Sexual harassment at the workplace - A literature review

SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT THE WORKPLACE A LITERATURE REVIEW PAPERS COVERED 1. INTRODUCTION I. Bridging the Gap between romance and harassment 2. THEORY I. Theoretical framework for cross cultural sexual harassment 3. SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE I. Linking sexual harassment to team performance 4. LEGAL EVOLUTION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT I. Using fact finders to probe harassment in workplace II. The Law at work 5. SPECIAL CASES I. Cyber-sexual harassment 6. PREVENTION I. Cognitive-behavioral educational workshop 7. CONCLUSION 2 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE 1. BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN ROMANCE AND HARASSMENT CHARLES A. PIERCE, Montana State University HERMAN AGUINIS, University of Colorado, Denver Workplace romances and sexual harassment are pervasive in today's organizations. However, despite the fact that these two phenomena share a social-sexual component, they have primarily been treated as unrelated organizational issues. This paper presents an affective link between workplace romances and sexual harassment. Workplace romances, regardless of whether they entail a dating or marital relationship are either lateral (two romantically involved employees who are of equal organizational status) or hierarchical (two romantically involved employees who differ in their organizational status e.g. a supervisor-subordinate). The authors propose that dissolved direct reporting hierarchical liaisons are the crux of an affective link between workplace romances and sexual harassment. In terms of a dissolved hierarchical romance, a negative affect is experienced by both employees. This effect can be greatly intensified by coming into frequent contact with a former romantic partner who, because of the soured romance, evokes unfavourable feelings. The negative effect can lead to sexual harassment complaints under three scenarios:  Out of revenge, a subordinate may accuse his/her supervisor of sexual harassment if the supervisor terminates the romance.  If a subordinate terminates the romance, the supervisor may be bitter and in trying to rekindle the romance, may resort to coercive attempts and sexual harassment.  A supervisor may try to manage the dissolution by relocating or terminating the subordinate in order to avoid negative feelings from the disenchantment. The authors postulate that dissolved direct reporting hierarchical responses are most likely to result in sexual harassment in organizations because such liaisions can involve:  A job task dependency, requiring significant social contact, after the relationship has ended.  A job related motive on the part of the subordinate for entering the romance  A power differential where the supervisor has the ability to influence the subordinate, which can lead to unwanted sexual coercion. To avoid the problem of any organizational conflict arising due to a dissolved workplace romance, some organizations prohibit supervisor-subordinate romances. However such a policy is neither effective nor practical. The authors propose more realistic measures such as getting romantically involved couples to sign a written contract. In the contract, they can mutually agree to congenial terms in case the romance sours such as an agreement where one of the employees relocates his/her office space to another part of the building. Organizations cannot successfully prohibit romances since they are merely the result of human nature. By introducing such policies, they will be better able to cope with dissolutions and avoid situations that foster sexual harassment. 3 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE 2. A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK EXPLAINING CROSS-CULTURAL SEXUAL HARASSMENT: INTEGRATING HOFSTEDE AND SCHWARTZ Harsh K. Luthar, Bryant University, Smithfield Vipan K. Luthar, St. Paul’s College, Lawrenceville From a managerial perspective, sexual harassment issues pose difficult challenges for multinational corporations that send employees overseas where they often have to contend with cultural values and conditions much different from the ones in the host country. Given the increasing number of overseas assignments of managers from various countries, recognizing cultural differences and the role these play in the complexity of social-sexual interaction between men and women is crucial. This paper analyzes sexual harassment from across-cultural perspective and tries to apply cross-cultural theories to this field. Hofstede’s theory focuses on cultural dimensions like power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity. This paper focuses on high power distance vs. low power distance and individualistic vs. collective cultures as being relevant to sexual harassment. Schwartz classifies cultures based on allocation of power (hierarchy vs. egalitarianism), relationship between the individual and the group (conservatism vs. autonomy) and the relation between humankind and the natural social order (mastery vs. harmony). From the above, only the first two are considered in the study since they have elements in common with Hofstede’s power distance (PDI) and individualism (IDV) theories. The authors observe that in countries with high PDI scores and which fall closer to the Hierarchial value priority such as Mexico, India, Brazil, Pakistan and Arab countries, incidents of women exploitation and sexual harassment are more common. Countries like Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden which fall in the Egalitarinism norm and which Hofstede categorizes as low PDI countries appear to have lower rates for sexual harassment. The paper proposes the following causes behind this observation:  Females, in higher Power Distance societies or in those societies that embrace the Hierarchy value priority, will have a higher tolerance for sexually aggressive behaviours and uninvited sexual attention than females in lower Power Distance societies or in those societies that embrace the Egalitarian value priority.  