...which many have sworn by. Yet, in today’s workplace, there are many who have made the decision to pursue and maintain interoffice relationships. This is likely attributed to the record number of working women currently in the workforce, high divorce rates, longer working hours and increased dedication to the job. Across nearly every industry and organization, corporate will has attempted to minimize the inevitable wave of affection and affairs by means of frowning upon its existence, legislating, transferring, firing and revising handbooks and company policies (Sills, 2008). Why? Possibly to avoid major disruption in the workplace related to social, professional and financial conflicts. As a result, several companies have developed consensual relationship agreements (CRAs). Hellreigel & Slocum (2011) define CRAs as written contracts in which involved parties acknowledge their relationship as voluntary and consensual, agree to abide by workplace policies, and agree to avoid behaviors that could potentially offend or influence each other or fellow employees. The benefits and ramifications of implementing such an agreement have been highly debated by both employees and employers. The following paper will provide arguments for and against the use of CRAs, discuss the ethical principles involved, and identify a possible alternative to CRAs that would also address workplace romances. Consensual Relationship Agreement: The Pros Workplace fraternization has the potential to negatively...
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...Sexual Harassment in Global Human Resource Management BUS 325 Fall Quarter 2008 Global HR Management Instructor: Sandy Hughes December 9, 2008 PREFACE My purpose for writing about Sexual Harassment in Global Human Resource Management is to present some of the issues occurring in our nation globally as it relates to sexual harassment and how employers handle it. We must also examine the laws put in place to help curve this problem. Issues of sexual harassment are simply not raised enough and dealt with in society and abroad. Everyone has the right to work comfortably in an environment that is free of harassment no matter whom they are and where they work. Finally, it is very important that we don’t forget the seriousness of sexual harassment and the effects that it can have on any individual, be it man or woman, although women experience sexual harassment more than men. “Sexual Harassment has been pointed out as the most increasing, widespread problem faced by women in the workforce (Kadue & Lindeman, 1997).” Therefore, I will write to you about what sexual harassment is and what constitutes it, where the United States and other countries stand on this issue (the global view), types of sexual harassment, how to identify it, major problems related to sexual harassment, disciplinary actions the offender may face, and affects sexual harassment may have on the victim. Sexual Harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors or other...
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...Introduction: The purpose of this project is to examine the Consensual Relationship Agreement case study. By Definition, consensual relationship Agreement indicates an agreement read and signed by both Employers and employees by highlighting and confirming an obviously romantic relationship between both parties. The use of consensual relationship Agreement policy in general at the workplace, is fundamental for the employers and also employees. In many organizations, employees are in risks of potentials sexual harassments. But inevitably, some workers engage in a romance adventure at the office. Sometimes those romances end in a not so good term with pretty bad consequences. According to Hellriegel and Slocum (2011), the characteristics of a consensual Relationship agreement is defined as contract that set boundaries on certain office romance situations. They go as the following: decreasing sexual harassment litigation risk, reducing perceptions of favoritism, creating a forum to discuss professional workplace behavior, and reminding dating employees the lack of privacy in the workplace. This is to ensure all relationships are voluntary and consensual. Argue consensual relationship Agreement: At a work place it is truly inevitable for some employers and employees to get involved in any type of relationship. Sometimes, people with higher working status could have this habit of asking lower status employees for a date or may use a not so professional behavior...
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...study is to examine the Consensual Relationship Agreement Case Study. “Historically, sexual relationships between employees have been viewed as private matters beyond the purview of the company and not involving special ethical issues” (Stamler, Pace & Stone p.218 1997) Employees who engage in workplace relations usually have to sign a contract. This contract ensures that the involved parties will uphold the strict policies and standards of employee etiquette. A typical consensual relationship agreement includes the guidelines on how love struck staff should behave. In analyzing the case, concepts will be identified in the areas of organizational behavior models of individual, group, and organizational processes how ethical decisions are made, and concepts of individual differences, personality traits, and perspectives. According to Hellriegel & Slocum (2011) the characteristics of a Consensual Relationship Agreement is defined as contract that set boundaries on certain office romance situations. They go as the following: Decreasing sexual harassment litigation risk, reducing perceptions of favoritism, creating a forum to discuss professional workplace behavior, and reminding dating employees the lack of privacy in the workplace. This is to ensure all relationships are voluntary and consensual. 1. Argue for the use of Consensual Relationship Agreements in Your current (or future) Workplace. There have...
