Harassment in the Workplace
Gorman (2005) suggests workplace inequality is any form of discrimination or prejudice
that takes place in a workplace environment. The workplace authority allows and promotes it to
happen. He believed it to be conventional. It is common for a workplace environment to have
inequalities found on social class, race or gender. There is usually this chain of command that
exists in the workplace in which executive leaders and managers are paid higher wages and have
more authority and prestige than those beneath them. Some common discrimination that occurs
in the workplace is gender based imbalances of individuals in authority who command over the
management of the organization.
In workplace environment such as offices, factories, buildings, private homes,
educational institution or stores, the harasser picks any of the diversity issues to make the
individual feel uncomfortable (Williams, 2001). Harassers commonly choose sex, religion,
birthplace, age, political beliefs, and physical disability of a co-worker to harass them. Overall,
workplace harassment is typically performed by a person such as a boss, superior, manager,
director, coworker, customer, patient, delivery person or a person in a union. The responsibility
of preventing workplace harassment lies with the human resources department of an organization
in which the management's and administration's effectiveness plays an immense part.
There are several examples of workplace insolence and indecency such as

Sending of demeaning notes

Talking about someone behind his or her back

Emotional put-downs

Continuous disrespect by way of comments and gestures, hostility.
The above examples are based on characteristics such as race, religion, gender and age. This is
considered as workplace harassment and discrimination.
Workplace harassment for a business can deteriorate and have a serious impact on workers'
career prospects. Rokonuzzaman, & Rahman, (2011), explained workers' reputations may be
negatively affected due to harassment directed toward them. Apart from the aforementioned, it
compels an organization to experience some problems as stated below:

Employees morale reduce

Performance and productivity affected

Defective relationships created

Job absences increase

Turnover rate grow

Lesser work pace

Work concentration increase

Poor communication.
Policies for Harassment Prevention
Over the years, research has shown organizations spending billions of dollars in training
their managers to become good leaders. This behavior can impact the role of management and
allow them to make rational decisions that will affect the bottom-line of the company as a whole.
Although, there is several possible explanation of the notion of effective leadership, most
academics and business scholars agree that leadership can have an influence over an individual.
And can possibly by his or her actions facilitate the movement of a group of people toward
achieving a common goal (Hempel & Porges, 2004). In the case with Enron, there was failure
on the part of leadership to enforce ethical behaviors.
Recommendations for Ethical Practices
In order for companies to be successful with harassment issues, there are several steps to
take:
 Implement a culture of ethics
 Be a visible role model (top management)
 Communicate ethical expectations
 Provide ethical training
 Visibly reward ethical actions & punish unethical ones
Usually, employees look up to top-management’s behavior as a point of reference for defining
appropriate behavior. When the leaders are seen as practicing what they preach, it then provides
a positive message for all employees. Ethical uncertainty can be minimized by creating a
stringent ‘code of ethics’ which has the organization’s primary values and ethical rules that
employees are expected to follow. On the other hand, training such as seminars, workshops,
pamphlets, and on-line sessions should all be utilized to reinforce the organization’s standards of
conduct and to address possible ethical dilemmas.
Performance appraisals of managers should include evaluation of how managers and
subordinates measure up against the organization’s code of ethics. Employees who act ethically
should be rewarded for their behaviors and unethical acts should be clearly punished. The
organization needs to provide a protective mechanism, so that employees can freely discuss
ethical dilemmas and report unethical behavior without fear of reprimand. This might include
HR (human resource), ethical counselors or ethical officers to alleviate the burden.
Creating an Ethical Organizational Culture
Culture performs a number of functions within an organization. It defines various roles
and creates distinctions between one organization and others. It conveys a sense of identity for
organization members. It facilitates the generation of commitment to something larger than
one’s individual self-interest. Therefore, every organization develops a core set of assumptions,
understandings and implicit rules that govern day-to-day behavior in the workplace (Schein,
1996). The role of culture in influencing employee behavior appears to be increasingly important
in today’s workplace. As organizations expand their control, flattened their structures, introduced
teams, reduced formalization and empowered employees, the shared meaning provided by a
strong culture requires that everyone is moving towards the same direction.
From an employee’s standpoint, culture is valuable because it reduces ambiguity. It tells
employees how things are done and what is important. Hence, the potentially dysfunctional
aspects of culture, especially a strong one should not be ignored since an organization’s
effectiveness can be destroyed. Culture can become a liability when the shared values are not in
agreement with those that will further the organization’s effectiveness (Schein, 1983). The
content and strength of a culture can influence an organization’s ethical climate and the ethical
behavior of its employees. In some organizations, ethics training is quite lengthy and requires its
employees to seriously address their values and principles and to share them with their
coworkers. For example, Boeing Company’s training program, called “Questions of Integrity:
The Ethics Challenge,” is conducted within an employee’s work group. This forum is led by the
supervisor and employees are required to discuss more than four dozen of ethical situations.
Each case includes four possible ways of dealing with a problem (Boeing, 2011).
References
Gorman, E. H., (2005). Gender stereotypes, same-gender preferences, and organization variation
in the hiring of women: Evidence from law firms. American Sociological Review, 70(4),
702-728.
Hempel, J. & Porges, S., “It Takes a Village-And a Consultant”, Business Week, September 4th,
2004, p. 76.
Rokonuzzaman, M. & Rahman, M. M. (2011), “Workplace Harassment and Productivity: A
Comprehensive Role of Strategic Leadership”, Journal of General Education, Vol. 1,
ISSN: 2223-4543, p41-49
Schein, E., “The Role of the Founder in Creating Organizational Culture,” Organizational
Dynamics, summer 1983, pp. 13-28
Schein, E., “Leadership and Organizational Culture,” The Leader of the Future
(San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996)