Term Paper On Sexual Harassment

Introduction

Ethics entail approved rules of deeds in an organization. Ethical codes describe the way employees should behave when they are within the company premises amongst themselves. Negative employee behaviors in a company mainly depend on the intensity of the company’s management in tolerating such kinds of behaviors and the issue of cultural orientation (Curtis, 2006). In a company, there are many ethical issues that may come up, for example, sexual harassment. In the context of ethics, sexual harassment is immoral, dehumanizing, abusive and illegal (Arbogast, 2012). The sexual harassment involves rape, wishes for sexual favors in order for one to be given special treatment and male and female being in contact bodily without acceptance by the authority (Cohen, 2010). Sexual harassment is immoral and has several consequences in the place of work. The action leads to discrimination, employee absenteeism and eventual employee turnover. Escalation of the practice leads to low employee motivation and eventual poor performance. If not handled well, the practice may lead to law suits and negative publicly to the company.

Analysis

Sexual harassment in place of work has been a big problem in many organizations. Cohen (2010) asserts that sexual harassment being part of discrimination has led to many employees both male and female leaving their jobs. However, because of poverty, many employees are accepting to be harassed sexually either by their seniors in order to be employed or to be given a permanent job (Arbogast, 2012). Many workers in a certain organization will lose self-esteem in doing their assigned job. This is because of the fear they have towards their seniors. Most of the employees who are being molested or who are the victims are the juniors by their seniors. They are harassed in the name of job security. And because of the poverty in societies, they end up engaging in such behaviors since they are the only bread winners who need to bring food to the table for their families (Curtis, 2006).
Curtis (2006) further explained that sexual harassment reduces the performance of a company. This is because sexual harassment has an unenthusiastic effect on group edifice. The output will reduce and this might cause the fall of many business organizations. Several cases of sexual harassment between workers in a company have destructed the bond between workers themselves thus resulting in biasness among the workers. According to this study, when the relationship amongst workers themselves is ruined, performance of work also goes down thus the business will run into a bog loss in terms of output.
In other organizations, many employees go missing or become victims of absenteeism just because of harassment. They fear to be harassed by their seniors. Most of the workers might felt sick emotionally thus making them absent from work. Some of them because they fear their seniors, might even forged sickness (Arbogast, 2012). These workers will forge sickness in order for them to escape attending work or to be given any another task apart from the one that he or she normally does. Large numbers of workers in many companies are married and because they fear for their families, they will prefer being absent than to be molested (Cohen, 2010). Most of the workers who are affected most by this kind of behavior are the female employees. They normally have psychological problems and this may reduce the success of the company due to reduced productivity. Most of the employees that are being harassed are those that their monthly earnings are low. They however accept such kinds of behavior because the senior person will deceive her or him by providing with needs that he or she is not able to due to his or her little income.
Sexual harassment can damage the image of an organization. Many employees who are against such act will opt to quitting their jobs and look for employment somewhere else (Curtis, 2006). In case many workers from one company quit their jobs, there will be distrust about the company by people who would have wished to work in that organization. They will investigate on the reasons as to why many employees are quitting job and later the bad story about the company will emerge making the company lose its value. As a result of that, the company may lose market for its products (Cohen, 2010).

Conclusion

In most organizations, Cohen (2010) explained that sexual harassment is a big issue and for it to be eliminated, ethical training initiative trainings should be provided to both senior management and their juniors. This will help in preventing this issue. Also the company should set rules and regulations in relations to sexual harassment. Rules and regulations should entail the kind of disciplinary action to be taken in case one is found practicing this kind of behavior (Curtis, 2006).

References

Arbogast, S. (2012). Ethics Breakdown in the U.S. Army. Journal Leadership and Management,
34 (2)45.
Cohen, J. (2010). Ethical dilemmas and moral distress in oncology nursing practice. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 10 (6), 775-780.
Curtis, H., (2006). Human Science and Sociology: The Society at a Glance, Cambridge, New York: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge