Harassment In Workplace Research Articles

The promise and peril of sexual harassment programs

Two decades ago, the Supreme Court vetted the workplace harassment programs popular at the time: sexual harassment grievance procedures and training. However, harassment at work remains common. Do these programs reduce harassment? Program effects have been difficult to measure, but, because women frequently quit their jobs after being harassed, programs that reduce harassment should help firms retain current and aspiring women managers. Thus, effective programs should be followed by increases in women managers. We analyze data from 805 companies over 32 y to explore how new sexual harassment programs affect the representation of white, black, Hispanic, and Asian-American women in management. We find support for several propositions. First, sexual harassment grievance procedures, shown in surveys to incite retaliation without satisfying complainants, are followed by decreases in women managers. Second, training for managers, which encourages managers to look for signs of trouble and intervene, is followed by increases in women managers. Third, employee training, which proscribes specific behaviors and signals that male trainees are potential perpetrators, is followed by decreases in women managers. Two propositions specify how management composition moderates program effects. One, because women are more likely to believe harassment complaints and less likely to respond negatively to training, in firms with more women managers, programs work better. Two, in firms with more women managers, harassment programs may activate group threat and backlash against some groups of women. Positive and negative program effects are found in different sorts of workplaces.

Workplace and sexual harassment and discrimination in gynecology

Workplace and sexual harassment and discrimination in gynecology

گێچه‌ڵكردن به‌ ژنان لە شۆێنی کاردا و په‌یوه‌ندی به‌ جۆری كاره‌وه‌/ توێژینه‌وه‌یه‌كی كۆمه‌ڵناسی مه‌یدانيیە له‌ شاری هه‌ولێر

گێچه‌ڵكردن به‌ ژنان لە شۆێنی کاردا و په‌یوه‌ندی به‌ جۆری كاره‌وه‌/ توێژینه‌وه‌یه‌كی كۆمه‌ڵناسی مه‌یدانيیە له‌ شاری هه‌ولێر

Workplace harassment and discrimination in gynecology: Results of an International Society Survey

Workplace harassment and discrimination in gynecology: Results of an International Society Survey

The Impact of Workplace Harassment on Health in a Working Cohort.

Background: Workplace abuse, including sexual harassment, is frequently experienced worldwide and is related to adverse mental health outcomes, and injuries. Flight attendants are an understudied occupational group and are susceptible to harassment due to working in a feminized, client-facing occupation with few protections or sanctioned responses against aggressive behaviors.Objective: We investigated the relationship between workplace abuse and health in a cohort of cabin crew. We also aimed to characterize perpetrator profiles.Methods: We conducted our study among 4,459U.S. and Canada-based participants from the Harvard Flight Attendant Health Study using multivariate logistic regression. Our exposures of interest were episodes of workplace abuse in the past year. We evaluated several mental and physical health outcomes, including depression, fatigue, musculoskeletal injuries, and general workplace injuries.Results: We report that exposures to verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and sexual assault are common among cabin crew, with 63, 26, and 2% of respondents, respectively, reporting harassment in the past year alone. Workplace abuse was associated with depression, sleep disturbances, and musculoskeletal injuries among male and female crew, with a trend toward increasing odds ratios (ORs) given a higher frequency of events. For example, sexual harassment was related to an increased odds for depression (OR = 1.91, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.51–2.30), which increased in a dose response-like manner among women reporting harassment once (OR = 1.44, 95% CI: 0.93–1.95), 2–3 times (OR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.29–2.38), and 4 or more times (OR = 4.12, 95% CI: 3.18–5.06). We found that passengers were the primary perpetrators of abuse.Conclusions: Our study is the first to comprehensively characterize workplace abuse and harassment and its relation to health in a largely female customer-facing workforce. The strong associations with health outcomes observed in our study highlights the question of how workplace policies can be altered to mitigate prevalent abuses. Clinicians could also consider how jobs with high emotional labor demands may predispose people to adverse health outcomes, educate patients regarding their psychological/physical responses and coping strategies, and be aware of signs of distress in patients working in such occupations in order to direct them to the appropriate treatments and therapies.

