COMBATING HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACEA Paper Presented by Prof. B. E. Nwaneri

The President of Beeches Graduate School of BusinessAt the Conference on Women in HR Organized by the Association of

Human Resources Practitioners of Nigeria, Held August 22, 2015 at Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Ikeja.

I welcome all of you present in this conference today and wish you will

make the best use of all information that will be available to you for

the promotion of HR in the Nigerian business environments. By this

conference, the women are encouraged to take up necessary but

uncompetitive responsibilities in using HR functions to control the right

of women to association and to life. Let us now look into the main

subject – Combating Harassment in the workplace.

There are three main words that makes this topic and they are:

Combating

Harassment

Workplace

Combating:

Briefly described, combating is a function of fighting that goes on

between two strong people or between armies. It does not

suggest negotiating but forcing a behavior or action to stop. In

the sense of this paper, we shall be looking at the different methods of

forcing harassment in the workplace to stop.

Harassment:

Then the word Harassment is described by Thesaurus as pestering,

annoying, irritating, aggravating, persecuting, provoking, or bothering

someone in such a way that he feels threatened.

Workplace:

Workplace becomes any environment where work is carried on for

either a wage, salary or for any form of beneficial consideration.

Therefore, this paper is considering the function or responsibility of

forcing or attempting to stop by force any behavior in any environment

where one works to earn a living or for any form of beneficial

consideration, that annoys, bothers or persecutes him/her that he

begins to feel threatened or that the security of his job is threatened.

Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature

that intend to disturb or upset someone continuously to the extent that

he begins to feel endangered. In sexual language,

it is a persistent and unwanted advance (as in

the workplace) where the consequences of

refusing are potentially very disadvantageou s to

the victim.

In historical etymology, the word harassment was borrowed by the

English from the French around 1618; because the French had already

in about 1572 verified the meaning as tormenting, annoying, or

troubling someone; then later in about 1609 the word was referred

to as-

the condition of being exhausted. It was used as

meaning to exhaust the enemy by repeated raids in

the wars between the Romans and Germans.

The word speaks of frustrating someone by making uncomfortable,

disturbing and threatening advances, statements or by repeated

behaviours that are capable of affecting his decisions.

Methods of Harassment

Let us look at the methods of harassment that agree with our explanations of the word:

Police Harassment Online Harassment Power Harassment Sexual Workplace Landlord Religious Racial Harassment Cyber Harassment Psychological Harassment

Police Harassment

Unfair treatment conducted by law officials, including but not limited

to excessive force, profiling, threats, coercion, and racial, ethnic,

religious, gender/sexual, age, or other forms of discrimination.

Online Harassment

Online Harassment are direct rude and disparaging (reproachful)

comments at specific individuals on the bases of race, religion,

nationality, or sexual direction, which often occurs in chat rooms,

through newsgroups, and by sending hate e-mail to interested parties.

Any comment that may be found derogatory or offensive is considered

harassment.

Power Harassment

This is harassment or unwelcome attention of a political nature, often

occurring in the environment of a workplace including hospitals,

schools and universities. It includes a range of behavior from mild

irritation and annoyances to serious abuses which can even involve

forced activity beyond the boundaries of the job description.

Power harassment is considered a form of Illegal discrimination a form

of political and psychological abuse, intimidation, victimization and

other forms of maltreatment.

Other forms of harassment include:

Landlord

Landlord harassment is the willing creation, by a landlord or his agents,

of conditions that are uncomfortable for one or more tenants in order

to induce willing abandonment of a rental contract. Such a strategy is

often sought because it avoids costly legal expenses and potential

problems with eviction.

Religious

Verbal, psychological or physical harassment is used against targets

because they choose to practice a specific religion. Religious

harassment can also include forced and involuntary conversions.

Racial

The targeting of an individual because of their race or ethnicity. The

harassment may include words, deeds, and actions that are specifically

designed to make the target feel degraded due to their race or

ethnicity.

Cyber Harassment

This is a method of harassment that refers to the sending of text

message, photo, video, or voicemail message from a mobile

phone that threatens, torments, humiliates the recipient of these

messages. It is also known as mobile harassment.