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...Challenges in Managing and Preventing Sexual Harassment in a Culturally Diverse Workplace. In recent years the topic of sexual harassment has become one of the most talked about issues in the press. Sexual harassment is a topical problem for many employees that not only leads to discrimination in labor, loss in wages, low productivity and stress, but it also influence the general atmosphere of lawlessness and violence against the comfort of other human beings. The act sexual harassment creates a hostile tense working environment. In this paper we will discuss the challenges in managing and preventing sexual harassment in a culturally diverse workplace. We will also discuss some cases of reported sexual harassment that has occurred in different countries, the laws against sexual harassment and the affect it has on companies as a whole. The global trend to eliminate any forms of sexual harassment in the field of labor relations is one of the priorities of modern day society. Companies around the world face the task of ensuring there are decent working conditions for employees. These conditions include one free from sexual harassment. When incorporating prevention measures some cultures are harder to implement for than others. Because of this, cross-cultural companies are considered difficult to management because of the peculiarities of the mentality and the differences in cultural practices, but regardless if the structure, sexual harassment requires a solution in order to further...
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...In the workplace today, some employers adopt policies on romance at work to prevent uncomfortable situations that might arise between coworkers. In other workplace environments, some employers do not adopt any policy regarding this issue at all. Still some employers create other documents that address romance in the workplace. The issues describe above as well as the different ethical issues associated with Consensual Relationship Agreements will be discussed in the upcoming paragraphs below. There are many pros for the use of Consensual Relationship Agreements in the workplace. In a study by Parks in 2006, fewer than 15% of employers had a policy dealing with romance or sexual relationships in the workplace (Parks, 2006). The workplace has always been a major place for individuals to meet and learn about each other. This proximity may lead to attraction and romance, which in turn could make more problems for the organization. According to Clark (2006), “About 80% of employees may be involved in or know of a workplace romance” (p. 350). Some employers try to ward off sexual harassment charges and other problems stemming from office romances by having the employees who are romantically involved read and sign a consensual relationship agreement. According to Schwartz and Storm (2000), “A sexual harassment lawsuit can arise from either 1. A supervisor who has a habit of asking subordinates out of dates; 2. An employee who files a lawsuit after a consensual relationship...
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...relatives in charge of a position, mostly used in politics and business. One of the most famous events of Nepotism was done back in the 19th century when Jose I Bonaparte, Napoleon’s older brother, was assigned by the same Napoleon as the King of Spain. However in countries where meritocracy is practiced, nepotism is generally considered a negative issue leading to corruption. Therefore Nepotism should be considered a negative issue/event in the business field; ethically, legally and discriminatively for those non-family member employees. Although Nepotism can assure a relative’s spot in the company or business, Nepotism suggests a form of inequality, presents legal issues and initiates family deterioration within the workplace. When nepotism occurs in the workplace, it affects the non-family member employees by suggesting a sense of inequality and minority towards employees. Jesse Jackson once said “We've removed the ceiling above our dreams. There are no more impossible dreams” he was referring to the “Glass Ceiling” for minorities, glass ceiling being an invisible barrier that makes it hard for minorities to overcome in this case to achieve higher goals and get promoted. Moreover in most cases nepotism creates immunity for family members; this obviously presents an unprotected working-environment for those non-family employees giving them more pressure and stress at work. Pressure may lead to an improvement of the output quality but efficiency will decrease. Finally due to nepotism...
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...Behavior Dr. Carolyn Birmingham Consensual Relationship Agreement: Will It Work for You? 1 Argue for the use of Consensual Relational Ship Agreement in your current (of future) workplace? In today’s society most companies have women and men employees. Where in modern time women job were too stay home and keep house. But in the 20th century, women are just as capable to do the same job as men or in my opinion even better. Although they both work side by side, having a work environment where men and women work all day can also cause many problems. One problem is interoffice relationship. Think about it you spend most of your time at work nearly 8hrs or more so you take breaks and lunch with your co workers so you get interests from people you associate. Interoffice relationships can lead many companies to several types of harassments, including the following: sexual harassments, verbal harassments, physical harassments, visual harassment, sexual favors even a hostile work environment. These types of harassment would lead to big companies being sued for all types of lawsuit. Because of all the actions within the workplace, company have to look for different methods to make such they are not liable or sued later if a relationship goes bad. Many companies today are gearing toward a Consensual Relationship Agreement as known as a (CRA). A CRA is a “contract in which the romantically involved...