Online Harassment in the Workplace: the Role of Technology in Labour Law Disputes

In this paper, we explore the role technology plays in online workplace harassment as it emerges in the legal verdicts of labour law courts. Analysing 106 official legal verdicts on labour law violations, we demonstrate how technological traces are used as evidence for both indictment and the defence. We find that chat technologies risk providing a platform for online workplace harassment which extends beyond the boundaries of work and into private life. In contrast to online harassment on social media sites, online harassment in the workplace exists within situations of known audiences in hierarchical organisational structures. Thus, speaking up against a violator can have severe financial and social consequences for the survivor. Our data show that chat technology, by capturing and documenting abusive behaviours, makes harassment visible, allowing survivors to hold the harassers legally accountable. Furthermore, we find that online harassment, because it extends beyond the physical workplace, extends the legal and ethical responsibility of the employer. We argue that research on computer-supported co-operative work should consider how the design of co-operative technologies can help survivors speak up, as well as inhibit violators’ abusive behaviour. We also propose that design strategies must consider employers’ extended responsibility for moral and ethical conduct.

ALGUNAS CONSIDERACIONES SOBRE LA TIPICIDAD DEL ACOSO LABORAL EN LA LEGISLACIÓN ECUATORIANA

El siguiente artículo tiene el objetivo de mostrar algunas consideraciones sobre la tipicidad del acoso laboral (mobbing) en la legislación ecuatoriana. En consonancia con ello, la estrategia metodológica asumida se sustenta en los métodos de investigación: revisión documental, histórico–lógico, hermenéutico y analítico-sintético. Sobre esta base, los hallazgos realizados permiten aseverar que, aunque en el Ecuador se han dado pasos para prevenir el acoso laboral e introducir instrumentos para su erradicación, aún existe un vacío en el orden jurídico penal que tipifique esta conducta y decrete las sanciones para el acosador. Asimismo, se establezcan acciones restaurativas y retributivas de reivindicación al acosado.

Proposal: How The 3B’s Needs VR: Addressing Workplace Harassment & Bullying

Harassment and bullying require three key actors or 3B’s, a bully, the bullied (or target of the bullying) and the bystander. Negative behaviours occur in large and small organizations, profit, non profit and public sector agencies across all job classifications regardless of educational levels. What is clear is all too often childhood bullies enter the workplace using tactics that have served them well during their formative years, and those who were bullied, become bullies as a defense mechanism (Einarsen, Hoel, & Cooper, 2002). The World Health Organization recognizes bullying as a global issue classifying it as psychological violence carried out in the workplace (Kakoulakis, Galanakis, Bakoula-Tzoumaka, Darvyri, Chroussos, & Darvyri, 2015). The costs to the individual’s bullies, the organization and society are being recognized as huge due to the stunted careers, turnover and brand damage. Workplace harassment needs to be addressed to thwart its destructiveness to employees both at work and outside of the workplace. Incorporating VR training into anti-harassment training can be a sufficient stimulus to cause neurological shifts in the learner allowing for ‘refreezing’ into a receptive state for sustainable learning and long term organizational culture changes.

Managing Sexual Joking in Manufacturing Organizations: Harassment or Humor?

Although humor is a relatively common communication interaction, it has multiple functions. This article examines the discourse about sexual harassment and humor using the tension-centered approach. Using data from 20 in-depth interviews of men and women working in manufacturing, I explored themes about the use of humor, sexual harassment, and organizational tension. Analyzing the data within the tension-centered approach revealed strategies male participants used to manage sexual joking in highly masculine work environments with women present. Results indicated that the male participants reinforced the notion that manufacturing is male space by using humor and used exclusion and regendering to manage the tension that arose during exchanges of particularly crude sexual joking. Implications for the workplace and sexual harassment are discussed.

Sharing #MeToo on Twitter: incidents, coping responses, and social reactions

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine 2,102 #MeToo tweets and focuses on the content of the tweets and social reactions to these tweets. For a subsample of 912 tweets that included disclosures of sexual assault or harassment, the incident type and context, along with coping were also examined.Design/methodology/approach#MeToo tweets were retrieved from a 24 h time period immediately after the initial tweet prompting responses. Both sentiment analysis and content and context analyses were performed.FindingsAlthough the overall sentiment of tweets indicated a negative tone, the majority of positive social reactions indicated validation and belief of survivors, offered emotional support and called for social change. Targets who disclosed generally described workplace harassment and assertive coping responses.Research limitations/implicationsSentiment analysis can be limited given a lack of context. Not all targets using #MeToo shared details of their harassment or assault; those who did reported using more assertive coping responses than traditional samples of survivors.Practical implicationsSocial media platforms offer unique opportunities for targets to share personal stories and receive emotional and social support they may not have access in-person.Social implications#MeToo provided targets with a groundswell of social and emotional support, along with a less frequent amount of backlash against the movement.Originality/valueA multimethod approach was used with both sentiment analysis and text coding to examine #MeToo, allowing for a description of types of incidents shared, coping strategies and social reactions.