Males, in higher Power Distance societies or those societies that embrace the Hierarchy value priority, will be more likely to engage in sexually harassing or exploitative behaviors with regards to females than males in societies with a lower Power Distance or in those societies which embrace the Egalitarian value priority. The authors reason that the opportunity to engage in sexual harassment will be higher in high PDI countries by those in powerful positions because of the lack of fear of sanctions or 4 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE punishment. Also, the low participation rate of women in the workforce in high PDI countries may also raise the proclivity for men to sexually harass women. Countries that have higher IDV scores and fall in Schwartz’s autonomy region (e.g. western European nations) have cultures where sexual harassment is likely to be resisted. In contrast, countries like Mexico, India and Arab countries which are likely to condone sexual harassment are high on collectivism and conservatism scores. The paper formulates the following propositions:  Females, in Collectivist societies or in those societies that embrace the Conservatism value priority, will have a higher tolerance for sexually aggressive behaviours and uninvited sexual attention than females in Individualist societies or those societies that embrace the Autonomy value priority.  Males, in Collectivist societies or those societies that embrace the Conservatism value priority, will be more likely to engage in sexually harassing or exploitative behaviors with regards to females than males in societies that are Individualistic or those societies which embrace the Autonomy value priority. The authors observe that that any charges made against a harasser in a low IDV culture will disturb the working environment in an organization and people who make such accusations in low IDV cultures may be seen as troublemakers. Also, cultural power distance as measure by PDI has a negative correlation with IDV for most countries. The results of this research could be helpful in informing multinational businesses on the complexities of social-sexual interactions between employees from different countries. This knowledge could be used in training programs that would be customized for employees and managers of various countries and cultures. Also, the knowledge gained from cross-cultural sexual harassment research could guide and encourage multinational corporations to apply sexual harassment policies fairly across different cultures. In certain countries there may be a requirement for more forceful policies as well as energetic and frequent communication of these policies to employees and managers to prevent sexually harassing behaviour. 5 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE 3. LINKING SEXUAL HARASSMENT TO TEAM PERFORMANCE JANA L. RAVIER, Queen’s University MICHELE J. GELFAND,University of Maryland BACKGROUND: Previous sexual harassment research and theory have focused primarily upon the individual level, with little attention to team or organization-level outcomes. This article presents a multilevel perspective on sexual harassment and examines team-level processes and outcomes related to team incidence of sexual harassment. The relationships between team ambient sexual harassment, team conflict, team cohesion, team citizenship behaviours and team financial performance are analysed. AMBIENT SEXUAL HARASSMENT (ASH): ASH is a group-level phenomenon reflecting the ambient level of sexual harassment in a work group, which in turn impacts individual level outcomes like job satisfaction and psychological conditions. This is because, co-workers are often aware of colleagues’ experiences with sexual harassment. Such incidents create a general stressful environment that others in the work group also experience. HYPOTHESES: Team conflict consists of task conflicts and relationship conflicts. The authors propose the following hypotheses about ambient sexual harassment: ASH is positively related to team relationship conflict – This is because some targets of SH may adopt direct coping strategies and confront the harasser, thus causing overt tension among team members. Alternatively, they may react passively by avoiding the abuser or narrating their experiences to others, increasing covert tension in the team. In either case, ASH would increase relationship conflicts among team members.  ASH is negatively related to team cohesion – Victims and bystanders are unlikely to identify strongly with a collective in which they experience or observe high levels of negative behaviour such as ASH.  ASH is negatively related to team citizenship behaviour – Teams with a negative climate with regard to fairness had significantly lower levels of team citizenship behaviours than teams having a positive climate.  