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We are not There Yet: Worksite
Harassment is still a Problem!!! William A. Maloney & Fran
Sayers, PhD.
A psychologically safe workplace requires a
number of ingredients. One is freedom from
harassment and a comfort-level that allows
discussion of boundaries and behaviors. This
freedom has two sides. Everyone needs to be
free of the pain and humiliation of receiving
harassing behaviors; we also need to be free of
the fear of unfounded accusations.
In our eagerness to teach people to recognize
worksite harassment, we have some unintended
consequences. Stopping at telling people only
what they must not do lest they get in trouble
leaves some of them confused and resentful.
Although some people will accept information at
face value and adjust their behavior as needed,
others will respond negatively with
defensiveness, indifference, anger or fear.
Employees need to feel safe, both physically and
psychologically to have a chance to do their job
effectively. One of the major deterrents to
cultivating a physically and psychologically
safe environment is worksite harassment. This
applies to those who feel harassed and sometimes
to the alleged harassers. The goal is to effect
change in both harasser and harassed. For the
harasser, we want the offensive behavior stopped
and replaced with constructive, acceptable
behavior. We want the person feeling
uncomfortable with someone's behavior to have
the courage and skill to speak up. Both need a
psychologically safe work environment where they
can communicate comfortably about their work and
their own needs.
Everyone needs to know what acceptable behavior
is. The media provide an abundance of
information on this topic. Many states and
human resource organizations publish detailed
guidelines outlining what is harassment and what
are the penalties (See, for example....) the
message is employers must not tolerate worksite
harassment. A June 13, 1994 Supreme Court
ruling reaffirms that companies are responsible
for worksite harassment to their employees.
However, in the end, employers need to promote
open communication, trust and a wholesome sense
of personal boundaries. The environment that
results will enable people to work together
productively, experience psychological safety,
and be free of harassment problems.
We see several types of people with negative
reactions to information on what is harassment.
Because human beings generally act in a way to
get what they want, the same individual may use
all of these behaviors at different times.
MANIPULATORS intimidate the harassed by
threatening negative consequences of reporting
harassing behavior. After training, those who
do not change their behaviors often increase the
intensity or frequency of their manipulation.
The conversation may go something like, "You
know if you report this, it'll be your word
against mine and you know who has more
credibility. So, you could lose your job
or...."
Or, MANIPULATORS may threaten to make a scene or
just make one and indicate that it will get
worse if the accuser does not back off. Some
MANIPULATORS threaten personal harm.
MANIPULATORS often use "put-downs" to establish
submission and gain control. Such remarks as,
"Oh, you're so cute when you're mad, “or, "You
don't really mean that!" serve to keep the
MANIPULATOR in control.
The HEAD-IN-THE-SAND types do not believe that
their behavior is a problem. Their reaction is,
"Oh, you're imagining things. Nothing is going
on here." They want to keep acting as they
always have. Offensive behaviors include using
"honey," "sweetie," and other inappropriate
names with coworkers. They also are likely to
engage in unwelcome touching and sexist jokes.
Implying weakness often reflects male-to-male
harassment.
The HEAD-IN-THE-SAND harasser often fails to
take the opposite sex and their concerns
seriously. They are either not aware or
unwilling to admit that what they are doing is a
problem. After training, the HEAD-IN-THE-SAND
who has not accepted that harassment is a
problem will burrow even deeper in the sand and
close their minds to the needs of others.
The HEAD-IN-THE-SAND’s long-held assumptions get
in the way of their understanding what their
behavior does to other people. Among those
assumptions are: men are the problem-solvers
with valuable ideas; and, men should always give
first priority to their work. For example, a
woman in a group of men may propose a solution
to a problem, but no one notices. When a man
proposes the same solution in different words,
he is hailed as a good thinker. On the other
hand, a man may suffer from the failure of his
coworkers to support his wish to work flexible
hours even though mothers in the same group are
doing so.