Workplace Harassment and Discrimination in Gynecology: Results of the AAGL Member Survey

To characterize workplace and sexual harassment and discrimination among physicians in gynecology. A beta-tested Internet survey was distributed by e-mail using the REDCap platform. All responses were anonymous. The survey was distributed to the 7026 physician members of an international gynecologic society (AAGL), including faculty and trainees. Not applicable. The survey was distributed on 3 occasions between July and September 2018. The survey contained questions on demographics, attitudes, experiences, and sequelae regarding harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Frequency distributions and nonparametric tests were performed to determine the percentages and types of harassment and discrimination among respondents. A total of 907 physicians responded, including 603 US physicians and 304 non-US physicians; 59% identified as female and 40% as male, and 20% were trainees. Females were more likely than males to think the #MeToo movement was "justified and overdue" (p < .05), independent of age or trainee status. More females than males reported experiencing workplace discrimination (67% vs 39%; p < .001); gender-based discrimination was the most common basis for both. Females indicated decreased self-confidence and lower salary; males indicated fewer employment opportunities and lower patient volume. Harassment was reported by more females than males (53% vs 17%; p < .001), including sexual harassment (39% vs 11%, p <.05). Most experienced loss of self-confidence, felt the offender was in a position of power, and did not report the incident, often due to fear of reprisal. Multiple respondents experienced workplace-related sexual assault. Workplace harassment and discrimination are commonly experienced by female and male gynecologists and are usually related to a power differential. Improvements must be made in the workplace environment to achieve equity and a safe workplace free of harassment and discrimination.

Inventario de Violencia y Acoso Psicológico en el Trabajo (IVAPT) para Colombia

Inventario de Violencia y Acoso Psicológico en el Trabajo (IVAPT) para Colombia

From #MeToo to #TimesUp in health care: can a culture of accountability end inequity and harassment?

From #MeToo to #TimesUp in health care: can a culture of accountability end inequity and harassment?

Defending harassers harms victims

The Letter “Harassment charges: Injustice done?” by A. Moya et al. (17 August, p. [655][1]) defends Francisco Ayala, recasting him as the victim of an unfair investigation where he was found guilty of repeated sexual harassment against multiple colleagues, leading to his resignation from the University of California Irvine (UCI). In publishing this Letter, the content of which is considered retaliatory under U.S. education law ([ 1 ][2]), Science legitimizes attempts to discredit Ayala's accusers by reinforcing the narrative that consequences are the “fault” of the harassed rather than those engaging in harassment. Moya et al. do not substantiate their claims that the UCI investigation was “enacted in haste” and that it lacked “fairness” and “due process.” Instead, they propose that Ayala's status and research accomplishments should shield him from the consequences of his actions. As addressed in the Letter “Editor's note: Harassment policy” (12 October, p. [165][3]) by Science's Editor-in-Chief, Jeremy Berg, “[s]uch arguments not only lack relevance to harassment behavior but also may result in further harm to the targets of harassment and exacerbate the already daunting process that targets face in coming forward publicly.” Moya et al. also decry the “appalling consequences” of the charges against Ayala, deflecting attention from the consequences of his proven misconduct and impugning the motives of those who testified. Approximately 50% of women face sexual harassment in academic workplaces—more so for women of color and sexual and gender minorities ([ 2 ][4]). Many who report also face retaliation ([ 2 ][4]). Ayala's targets were courageous in coming forward. They deserve support, not public criticism enabled by a prestigious scientific organization. Science would not publish such a letter defending a data fabricator on the basis of their accomplishments and making unsupported claims against the investigation. Although Science has since changed its policy, the scientific community should reflect on why the standard was different for sexual misconduct and act accordingly to mitigate damages. Sexual harassment undermines core values of research integrity. It not only harms targets and bystanders; harassment damages science itself by discouraging and driving out talented people. In our opinion, Science committed an injustice and a serious error in judgment by publishing this Letter. We request that Science retract the Moya et al. letter or remove it from the online archive, and publicly apologize to both Ayala's victims and the scientific community at large ([ 3 ][5]). Editor's note We thank Barolo et al. for continuing the dialogue about best practices for addressing harassment. Barolo et al. call for the retraction or removal of the Letter by Moya et al . Science originally published the Letter to fulfill the Letters section's mission of representing diverse views within the community. Since publication, Science has acknowledged that some of the points in the Moya et al. Letter were flawed. However, because Letters represent the opinions of the authors and not editorial positions of Science , we will not retract previously published Letters. Furthermore, in line with current best practice, Science policy precludes removing text once it is published. Rather, before the Letter itself, we have prominently placed the text of the 12 October 2018 Editor's Note, which alerts readers to concerns about the Letter and explains new policies put in place since its publication. Jeremy Berg Editor-in-Chief Published 25 January 2019 1. [↵][6]1. S. M. Galanter , “Dear colleague letter” (U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC, 2013); . 2. [↵][7]National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, “Sexual harassment of women: Climate, culture, and consequences in academic sciences, engineering, and medicine” (The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2018); [www.nap.edu/catalog/24994/sexual-harassment-of-women-climate-culture-and-consequences-in-academic][8]. 3. [↵][9]A petition preceding this Letter and 316 online signatories are available at [www.gopetition.com/petitions/the-evidence-does-not-support-amplifying-sympathy-for-harassers.html][10]. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/361/6403/655.3 [2]: #ref-1 [3]: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/362/6411/165.1 [4]: #ref-2 [5]: #ref-3 [6]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [7]: #xref-ref-2-1 View reference 2 in text [8]: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/24994/sexual-harassment-of-women-climate-culture-and-consequences-in-academic [9]: #xref-ref-3-1 View reference 3 in text [10]: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/the-evidence-does-not-support-amplifying-sympathy-for-harassers.html

Le harcèlement au travail et ses conséquences psychopathologiques : une clinique qui se transforme

AimThis article aims to explore the changes in clinical practice in dealing with workplace harassment in the light of theoretical and practical knowledge on workplace psychopathology and psychodynamics. MethodThis article uses a set of clinical observations extending over several years in clinical consultations and workplace psychodynamics surveys in the field, in businesses and institutions. Particular emphasis is placed on the judicial institution. Using this clinical material, the authors seek to distinguish the essential elements characterising changes in the patterns of workplace harassment and the psychopathological consequences for the subjects concerned. ResultsThe authors have for several years now noted an increase in mental pathologies caused by harassment, the definition of which however needs to be reappraised in light of changes in the organization of work. Although harassment is far from being a new phenomenon, its psychopathological consequences take on more severe forms than thirty years ago. DiscussionIt appears that the new forms of organization of work proceeding from the “managerial turn” initiated in the 1990s generate loneliness and an erosion of solidarity within working groups, constituting major etiological elements in the de-compensation episodes observed at present. ConclusionThe pathologies of harassment can thus be considered as one of the most obvious signs of the deleterious evolution of the world of work for the psychic functioning of workers. If prevention is possible, it lies above all in restoring cooperation and a collective will to fight for the quality of the working environment.

Body trouble: sexual harassment and worker abuse in musical theater dance employment

ABSTRACT Beginning in the 1980s, and throughout years of employment on Broadway and beyond, I was an unwitting participant-observer to scenes of sexual harassment in musical theater dance workplaces. I experienced being a target of sexual harassment, not as trauma, but as an uncomfortable and accepted aspect of the employment landscape. The hypersexualized, bodily-aware, and emotional and physical intimacy of the work and work settings of theatrical dancers invite sexual banter and play that easily crosses the boundary between good-natured repartee and harassment. The uncertainty of dancers securing and maintaining work is amplified by employers’ and unions’ inability to guarantee employment. These aspects of the trade, along with extremely hierarchic employment power structures, encourage varieties of exploitation additional to all the usual ways in which workers are regularly abused in our market-driven systems of economy and employment. Taking an autoethnographic approach, along with contextualizing current literature on sexual harassment, this exploration addresses fundamental issues relevant to the present national conversation in the United States. Investigation into harassment in the explicitly sexually-charged environment of the theatrical dance workplace reveals the contradictions inherent to the hierarchies of worker abuse implicit in the current US cultural assessment of sexual harassment.