Psychological

This is humiliating, intimidating or abusive behaviour which is often

difficult to detect leaving no evidence other than victim reports or

complaints. This characteristically lowers a person’s self-esteem or

causes them torment. This can take the form of verbal comments,

engineered episodes of intimidation, aggressive actions or repeated

gestures. Falling into this category is workplace harassment by

individuals or groups mobbing.

Workplace Harassment

Workplace and Sexual harassment shall be our concentration in this

paper as workplace harassment involves the

offensive,

belittling or

threatening behavior

directed at an individual worker or a group of workers to compel him

accept to do what he would not have otherwise agreed to do. It is a

loathsome (hateful) dealing through heartless, wicked, hurtful or

embarrassing attempts to undermine an individual worker or groups of

workers in the workplace so that he remained enslaved or forced to

sell of his right in other to keep his job.

Recently, matters of workplace harassment have gained interest

among practitioners and researchers as it is becoming one of the most

sensitive areas of effective human resources management because a

significant source of work stress is associated with aggressive

behaviors at workplace by seniors in the work environment.

In the case of Nigeria, there are barely any determinations to

investigate the questions on workplace harassment.

The subjugation of labour has made it worse because employees face

the threat of being sacked should they complain. In the banks,

managers even call their workers “thieves” for not meeting set

targets. They take the insults like that because they stand the risk of

losing their jobs.

According to Robert Levering the co-founder of Great People to Work,

a workplace is one in which one trusts the people he works for, have

pride in what he does, and enjoys the people he works with. This is

what a good workplace is. It could also be just a building, site, vehicle,

open or closed field, road, forest or any location upon, in or near which

a worker works, or directed to be there or to be near there

(Workplace Violence and Harassment: Understanding the Law

– Health and Safety Guidelines – Ontario Ministry of Labour

2010).

Types of Workplace Harassment

A verbal threat to attack a worker

A written threatening note or email

A fist in the presence of a worker

A wielding of a weapon at work

A hitting or attempting to hit a worker

A throwing of an object at a worker

A holding of a worker forcefully for sexual gratification or

advantage

A pushing of a ladder the worker is standing on

A shouting down of a worker on the basis of his health etc.

A remark(s) jokes, or insinuations that demeans, intimidates, or

offends a worker

A circulation or display of offensive pictures, print-materials or

electronic forms against the pleasure of the worker

An offensive or intimidating phone calls or emails to the worker

Any other inappropriate touching, exposure, advances, ideas or

request intended for sexual satisfaction or attraction

I am sure that this explanation is wide enough to cover what

harassment is under any labour law of any state.

Effects of Workplace Harassment

Harassment in the workplace joins together to create a pervasive

hostile environment that can largely and negatively affect production

and performance generally. The emotional aspects that are

impedimental to productivity may include –

Fear

Anxity (worry)

Depression

Mimics (impersonation) from stress and

Other traumatic disorder that encourage adverse labour turnover,

absenteeism, unfriendly work relationship and negative job

satisfaction.

If the production level of a company falls, the entire business is

affected. This was what a study at the University of Illinois in the USA

revealed when it published that sexual and generalized workplace

harassments were related to increased odds of illness, injury, or

assault because they directly disrupt the successful performance of a

workforce. It is a recommendation that at the workplace one should

find:

Teamwork

Cooperation

Positive Interactions

Humanized influences

Conducive Employer-Employee relations

Works, workers and the general work environment will suffer greatly

where these principles are absent.

Sexual Harassment In the Workplace

Sexual Harassment

Sexual Harassment is such that can happen anywhere but very

common in the workplace, and academic institutions. It involves

Unwanted and unwelcome words,

Deeds,

Actions,

Gestures,

Symbols,

Advances or

Behaviours

of a sexual nature that make the target feel uncomfortable. Sexually

oriented harassment is very common in today’s workplace and schools.

The approval of gay marriage or homosexuality has worsen the

problems of harassment in the workplace. Before this gay thing

became approved, the main focus has been on protecting the women

from harassment, but now it has to include men who do not want to be

abused or harassed by their fellow men.

