by J. Henry Stewart

Created on: April 10, 2010

Mary gulped down half a glass of water to wash down her antacid tablet.  Another worker had walked into her office and announced her resignation.  This put Mary further behind schedule on her important project, and worse, the worker who just quit said that she was considering legal action against the company for reasons of sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment is one form of workplace unprofessional conduct that at its core is about gaining power and control over others.  To deal with harassment in the workplace managers and directors should take the following steps.

Prevention

A good example is a great start to avoiding harassing behaviors at work.  The leadership of a company ought to treat every person with respect from the CEO to the mail room worker.  When leaders live an example of following core values without hypocrisy, subordinates tend to emulate them.

On the other hand, a bully in leadership quickly creates little bullies who are hidden throughout the organization.  These bullies are hidden because they act professional or even very submissive in the face of the boss.  However, these little Napoleons treat their own reports quite badly. 

Clear Rules and Training

Unfortunately, even when senior leaders provide a good example problems can arise.  It is important therefore to have a good training program and clear rules of what behavior is acceptable in the workplace.

Starting from the first day of new employee training at the company orientation course, the human resources representative should demonstrate both proper and improper behavior in the workplace.  For example, many courses include videos of harassing behavior that will result in consequences if the employee behaves in such a manner.

It is important that the human resource trainer explain that different types of harassment can take place in the workplace, and that individuals who are on the receiving end of this harassment experience emotional pain and deep hurt. 

Sometimes, high performing employees can have quite intense personalities.  These competitive workers often do not realize that their actions are perceived by others to be bullying or harassing behaviors.  With proper training up front it is possible to avoid later grief.

Bullies, Conquering & Consequences.

There are times when clear training is not enough to stop harassment at work.  Human resource offices ought to make it clear that employees should approach their managers or the human resource staff promptly if they feel bullied or harassed in other ways.  With early intervention, it is possible to solve a problem if the offending party did not realize the gravity of his actions.

However, sometimes individuals with narcissistic or anti-social personality disorders (or those with tendencies in those areas) are the ones doing the harassing to other employees.  It is difficult to stop this behavior from individuals such as this. 

Even if an employee is a star performer, a company should not let a harasser bully other workers.  If no accommodation can be made so that the offending individual can work someplace else or away from coworkers and customers, the managers must have the permission from senior leaders to terminate the bully's contract.

Learn more about this author, J. Henry Stewart.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.