...Consensual Relationship Agreements: A Case Study Zachary -- Dr. Kimberly A Carter BUS520 Leadership and Organizational Behavior April 22, 2012 Consensual Relationship Agreements: A Case Study Introduction A consensual relationship agreement is a written contract between coworkers used by their employer to publicly disclose a romantic relationship. The purpose of this contract is to protect the employer from future litigation in the event that the said relationship goes bad or to address office favoritism in play of a romance between superiors and subordinates. Some may argue that the agreements provide legal protection for all parties involved; others may feel that their employer has no right to meddle in their private lives. While there are alternatives to these “love contracts,” most companies do adopt some policy on workplace romances in order to abide by ethical principles and avoid costly lawsuits and hostile work environments. Arguments for consensual relationship agreements A 2004 survey by Human and Legal Resources interviewed over 1,000 workers in the United Kingdom of which 66% claimed to have participated in workplace romances (Easen, 2004), of which some have become long term relationships and even marriages. While there are many who, in attempts to keep their professional and private lives separate, choose to keep their relationships a secret from others in the workplace, in the event the relationship is revealed the couple may be asked to sign...
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...Workplace romance is defined as a mutually desired relationship that includes physical attraction between two members of the same organization. Workplace romance is consensual and mutually welcomed (Clarke 2006). More specifically, as with other romances, workplace romances are characterized by desiring to be with the other person and feelings of emotional and physical attraction, which may lead to a sharing of personal information, mutual caring and respect, and quite likely sexual behavior such as touching, kissing and hugging, and sexual intercourse (Pierce, Byrne, and Aguinis 1996). Consensual relationship agreements, in my opinion, are a good idea for the workplace. They help ensure that even if a relationship goes bad between a person of authority and a subordinate, no one will be held legally liable. Signing a consensual relationship agreement does not cause either party to waive all of their rights regarding sexual harassment or other wrongful behavior that might evolve at a later date. However, it may include an arbitration provision. If any adversarial action is later contemplated, the matter must be resolved through arbitration proceedings and not the public court system. This has been an issue many times in the past with co-workers fraternizing with each other and later filing lawsuits because the relationship did not work out as planned. Consensual relationship agreements are just an ingenious way of protecting both parties from any legal woes that...
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...environment where workplace romances must be addressed. The old movie scenarios where the boss (male) fooled around with the secretary (female) and the office morale plummeted because no one wanted to be the one to complain about favoritism are gone. The increase of women in the workplace and in managerial positions; increased hours spent at work; increased travel away from home; the push for equality among genders and the resulting integration of the sexes; employee sophistication regarding rights and legal redress on the job; and human resource professionals that fear being sued for sexual harassment complaints from within the employee ranks—all of these and more have resulted in the perceived need to create a document to regulate relationships on the job. The risks related to getting into an on-the-job relationship should not be taken lightly. Participants should be very sure the benefits outweigh the risks because office romances can jeopardize job security and create unease for everyone in the office. If you put individuals with common interests together for 40-plus hours per week, office romance is bound to happen, experts say. Statistics seem to bear that out: According to a 2003 survey by Vault.com, an online career center, 47 percent of the 1,000 professionals surveyed had been involved in an office romance, and another 19 percent would consider it. Of those individuals who had a romance, 11 percent had dated their bosses or another superior. Twenty percent of...
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...Conflict Resolution Paper Workplace romance is an issue in companies around the world. With full-time employees working forty or more hours each week, they tend to spend more time with their co-workers than with friends and family. This can lead to co-workers wanting to get to know each other as well as dating each other. An example of this in my experience was when I was an assistant manager at a retail store. The store manager at the time had started dating one of her subordinate associates. Rumors soon started around the store that the store manager was dating a certain associate. Other associates started to notice this particular associate would receive preferred shifts on a consistent basis. He would also be not on the schedule whenever the store manager was scheduled off. One day I was going from the sales floor to the stock room to check if we had a different size in stock for a customer. Once I walked in the stock room, I saw the two kissing. The stock room was a very large room. Once I realized what was going on, I stayed quiet and walked out within a few seconds. The two did not see me or notice anyone was even in the stock room. At this point, I contemplated having a talk with the store manager, as well as taking the issue straight to the district manager. I did not know exactly what to do because taking the issue to the district manager would be going behind my store manager’s back. I felt doing that could ruin our working relationship. Fortunately...