Legal Dictionary and Wikipedia defined sexual harassment as

“unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual

favours, and other verbal or of a sexual nature that

tends to create a hostile or offensive work

environment”.

In the 1970s the courts did not recognize sexual harassment as a form

of sexual discrimination because the problem was originally seen as an

act of flirting in the workplace. Employers of labour are now aware that

victims of sexual harassment can now sue for damages, as a result

they are now careful to establishing policies for their work

environments. (See the US Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission – EEOC)

The commission interpreted the definition of

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and 

Other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constituting

Sexual harassment as when -

1. submission to such conduct is made either explicitly (openly) or

implicitly (indirectly) a term or condition of an individual's 

employment,

2. submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is

used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such

individuals, or

3. such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably

interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an

intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.

A key part of the definition is the use of the word unwelcome. 

Unwelcome or uninvited conduct or communication of a sexual nature

is prohibited. Sexual or romantic interaction between

consenting people at work may be offensive to 

observers or may violate company policy, but it is not sexual 

harassment.

Some conducts such as hugging, may be sexual or nonsexual and must

be evaluated in context. Sexual harassment may be physical, such as

kissing, hugging, pinching, patting, grabbing, blocking the victim’s

path, leering (staring), standing very close to the victim. It may also be

verbal (oral or written) and could include requests etc.

What are the causes of Sexual Harassment at the workplace?

The causes of sexual harassment vary from person to person and from

situation to situation. This discussion can only cover some of the main

factors. Many of the causes are interrelated, and are linked to the

culture and values in society and in companies, and to the roles,

relative power and status of the men and women concerned.

Socialisation

The way in which men and women were brought up to see

themselves and others strongly influences their behaviour. Various

view-points could create a climate that allows sexual harassment:

In a culture where it is, or was until recently, "OK" to discriminate

against people because they are different (in terms of gender,

race, culture, religion, lifestyle, political conviction or whatever),

the abuse of power or humiliation that is typical of sexual

harassment will not be unusual. Harassment is often closely

linked to prejudice in general, and to sexist attitudes.

Men who were brought up with manly beliefs like

"real men pinch bottoms",

"girls were made to hug and kiss",

"the more, the merrier",

easily carry these social values into the workplace, and treat their

female colleagues accordingly. Such men often even think that women

take their harassment as a compliment.

Many women have been brought up to believe

that women's highest calling is to please men,

that popularity with men equals success, or

that "real women look sexy".

Religiously speaking the man was not created for the woman but

the woman was created for the man. In most religious cultures,

the woman was created to attract the man, this might be the

reason every woman believes that a man is looking at her and

she has to do her best to be one that any man may be looking

for. We may try professionally to relax this ideology, but the fact

is there that every woman wants a man willingly or unwillingly.

When men therefore suspects a woman is thinking sexy, they

move to begin to make offers, which offer we see women

struggling to accept or reject. Within this scenario, sexual

harassment begins to show or introduce itself (see the Holy Bible

1Corinthians 11:1-9 but verses 8 &9).

This can give the impression - usually unintended that they invite

sexual advances at work. Some women who see sexuality as their

only power base, play along. Although research has been try to

prove them to be of a small minority, situational evidence prove

that majority of the women especially the younger ones are

struggling to be practically sexy to attract the male folk for

sexual advantage. This behaviour therefore is encouraging

harassment of both the young and the older women in the

society.

If women see themselves as dependent on, or of lesser value

than men, or are unassertive (not bold), they find it difficult to

handle harassers or to complain. Often women who are

breadwinners are vulnerable and fear victimisation or even job

loss, if they reject advances or complain.

Power Games

Social and political changes in recent years have changed power

relationships. Some men feel threatened by the career

advancement of women and people of colour, or are uncomfortable

with women's newfound independence and assertiveness (boldness)

at home and/or at work. Other men who have recently gained

positions of power (possibly after decades of discrimination) may

also try to prove themselves by harassing women subordinates.