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...SOCIOLOGY 1A06 – DECEMBER EXAM REVIEW 1. The Sociological approach: a. is not scientific b. suggests that relations we have with other people create opportunities for us to think and act c. suggests that relations we have with other people set limits on our thoughts and actions d. leaves the study of personal issues to psychologists e. b and c * EXPLANATION: Although sociology contains both objective and subjective elements it is a science. Sociologists observe reality in a systematic and controlled manner and evaluate the validity of their ideas based on observations. Objectivity plays the role of a reality check while subjectivity makes us set our priorities for research. The sociological approach to improving human welfare is based on the idea that the relations we have with other people create opportunities for us to think and act but also set limits on our thoughts and actions. Accordingly, we can better understand that what we are and what we can become by studying the social relations that help shape us. FOR EXAMPLE: even the most personal issues can be studied using a sociological approach Suicide could have been seen as an anti-social act caused by psychological distress but Durkheim studied it from a sociological perspective correlating it to “social solidarity”, how frequently people interact with others and share their beliefs, values and morals. Social forces then determine the likelihood to commit suicide. Sociologists use...
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...antidiscrimination , anti-harassment, and workplace conduct policies, they promise to report any perceived harassment to management, if it occurs, they agree to behave professionally and not allow the relationship to affect their work performance, they agree to avoid behavior that offends others in the workplace and they agree to not engage in any favoritism. This is especially vital when one person is of higher ranking and has the authority to influence opportunities to other employees. Critics of the CRA’s assert that they are too intrusive, ineffective, and unnecessary and that they can cause as many problems as they solve. Some individuals believe that the reason for having employees who are in a relationship to sign a CRA include decreasing sexual harassment litigation risk. After the relationship fails the contract can be used to refute such claims because it provides compelling evidence that the employees entered the relationship voluntarily. There are many reasons why some may feel that CRA’s are ineffective. Consider whether consensual relationships have a positive or negative impact on the morale of the workplace. For example: if you have a business that mainly employs teenagers or college age employees, this may cause many problems if a “no dating” policy is implemented. This policy must clearly state whether dating employees is against policy or just not recommended. If the policy only advises against dating employees in the workplace it should indicate some form...
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...Working Paper Series No. 59 Sexual harassment in the workplace: a literature review Carrie Hunt, Marilyn Davidson, Sandra Fielden and Helge Hoel Manchester Business School, University of Manchester Sexual harassment in the workplace: A literature review Carrie Hunt, Marilyn Davidson, Sandra Fielden and Helge Hoel The Centre for Equality and Diversity at Work Manchester Business School, University of Manchester 2 © Equal Opportunities Commission 2007 First published Summer 2007 ISBN 978 1 84206 033 9 EOC WORKING PAPER SERIES The EOC Working Paper Series provides a channel for the dissemination of research carried out by externally commissioned researchers. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Commission or other participating organisations. The Commission is publishing the report as a contribution to discussion and debate. Please contact the Research and Resources team for further information about other EOC research reports, or visit our website: Research and Resources Equal Opportunities Commission Arndale House Arndale Centre Manchester M4 3EQ Email: research@eoc.org.uk Telephone: 0161 838 8340 Website: www.eoc.org.uk/research You can download a copy of this report as a PDF from our website, or call our Helpline to order a copy: Website: Email: Helpline: www.eoc.org.uk/research info@eoc.org.uk 0845 601 5901 (calls charged at local rates) ...
