing effectively sexual harassment policy. In addition, the government and some policies within the workplace have formulated means in which sexual harassment can be addressed. The government has passed Acts preventing and punishing sexual harassment offenders. Some of these Acts include Sex Discrimination Act 1984, Sex Discrimination Amendment (Pregnancy and Work) Act 2003 and Sex and Age Discrimination Legislation Amendment Act 2011. References Australian Human Rights Commission. 2012. What is sexual harassment? Available at http://www.hreoc.gov.au/sexualharassment/index.html [Accessed 29 July 2012] Hunt, C., Davidson, T., Fielden, S., and Hoel, H. 2010. Reviewing sexual harassment in the workplace – an intervention model. Personnel Review, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 655 – 673 Key, C., and Ridge, R. 2011. Guys like us: The link between sexual harassment proclivity and blame. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, vol. 28, no. 8, pp. 1093-1103 Mainiero, L., and Jones, K. 2012. Workplace Romance 2.0: Developing a Communication Ethics Model to Address Potential Sexual Harassment from Inappropriate Social Media Contacts Between Coworkers. Journal of Business Ethics, pp. 1-13 McDonald, P. 2012. Workplace Sexual Harassment 30 Years on: A Review of the Literature. International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1-17 McDonald, P., Graham, T., and Martin, B. 2010. Outrage management in cases of sexual harassment as revealed in judicial decisions. Psychology of Women Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 165-180 McDonald, P., Sara, C., and Somali, C. 2011. Below the ‘tip of the iceberg’: extra-legal responses to workplace sexual harassment. Women's Studies International Forum, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 278-289 Sara, C., McDonald, P., and Anthea, W. 2012. The workplace context of sexual harassment in Australia : policing the gender borders. In 26th AIRAANZ Conference 2012 : Re-organising Work, 8-10 February 2012, Surfers Paradise, Australia. Sara, C., McDonald, P., and Somali, C. 2011. Naming and claiming workplace sexual harassment in Australia. Australian Journal of Social Issues, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 141-161. Willness, C., Steel, P., and Lee, K. 2007. A meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of workplace sexual harassment. Personal Psychology, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 127-162 Read More