Some men even regard it as a "fringe benefit" to which their

position, their power and their sex entitle them. In tough times of

uncertainty,

fear,

limited promotion opportunities,

retrenchments,

personal stress and

pressure on performance,

there is a real danger that sexual harassment and trading of sexual

favours will form part of the power games played.

Moral Values, Divorce and Cultural Differences

In times of moral laxity, when extramarital affairs and "one-night

stands" are broadly accepted, when some people equate

monogamy with monotony (dullness or deadness or inability to

perform), it is relatively easy for people to indulge in office

flirtations, whether one-sided or mutual. The person who tries,

and doesn't accept rejection or sees the unwilling colleague as a

challenge, easily becomes a harasser, or may victimise the

reluctant colleague.

The pervasiveness (commonness) of marital stress and divorce in

our society means that some men and women come to work in a

state of emotional distress that could make them vulnerable

(exposed) to sexual harassment.

Some confusion results from cultural differences about what is, or

isn't, acceptable in our rapidly-changing society. For example,

when action was taken against sexual harassment at

the University of Cape Town, black male students

claimed it was their cultural and traditional right to

act in that way. They were strongly challenged by

the then vice-chancellor, a black woman. Black

women complaining about harassment by black men

have been accused of disloyalty to their own group,

while whites may fear accusations of racism or

prejudice of they reject or complain about such

behaviour from black colleagues.

Credibility and Victim-BlamingThe credibility of the victim is often called into question, as it is usually

her word against that of the harasser(s). (Although dealing with rape

rather than harassment, the film The Accused was an example of

victim-blaming and male solidarity tried to defeat justice, similar to

what often happens in the case of harassment.

Why Victims are blamed

Several factors aggravate this problem:

The large majority of decent men who treat women with respect

and would never dream of taking such liberties, usually find it

difficult to believe that respected colleagues would abuse their

position in this way.

Management may take the word of a senior person rather than

that of a subordinate as they are likely to have known the senior

longer, and a manager usually has more credibility in a dispute

than a subordinate. Particularly if the managers concerned are all

men, they may not understand the seriousness of the problem, or

may "stick together" out of gender loyalty.

If the person deciding whether to take action or not, has himself

been guilty of harassment, he is likely to go along with a cover-

up, or at least give his "playmate” the benefit of the doubt.

The harasser may be a high-level or highly-skilled person who is

difficult to replace, while the victim is likely to be on a lower level,

and thus more disposable.

The common tendency of victim-blaming often causes the

harassed to end up virtually as the accused. As in the case of

sexual assault and rape, the dress, lifestyle and private life of the

victim seem to become more important than the behaviour being

investigated.

Naturally it is advisable that women dress and behave

appropriately at work. Yet any woman - whatever her appearance

and lifestyle - has the right to decide whether, when, where, and

from whom she wishes to accept any sexual approach or

comment.

And if she declines, she should not be victimised in any way

because every woman has the right to dress the way she want;

accepts what she wants and refuse what she don’t like. She

should not be forced to do anything, especially when it comes to

the issue of sex.

The victim may be very embarrassed by the events, or afraid of

ridicule or revenge, and is likely to wait until matters become

unbearable before she complains. She may then be blamed of

having played along or condoned the behaviour initially or such

long.

Many women are also inclined to excessive guilt and self-

blaming, and may even believe that they unwittingly did or said

something to invite the unwanted behaviour. And if they are

ashamed or afraid and don't discuss the problem, they often

don't realise that it is a fairly common occurrence, and not their

fault.

Aggressiveness

Men in groups often behave differently from how they would as

individuals. This can explain some of the "gang harassment" that

occurs when a woman enters a plant or walks past a group of workers

at lunch; after a few drinks at an office party; or when a group of

colleagues attend a conference. Alone, those men would probably be

"harmless", or less bold.

Lack Of Company Policy

Many companies in Nigeria don't have clear policies and

complaint and, disciplinary procedures to deal with harassment -

or if they them, they do not implement them.

Women often resign rather than complain, since they do not

know where to go, or if they do complain, it is either treated as a

joke, or no action is taken by management.