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...Working Paper Series No. 59 Sexual harassment in the workplace: a literature review Carrie Hunt, Marilyn Davidson, Sandra Fielden and Helge Hoel Manchester Business School, University of Manchester Sexual harassment in the workplace: A literature review Carrie Hunt, Marilyn Davidson, Sandra Fielden and Helge Hoel The Centre for Equality and Diversity at Work Manchester Business School, University of Manchester 2 © Equal Opportunities Commission 2007 First published Summer 2007 ISBN 978 1 84206 033 9 EOC WORKING PAPER SERIES The EOC Working Paper Series provides a channel for the dissemination of research carried out by externally commissioned researchers. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Commission or other participating organisations. The Commission is publishing the report as a contribution to discussion and debate. Please contact the Research and Resources team for further information about other EOC research reports, or visit our website: Research and Resources Equal Opportunities Commission Arndale House Arndale Centre Manchester M4 3EQ Email: research@eoc.org.uk Telephone: 0161 838 8340 Website: www.eoc.org.uk/research You can download a copy of this report as a PDF from our website, or call our Helpline to order a copy: Website: Email: Helpline: www.eoc.org.uk/research info@eoc.org.uk 0845 601 5901 (calls charged at local rates) Interpreting service available for callers...
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...Sabrina Biggus MGMT 570 Managing Conflict in the Workplace Professor Mary Welsh 6/21/2014 When dealing with favoritism there can be many things to look out for. Some of these things could be why is favoritism being performed, are you guilty of showing favoritism, and how is this impacting your company and your employees. Favoritism is defined as preferential treatment of an employee on the basis of factors that do not directly relate to a person‘s ability to perform his or her job function, such as the person’s background or ideology, or the hiring managers instincts. (Tyler 79) When looking at favoritism, this is actually something that can start off as something modest such as a business lunch, but this can lead to larger things such as salary increase or promotional profits. Now that I have entered into the workforce, sadly favoritism is something that I have witnessed myself at my company DeVry Education Group. Federal News Radio informs us that even though there have been reports of favoritism decreasing in the workplace over the past 15 years, there are still many reports of favoritism taking place. Unlike discrimination, which is easily definable and has legal implications, favoritism requires more interpretation of the circumstances, and consequently, greater potential for differing opinions. Many times favoritism can appear subtly, and some supervisors may not even notice what they...
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...GDGB15 Mohamed Abd el Rahman Afify Egifix Medical GDGB15 Workplace violence 1. Definitions of work place violence There is No single, uniform definition for workplace violence so far exists. Different relevant institutions and researchers have suggested several definitions and classifications. The terms used also differ. 1.1. The World Health Organisation (WHO) uses a broader definition and defines workplace violence as ‘intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person or against a group or community that either results in, or has a high likelihood of resulting in, injury, death, psychological harm, wrong development or deprivation’. 1. ------------------------------------------------- Justification of the Definition * Violence is intentional; the definition excludes unintentional incidents. * Violence is related to the health or well-being of individuals. According to WHO, certain behaviours may be regarded by some people as acceptable cultural practices, but are considered violent acts with important health implications for the individual. * It includes acts arising out of power relations, including threats and intimidation. * It opens the field of the consequences of violence to results that transcend damage and death and include psychological harm, deprivation and wrong development. * The definition implicitly includes all acts of violence, public and private, reactive or...
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...its clients in the form of security officers to safeguard the assist and employees of each client. Based in New York, Guardsmark has clients in every state of the union and in five different countries. This privately held multimillion-dollar corporation has accomplished this by strong promotion of its mission statement, a focus on customer satisfaction, and superior service over its competition (Lipman, 2006). The Guardsmark mission statement must be read and signed off on by every employee each year. In the mission statement, Guardsmark devotes the company to quality service, integrity, continual improvement, and superior conduct by all of its employees (Lipman, 2006). Guardsmark also provides a company code of ethics, and sexual harassment policy that accompanies the mission statement. All employees also sign these documents yearly. These organizational commitments give the employees a working environment that they can feel relaxed in as well as a voice in the event of issues that may arise. These statements are not just created and hidden but rather displayed and purposefully made known to all employees. This helps retain employees in a market where external companies with higher paying positions would try to employee Guardsmark employees who go through extensive training. The Guardsmark mission statement and devotion to proper conduct gives potential customers a sense that they are choosing the correct firm to secure their company assets. Security is very important...
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