The FEARFULS react by shutting down. They try
to avoid situations that they think might be
harmful to them. They say nothing to the
opposite sex except what is necessary to
business. After training in definitions and
penalties of harassment, they often become more
fearful and communicate even less.
FEARFUL managers may be influenced more by their
gender biases than by their staff members'
strengths and qualifications. For example,
managers who need to send several people to
another location to solve a problem, may chose
those people based more on gender than
capability. Managers need to be free to pick
the best people for a task regardless of whether
they are female or male. If anyone in the
workplace avoids talking to the opposite sex,
productivity and relationships are thwarted.
Consequences are lack of trust and guarded
communication.
INTIMIDATORS often use their power of position
to control others. They count of fear as their
weapon of choice: fear of losing your job, fear
of being out of favor and fear of getting all
the crap assignments.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
We should not give up on persuading the
MANIPULATORS and INTIMIDATORS to a different
attitude and behavior. Just accepting that
"they are that way" does not address the problem
and ensures that the behavior will continue and
may get worse. If they cannot be persuaded to
change, employers MUST apply appropriate
penalties to avoid legal action against them.
At the same time, employers must work with those
being harassed to convince them to speak up to
the harasser. A person who feels harassed needs
to feel free to confide in internal and external
resource people. The leader of a company
should designate at least one person inside the
company to be available to talk about harassment
with anyone who wishes. Ideally, a person
outside the company should also be available. A
person who feels confused or embarrassed may
find it easier to talk to an outside
professional.
Company leaders must provide clear directions to
anyone who feels uncomfortable; the top
management must also be open to employees, be
good listeners and take all they hear
seriously. Our experience tells us that
harassment ignored gets worse, interferes with
productivity and wrecks lives.
For the HEAD-IN-THE-SAND group, persuasion and
attitude change are also in order. When they
hear from the harassed how harassing behaviors
hurts them, some will begin to think about
changing their habits. But, like the victims
of MANIPULATORS and INTIMIDATORS, we also must
encourage the harassed to speak up consistently
and firmly each time the offensive behavior
occurs. We need to help the HEAD-IN-THE-SAND
group to develop a more open style of accepting
the unique values of others.
FEARFULS need a supportive, trusting company
culture. The modeling of open behaviors by
leaders is very important to FEARFULS. We can
help them by providing information on gender
styles and giving them a communication model
(with facilitated practice) to guide their
interaction. When they begin to feel safe to
try new ways of interaction, then they can make
progress in relating without fear of making
mistakes.
For those who feel at all uneasy with what's
happening in their workplace and those who do
not want to offend or harass--the urgent
behaviors are, "Speak up." and "Listen to your
coworkers." At first, you may not feel
comfortable talking about your feelings and your
behavior; however, talking and listening with
tact and sincerity can lead to a psychologically
comfortable workplace. Content employees do
better work, develop healthy relationships with
coworkers, stay longer with the company and
contribute to the bottom line.
To create a psychologically safe workplace, an
employer should provide:
(1) Gender and other diversity development
including definition of boundaries, developing
trust, setting guidelines. Both management and
all staff need to come to the point of buying
into what the boundaries are in their
workplace. Potential new hires then are
informed of policies and practices before they
are hired. After they join the staff, they are
oriented into a wholesome environment by the
examples of the leadership and employees and by
the established training program
(2) A mechanism such as a support group where
issues can be brought up in a non-threatening
way. Better management/supervision, a place to
go regularly where you can talk about your
reactions to your job, the people, e.g. you
think you are being mismanaged, you got a bad
review. The payoff is that people do not feel
that the problems are hopeless and will never be
solved
(3) Redefinition of internal customer service
strategy policy. In order to have good external
customer satisfaction you have to have internal
employee satisfaction. Psychological safety
gained from open communication and respect for
all individuals is a basic step toward effective
internal customer service.
Do not risk the health of your organization by
letting harassers off the hook!
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