The relationship between ASH and team financial performance is mediated by team conflict, team cohesion and team citizenship behaviours – If a group’s members are experiencing high conflict, low cohesion and low team citizenship due to ASH, they are likely to have difficulty coordinating and therefore the group performance is likely to be less than optimal. VERIFICATION: To verify these hypotheses, the authors surveyed the employees from 35 independent teams of a food services organization in the United States. Teams with varied sizes, racial diversity, gender ratios and generalized stress levels were studied to understand the effects of these factors. By performing a regression analysis of team processes and financial  6 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE performance on total ambient sexual harassment and subscales, it was found that all the above hypotheses, except the third, could be conclusively established for large sample sizes. LIMITATIONS: The authors point out that in their study, a primary limitation was that they were not able to identify the perpetrators of sexual harassment as team supervisors or team members. Thus they could not guarantee that perpetrators were parts of teams that they surveyed. Since only women’s data was used for sexual harassment and all team members’ data was used for other variables, there could be some bias in the final results. CONCLUSIONS: Despite these limitations, the study emphasizes that eliminating sexual harassment not only makes good moral and legal sense, it also makes good business sense. It is important for team managers to discuss the inappropriateness of harassment and clarify that even mild sexually harassing behaviour is forbidden. Training programmes on sexual harassment should also address team dynamics. Emphasis should be placed on the negative outcomes of SH on the entire team. This would help prevent negative repercussions such as conflict, low cohesion or impaired performance. Moreover, because bystanders may be unwilling to report harassment for fear of reprisal, organizations need to create systems and structures that enable team members to anonymously report harassment. 7 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE 4. USING FACT FINDERS TO PROBE HARASSMENT IN WORKPLACE SUSAN MEREDITH Labor Arbitrator, New Haven BACKGROUND: This paper explores the existing mechanisms of litigations and arbitrations to tackle sexual harassment issues and discusses their limitations. It then proposes a new mechanism of using fact-finding teams to overcome these limitations. LITIGATION: As per the United States laws, a victim of sexual harassment is required to submit a complaint to the US EEOC (Equal employment opportunity commission) or to a local state human rights agency within 180 days of the incident. After the EEOC has had the complaint for 90 days, the complainant can file a complaint in the federal court. This begins the litigation process, which may last for a few years. Pending litigation concerning sexual harassment can take a heavy toll on the work environment. Employees directly involved may not be able to concentrate on work or resolve differences. Other employees may take sides or otherwise be affected. The publicity from the litigation may have an effect on the business as well. Litigation is also expensive. Attorneys' fees, transcript and court costs, damages to the plaintiff, lost work time to attend court or depositions, time spent preparing the case by management employees - all take resources away from the business. Whatever the outcome of the litigation, it is unlikely that the employees involved will all be employed at the end. Thus, the employer will have to add the costs of replacing employees to the other costs of litigation. ARBITRATION: Arbitration by an employees union would also be challenging, since both the victim and the alleged harasser might belong to the union. The union would also require proof of the incident. Also, arbitral remedies can at best be limited. It would be unlikely for an arbitrator to order training in sexual harassment for employees or supervisors or counselling for victims. FACTFINDING TEAMS: This paper suggests a male/female fact finding team of labour arbitrators with expertise in sexual harassment issues. The concept of male/female teams is to remove any bias towards the victim or the alleged harasser. Fact finders may interview the complainant, the alleged harasser and other employees who have corroborating evidence for either. The fact finders will be expected to review the evidence gathered and make recommendations in writing. The recommendations should be accompanied by specific findings and conclusions and should be shared with all employees concerned. Fact finders from outside the workplace may be better able to hold interview material in confidence and prevent charges from being publicized through the workplace to the detriment of all employees involved. ADVANTAGES OF FACT-FINDING APPROACH: A fact finding team may recommend remedies which an arbitrator would not have the authority to impose. Such recommendations may 8 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE include discipline, transfer, compensation to the victim and such untraditional remedies as training to improve the behaviour and atmosphere in the workplace. The fact finding option can take place in a very short time frame. Formal hearings do not have to be arranged, so the fact finders are free to arrange interviews quickly. Once all the available parties and witnesses have been interviewed, the process of reviewing the evidence and making recommendations need not be lengthy. As soon as the recommendations have been submitted, the employer may begin implementing those that are chosen. The fact finding program also offers the advantage of privacy for all concerned. The employer does not have the negative publicity connected with civil rights litigation. The complainant does not have to face the considerable strain and risks of a formal complaint process. The alleged harasser may also be able to establish innocence or make agreements without facing a formal accusation process. Finally, the fact finding approach allows the application of and experimentation with innovative remedies such as training programs, new work rules and other non-traditional proposals. The fact finder approach thus offers a significant resource for bringing neutral expertise to employers and employees faced with the problem of making workplaces free of sexual harassment. 