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...In today's work oriented culture, romances and the related topics of sex and privacy have become important issues confronted by most employers. With more employees working longer days and spending so much of their time on the job, romantic relationships at work are developing more frequently. Workplace romance may be the only option for employees whose workload limits their outside activities, but for employers, this trend may prove to be a problem as the potential liability associated with these relationships rises. Some organizations ban all workplace dating, while other employers have no policy at all to address these issues. Most organizations fall somewhere in between, with explicit or at least implicit policies that forbid or discourage certain workplace relationships. After all, with the amount of time people spend working, it’s impossible to meet people in the traditional meeting places such as church, the neighborhood, family events, and leisure time activities do not present the same kind of people. In contrast, the office provides a natural selection of people who share at least one important interest. People who work together also live within a reasonable dating distance, and share a location, so they see each other on a daily basis. Coworkers in similar jobs may also be around the same age, and share the same interests both inside and outside of work. Consensual relationship policies are an important tool in managing the risk of sexual harassment and discrimination...
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...Consensual Relationship Agreements Case Study By: Steven D. Gehring For: Dr. Nasser Assaf Class: Bus 520: Leadership and Organizational Behavior Date: 1 August 2012 Consensual Relationship Agreements Case Study P a g e | 2 “To date or not to date: that is the question: Whether it is nobler in the workplace to suffer the slings and arrows from outraged Human Resource personnel, Or to take the pen to their CRA and by signing love forever.” My apologies to William Shakespeare and his soliloquy from Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 1) but such is the state of affairs for many U.S. companies, human resource personnel and office personnel in today’s litigious world. Since of the days of World War II and later McCarthyism, women have moved into the U.S. work force in greater and greater numbers, filling positions ranging from oil field roustabout to mail room clerk to Chief Financial Officer and CEO. In the meantime, the U.S has experienced a major “sexual revolution” as well as associated changes in the attitudes affecting women in the work place. One of these is dating in the work place. Although no-dating policies are no longer the norm, the advent of anti-sexual harassment laws and the subsequent growth in the number and cost of lawsuits related to these laws, have lead the majority of companies to have in place policies that review the definition of sexual harassment, their company’s rules against it and the possible results to a person who engages in the sexual harassment...
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...the following things: the relationship is voluntary and consensual, they agree to abide by the employer’s antidiscrimination, antiharassment, and workplace conduct policies, promise to report any perceive harassment to management, if it occurs, they agree to behave professionally and not to allow the relationship to affect their performance, agree to avoid behavior that offends others in the workplace, and to not engage in favoritism. After further researching CRAs if do believe my current workplace would benefit from using it. I currently work in a call center which is dominated by female employees and the age difference is almost non-existent amongst representatives, supervisors, and associate directors. There is daily interaction between all parties and in human nature there are going to be instances of two individuals being attracted to each other. Currently there is a policy against supervisors dating representatives, supervisors dating associate directors. I feel this policy is unfair as you cannot control who you may be attracted to and a job should not have the right to determine who or who not you can be romantically involved. With the CRA in place you have the guidelines in place for which the romantically parties involved would have to follow and keep the...
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... • They agree to avoid behavior that offends others in the workplace. • They agree not to engage in favoritism. This is especially an issue if one of the employees is in a higher management position and has the authority to influence rewards available to the other employee.” Thesis Statement: In analyzing the case, “Consensual Relationship Agreements”, the following categories will be addressed: (1) Argue for the use of Consensual Relationship Agreements in your current (or future) workplace; (2) Create a counter argument against the use of CRAs in your current (or future) workplace; (3) Discuss the ethical principles involved in the use of CRAs; and (4) create at least one (1) other option besides CRAs that would address workplace romances. 1. Argue for the use of Consensual Relationship Agreements (CRAs) in your current (or future) workplace: High performance workplaces often require long hours and high pressure, and that often drives employees to...
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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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...life in the workplace. In the workplace blossom many romances, but the break-up of relationships is a common source of sexual harassment claims. Consensual Relationship Agreement (CRAs). Consensual relationship policy is an important tool in managing the risk of sexual harassment claims and reducing perceptions of favoritism. However, it must be considerately created and administered with care. I will analyze the concerns of CRAs at workplace, critics of CRA, the ethical intensity of CRSs from the perspective of the employer, specific ethical principles of CRSs, argument against and for the use of CRAs in my current workplace Ruby Tuesday restaurant. The Find Law website mentions a survey developed more than 15 years ago, on 1995, estimates that 80 percent of all employees have either observed or been involved in a romantic relationship at work. Employees have asserted claims for sexual harassment based on the theory that they can't receive the same benefits because they are not "sleeping with the boss." However, most courts have rejected this argument because such a consensual relationship disadvantages both male and female employees equally. The exception, of course, is where a supervisor propositions many employees, and only those who acquiesce receive preferential treatment. Although different initiatives that companies have been taking to discourage and regulate this practice, romances within coworkers tend to keep on increasing. Within...