Workplace Harassment: The Acumen of a Submissive Fact in Dentistry

Workplace Harassment: The Acumen of a Submissive Fact in Dentistry

Disgorging Harvey Weinstein's Salary

Harvey Weinstein dramatically altered the way that people view sexual harassment in the workplace. While workplace sexual harassment is far from a new phenomenon – with many perpetrators of such harassment (including Weinstein himself) having gotten away with this misbehavior for decades – the exposure of Weinstein’s misdeeds opened the floodgates, leading countless women from a variety of work environments to share their own experiences with sexual harassment at work. As the #MeToo movement has continued to occupy the headlines, workplace harassment has begun to seem as ubiquitous as it is distressing. This intensified spotlight on sexual harassment has exposed a persistent frustration among academics, the media and members of the public, as society puzzles over what can be done to eliminate sexual misbehavior at work. Robust research indicates that conventional mechanisms for addressing sexual harassment, like carefully worded policies or mandatory training sessions, fail to root out perpetrators like Weinstein. Instead, research demonstrates that only significant cultural change in the workplace can reduce instances of this sexual misconduct. This Article explores a new – and potentially radical – way of instilling such cultural change. This Article describes a little known but powerful Remedies principle known as the Faithless Servant Doctrine, which allows for the disgorgement of compensation from employees who breach their fiduciary duties to their employers. When employees breach their fiduciary duties by creating or perpetuating a culture of workplace harassment, the Faithless Servant Doctrine could provide companies with a powerful tool to demonstrate that this sexual misconduct negates any value that a misbehaving employee otherwise brings to the workplace. This Article questions whether using compensation disgorgement to hit wrongdoers where it hurts – in their wallets – finally could foster the cultural shift that is necessary to decrease sexual harassment at work.

Perceptions on the sexual harassment of female nurses in a state hospital in Sri Lanka: a qualitative study

ABSTRACTBackground: Sexual harassment occurs within the nursing profession globally, challenging the health and safety of nurses and the quality and efficiency of health systems. In Sri Lanka, no studies have explored this issue in the health sector; however, female employees face sexual harassment in other workplace settings.Objective: To explore female nurses’ perceptions of workplace sexual harassment in a large state hospital in Sri Lanka.Methods: This is a qualitative study conducted in an urban, mainly Buddhist and Singhalese context. We invited all female senior and ward nurses working in the hospital to participate in the study. We conducted individual in-depth interviews with four senior nurses and focus group discussions with 29 nurses in three groups.Results: The nurses described a variety of perceived forms of sexual harassment in the hospital. They discussed patient-perpetrated incidents as the most threatening and the clearest to identify compared with incidents involving doctors and other co-workers. There was significant ambiguity regarding sexual consent and coercion in relationships between female nurses and male doctors, which were described as holding potential for exploitation or harassment. The nurses reported that typical reactions to sexual harassment were passive. Alternatively, they described encountering inaction or victim blaming when they attempted to formally report incidents. They perceived that workplace sexual harassment has contributed to negative societal attitudes about the nursing profession and discussed various informal strategies, such as working in teams, to protect themselves from sexual harassment in the hospital.Conclusions: Sexual harassment was a perceived workplace concern for nurses in this hospital. To develop effective local prevention and intervention responses, further research is required to determine the magnitude of the problem and explore differences in responses to and consequences of sexual harassment based on perpetrator type and intent, and personal vulnerabilities of the victims, among other factors.

Brick Kilns of Nepal: A Non-Governmental Organization Perspective

Better Brick Nepal (BBN) works under the larger NGO, Global Fairness Initiatives, to promote the reliably sourced brick manufacturing by eliminating forced, bonded labor, and child labor, promoting workplace safety and health, providing fair wages, and preventing workplace harassment. The brick industry is regarded as the second largest source for air pollution after vehicle emissions in Kathmandu Valley. The brick kiln workers who live on the kiln premises in huts are highly exposed to both indoor and outdoor air pollution. This study reviewed the practices of BBN kilns that adhere to recommended standards for worker rights, health and safety. An NGO such as BBN is proving successful at eliminating inhumane work practices and in improving brick kiln worker health and safety.