BUS272 TB

290 Part 3 Interacting Effectively
of British Columbia student Anoushka Ratnarajah notes that “‘the line’ with respect to
sexual harassment and the issue of consent are still fuzzy for many students”? 70
Sexual harassment can wreak havoc on an organization, not to mention on the
victims themselves. But it can be avoided. A manager’s role in preventing sexual harassment
is critical. Managers can protect themselves and their employees from sexual
harassment in the following ways:
• Make sure an active policy defines what constitutes sexual harassment,
informs employees that they can be fired for sexually harassing another
employee, and establishes procedures for making complaints.
• Reassure employees that they will not encounter retaliation if they issue a
complaint.
• Investigate every complaint and inform the legal and human resource
departments.
• Make sure that offenders are disciplined or terminated.
• Set up in-house seminars to raise employee awareness of sexual harassment
issues.
Should workplaces ban all forms of sexual behaviour as a way of preventing harassment?
Focus on Ethics considers this question.
FOCUS ON ETHICS
Sex at Work
Should romantic relationships be prohibited at work? The
difficulty in monitoring and defining sexual harassment at
work has led some organizations to go beyond discouraging
overt sexually harassing behaviours. 71 Companies ranging
from Walmart to Staples to Xerox have disciplined employees
for workplace romances and upheld policies that ban hierarchical romantic relationships,
such as between a supervisor and a subordinate. The idea is that such relationships are
so fraught with potential for abuse of power that they cannot possibly be consensual for
extended periods of time. Surveys by the Society of Human Resource Management suggest
that concerns about both potential sexual harassment and lowered productivity have
motivated prohibitions on workplace romances. However, ethicists and legal scholars have
thrown some “no romance” policies into question on the grounds they are patronizing or
invade employee privacy.
What does organizational behaviour research have to say about consensual sexual
behaviour at work? One study of more than 1000 respondents found that 40 percent were
exposed to sexual behaviour in some form in the past year. Counter to the idea that all sexual
behaviour at work is negative, some female and many male respondents reported enjoying
the experience. However, exposure to sexual behaviour at work was negatively related to
performance and psychological well-being. People may report enjoying it, but it might be
hurting their productivity and well-being anyway.
7 Identify the causes and
consequences of political
behaviour.
P o l i t i c s : P o w e r i n A c t i o n
When the stories of the first video purportedly showing Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine
surfaced in May 2013, Ford persistently denied both the existence of the video, and that he
smoked crack. 72 Not everyone believed his denial, and the story put Toronto’s mayor into
the international news. Some members of city council, as well as the editorial boards of the
National Post , Toronto Sun , and Toronto Star , called for Ford to step down. Ford refused to
resign, fired his chief of staff, and faced the resignation of six staff members.