9 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE 5. THE LAW AT WORK CHARLES J. MUHL Bureau of Labour Statistics INTRODUCTION: Section 703(a)(l) of title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act forbids employers to "discriminate against any individual with respect to...terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of such individual’s… sex”. In 1986, the US Supreme Court held that unwelcome sexual advances at work create a hostile work environment which constitutes gender discrimination under Title VII. In 1998, the Supreme Court revisited the definition of sexual harassment in four separate cases, answering the questions of (1) whether a claim of same-sex sexual harassment may be brought, (2) what legal standards should be applied to determine whether employers are liable for sexual harassment committed by workers with supervisory power, and (3) whether a claim of quid pro quo sexual harassment may proceed without showing that the employee submitted to sexual advances or was harmed for refusing such advances. This paper discusses the rulings in these cases. ONCALE VS. SUNDOWNER OFFSHORE SERVICES INC. CASE: The High Court ruled that Title VII prohibits sexual harassment between members of the same sex. The court held that the legal standards governing same sex claims are identical to those used to evaluate a claim of sexual harassment by a member of the opposite sex. FARAGHER VS. CITY OF BOCA RATON CASE: The Court held that employers are subject to strict liability for sexual harassment caused by a supervisor. Such liability can be found where a hostile work environment is created through sexual abuse and threats by a supervisor with immediate or successively higher authority over an employee or where a supervisor takes tangible action (e.g. termination, demotion, and loss of pay) against an employee after a sexual advance is refused. If no such action is taken, an employer may raise a defence to strict liability by showing that it exercised reasonable care to prevent and promptly correct any sexually harassing behaviour and that the employee failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer to otherwise avoid harm. BURLINGTON INDUSTRIES INC. VS ELLERTH CASE: The Supreme Court ruled that an employee may recover damages from an employer for sexual harassment even if a supervisor’s sexual demands are unfulfilled or if no demotion, loss of pay or termination results from failure to submit to sexual advances. The employee is not required to show that the employer was negligent or otherwise at fault for the supervisor’s harassment. GEBSER VS. LAGO VISTA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT CASE: The Court ruled that a plaintiff may not recover damages for teacher-student sexual harassment, unless a school district official who has the authority to institute corrective measures on the district’s behalf has actual notice of, and is deliberately indifferent to the teacher’s misconduct. 10 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE 6. CYBER-SEXUAL HARASSMENT BARBARA A. RITTER Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC BACKGROUND: Cybersexual harassment includes behavior that follows the traditional definition of sexual harassment, but involves the use of the Internet/Intranet, or other computer technology. This paper attempts to develop a scale designed to measure one’s likelihood of cybersexual harassment. The paper also describes a scale to assess perceptions of the online environment that should be directly related to one’s likelihood to engage in cybersexually harassing behaviour. The theoretical framework that provides the foundation for scale development is also described. DEFININING CYBERSEXUAL HARASSMENT: Online, gender harassment has been typified as active versus passive and verbal versus graphic. Active verbal gender harassment, for example, includes unwelcome, offensive messages purposely sent via e-mail, in chat rooms or forums. Active graphic gender harassment also fits this description, but includes pictures. Passive verbal gender harassment, on the other hand, includes intentional messages posted to many potential receivers (e.g., an offensive code name). Passive graphic gender harassment includes exposure to offensive pictures that are not actively sought (e.g., forced pop-up windows). A Cyber Sexual Harassment (CSH) scale comprised of multiple factors distinguishing between active and passive and verbal and graphic has been proposed to measure online gender harassment. THE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT: In an online environment, individuals allow their true personality characteristics and attitudes to emerge and engage in behaviour seen as risky in the outside world. To measure this environment, an Online Environment (OE) scale composed of three factors - anonymity, acceptability and aloneness has been devised. SCALE DEVELOPMENT: The paper describes the