If management condones such behaviour or if victims end up

being blamed, the perpetrator is encouraged to continue the

pattern of harassment, affecting more and more women.

If we agree that sexual harassment covers such actions as persistent

or continuous looking, touching, offering by the sexes with the aim of

gaining sexual advantage, there is a natural cause to it than the

professional.

The Holy Bible revealed that Adam proclaimed Eve as a bone of his

bones and called her “woman” because she came from him. In this

wise a woman was created to attract a man; even, a fact remains that

no woman feels settled until a man is on her as a wife, friend or

partner.

Every man looks for a woman to love and every woman looks for a

man to love her; whatever happens between this scenario is a

harassment to and of the other.

To those who spend time studying meanings of words or epistemology,

it is important to learn that

the “wo” in the woman is expressing the limitless love of a

man in the woman or as I may describe it “loving to

foolishness”.

No wonder Adam said

“for this cause shall a man leave his father and

mother and shall cleave to his wife and they both

shall be one flesh”. (Gen. 2: 21 – 25; Eph. 5:31 – 32).

A man who does not make himself foolish cannot keep a home – foolish

just to your own wife, but not to your children (especially the male

children because you will be procreating foolish generations).

I decided to use this passage to emphasize what is in the rib that was

taken away from Adam’s bones. So while we look at some causes as

professional, we should not overlook the basic natural issues in

creation. It is absolutely expedient that as long as a woman remains a

woman, she shall continue to attract a man; any woman that is not

attracting or no longer attracts a man has a problem living among

humans.

Until we take this angle into consideration, we

will not be able to device means of truly

combating sexual harassment.

CASE

A senior manager in one of the banks had a female branch

manage working under him, and with a very experienced junior

staff in the same branch. The lust in this senior manager

compelled him to approve the redeployment of the junior so that

he retains then opportunity to continue his lust uninterruptedly.

Today the weakness of this branch manager has been exposed to

her staff that most of these experienced staff are now resigning

their jobs for a more competitive bank. In all these top

management does not know why experienced staff from that

branch has been resigning.

LUST is a burning desire to gratify sexual urge within or without an

acceptable environment.

Combating Harassment

Professional investigation into the causes of harassment at the

workplace would show the masculine nature of the cause and their

types.

Man is in the midst of all harassments, they initiate, implement and

benefit from all harassment. On the other hand, women or the female

folks are on the receiving end.

This is the more reason this conference is being

organized to call the attention of the women to

aspire to the responsibility of using HR

functions in curbing harassment in the

workplace.

Women should stop deluging or hiding from public responsibilities. It

should not be competitive but a parallel role that does not depict them

as dragging with the men on who is or is not equal to or with the other.

The family-mother-nature of HR should be a

weapon in the hand of women to impeach the

aggressive use of harassment against the

female.

Whose Responsibility

The employer is held responsible for whatever happens in his

organization, as a result he should develop a policy that will guide the

organization on harassment. Such policy should be reviewed and

improved annually. The policy is needed even if the number of staff is

below six who are in a regular employment of the organization. It must

be written and displayed openly for every one coming into the

company to see.

The pasting of such policy on the notice board should not be

left without a follow-up because, in the case of sexual lust,

laws and or ordinances do not practically stop offences.

Practical rebukes or warnings before the act is carried out

would be very productive.

The workplace policy on harassment should –

Consider harassment from all sources as clients, customers,

employers, employees, supervisors, partners, managers,

strangers and even directors;

Show an outline of the roles and responsibilities of the parties in

the workplace supporting the policy;

Show an employer’s commitment to addressing harassment in

the workplace;

Date and sign the policy by the highest level management in the

workplace.

Conclusion

Sexual harassment is a wide subject under gender studies or HR

because the issues relating to sexual harassment are global and

socially impedimental to our collective existence as male and female.

The female folks are not created to be bastardized animalistically; they

are man’s cherished companion with a lot of structures that should be

protected for a meaningful relationship. They are our companions and

help suitable for our existence; they are not our equals and we are

heads and lover. Their role is not ours and man’s role is not theirs. We

both exist parallel and never in competition.