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...fairness to all. There are two ethical principles: sexual harassment, and stakeholder responsibility, that I feel are major aspects on the whys and the hows of the Consensual Relationship Agreement. There has been endless episodes of romance and dating at the workplace. Most businesses were off-hands when it came to the matters of love and dating on the job. “The issue is not going away”, says Helaine Olen, coauthor of Office Mate: The Employee Handbook for Finding --- and Managing--- Romance on the job (Adams Media, 2007). It is really vital for those in leadership positions to accept the likelihood of romance and dating at the workplace. It is also crucial for there to be some sort of policy and procedure in place, to be prepared to deal with any happenings, dealing with the aftermath of these said relationships. If they tried to forbid the dating it was like using reverse psychology. The more it is forbidden, the more likely, one is to partake in it, just to be vindictive. Organizations that discourage or prohibit workplace romances are concerned about sexual harassment lawsuits (Cole, 2009) and thus have legal-centric Human Resources practices. Despite organizations’ fears, relatively few harassment lawsuits stem from workplace romances (Pierce et al., 2008). Consequently, researchers have recommended that Human Resource leaders should shift...
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...Introduction The choice of this subject Consensual Relationship Agreement (CRA) in the workplace for my research paper is very important to notice. This essay will point out the agreement between the company and employees. It, furthermore, helps members of staff that participate in the erroneous doing. Consensual Relationship in the workplace is unprofessional and why the company should take actions to prevent or decrease such an act. This article defines as an unsuitable sexual contact with another person. Argue for the use of Consensual Relationship Agreements (CRAs) in your current (or future) workplace. A Consensual Relationship Agreement (CRA) is the most important document of agreement between the two couple in the workplace. The couple concurred to abide by the management nondiscrimination, anti-harassment, and office behavior procedures. The employee pledge to report some spotted aggravation in the office to management, if any of it happens. Furthermore, couples agree to act professionally and not permit the relationship to influence their work operation. The couple concurs to prevent conduct that violates others in the location of work and accepts not to participate in any preference. (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011) This behavior is remarkably crucial, whenever one individual is of higher superior. Have the power to influence other employees. The majority of businesses not have any guidelines for consensual relationship in employment. The movement of the location of work...
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...Assignment #1 - Consensual Relationship Agreement Case Study Professor Dr. Maggie Sizer Leadership and Organizational Behavior – BUS 520 Strayer University October 23, 2012 Abstract As companies begin to acknowledge the existence of work place romances, the use of consensual relationship agreements (CRAs) has become an area of discussion. While many of today’s organizations prohibit the romantic involvement of its employees with one another, there are other companies that have adopted the use of consensual relationship agreements. Although employers find the CRAs an easy solution to this situation, the employees romantically involved, employees are against the agreement, arguing that the contract is intrusive in their personal lives. They go further on their arguments, stating that the agreement is an invasion of their privacy, and that the document goes against some ethical principles. From the Human Resources professionals perspective, they will try their best to make sure employees and employer agree with the contract and are happy with the situation, so a negative influence do not impact other coworkers, and their performances will not affect their jobs. 1. Critics of CRAs assert that they are too intrusive, ineffective, and unnecessary and that they can cause as many problems as they solve. Identify the specific reasons and examples that might justify these criticisms. Critics are relying on the concern-for-others principles that focus on “the need to consider...
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...Behavior STRAYER UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON, DC April 16, 2012 Consensual Relationship Agreements Case Study Introduction The Purpose of this case 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...
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...Consensual Relationship Agreements AMLW BUS520/Leadership and Organizational Behavior Love in the office is bound to happen. Nowadays with more and more people spending time focused on work and being in the office, the number of office romances are on the rise (Dharmaraj, 2012). In the office, one tends to meet people who share in at least one of his or her common interest(s)-the career path he or she has chosen. Any activity such as dinner and drinks after a long days work can lead in individuals developing a love interest in one another. Many actors and actress can be seen in films together; Only later for it to come out that they are dating. President Obama met his wife while employed at Sidley & Austin, LLP (Essence Magazine, 2010). Those involved in romantic relationships must ensure that the relationship does not interfere with the performance of either employees job by properly managing the relationship;Management is a necessity to protect both those involved in the relationship and the company itself (Cohen, 2009). As long as the individuals involved are able to differentiate the difference between the workplace and their relationship, a consensual relationship agreement can be used to protect the company's safety against sexual harassment claims should the relationship go awry. A consensual relationship agreement(CRA) is voluntary written contract that protects employees from claims of sexual harassment against the company (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011)...
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