deductive approach to item development, which was reviewed by subject matter experts and used to define these scales. A sample of 151 students who spent around 2.5 hours on the Internet daily was chosen for the study. The following factors were evaluated for the CSH scale: behaviour using e-mail, active graphic material, passive behaviour such as surfing pornography, an active verbal dimension such as asking co-workers for personal information online and a purposeful action meant to offend. Participants were asked to rate how likely they would be to perform the above behaviours. For the OE scale, items related to anonymity, acceptability and aloneness, based on a literature review were included. Participants were asked to indicate the extent of agreement with the statements. In the second phase, the scales were evaluated using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on different samples. Goodness of fit tests revealed that the five-factor model for CSH scale and a four-factor model for OE scale were acceptable. 11 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE SCALE EVALUATION: As an initial indication of the validity of the scale, perceptions of the online environment were positively related to the likelihood of cybersexual harassment (correlations between factors range from .09 to .69). However the authors conclude that a further refinement of both scales is necessary. The authors also point out the limitations that can be remedied by further research, such as use of a student sample and correlational results. However, the scales can be used as a reference by organizations to implement anti-harassment policies related to online behaviour and electronic communication mediums. 12 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE 7. A COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOP AZY BARAK BACKGROUND: Various measures have been implemented for coping with the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace. Although much of the effort has been provided for special legislation, proper grievance procedures or actions for organizational change, few attempts have been made to prevent sexual harassment through the application of appropriate training procedures based on effective psycho-educational methods. The author describes a workshop based on cognitive behavioral techniques designed to provide women with understanding sexual harassment at work and response alternatives to the same. OBJECTIVE OF WORKSHOP: The cognitive-behavioral workshop was designed keeping the following requirements in mind:  To be brief yet intensive, so that it would be acceptable to management    To be based on recent information about sexual harassment phenomena To focus on development of coping skills and acquisition of experience To include only women participants to allow for more openness and less defensiveness in the group process. To limit the number of participants so that each one would be able to receive enough attention and be able to practice most talks. To have a modular format To be based on cognitive-modification techniques such as live modelling, video modelling, simulation games, role plays and structured group discussions To measure the impact of the workshop in combating sexual harassment     PHASE ONE: The first phase of the workshop was developed based on the assumption that that many women typically have limited and inaccurate knowledge about sexual harassment. They tend to hold prejudiced beliefs and stereotypes related to this subject. These wrong cognitions affect their inability and unwillingness to cope with it. This phase included three experiential activities, each of which focused on a different aspect of sexual harassment. The first activity aimed to help participants develop awareness about identifying, perceiving, and judging sexually harassing verbal messages. The second activity illustrated the contribution of various behavioral messages which are usually attributed as sexual advances or sexual harassing by different women. The focus of the third activity was to develop personal sensitivity to different verbal and nonverbal cues that caused certain behavior to be perceived as sexually harassing. 13 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE PHASE TWO: The purpose of the second phase was to develop skills for coping with sexual harassment attempts, again through three activities. The objective of the first activity was to get participants acquainted with various possible response options and understand the conflicts, uncertainty, stress, and other emotional difficulties related to selecting each possible response. The second activity focussed on understanding the advantages and disadvantages of various response options with different types of sexual harassment behaviors and situations. It emphasized the personal considerations involved in selecting a response option and the importance of accepting a conscious responsibility for selecting a response. The third activity focussed on providing awareness of grievance procedures when filing sexual harassment claims. METHODOLOGY: The workshop was conducted for a total of 25 female volunteers. The participants represented a range of ages (ranging from 22 to 55 years), educational levels (high school to advanced university degree), and occupations (e.g., secretaries, accountants, computer operators). The participants were asked to fill questionnaires about their sexual harassment experiences, prior to the workshop. The participants were again interviewed around 12 months after the workshop to gauge the effectiveness of the workshop. EVALUATION: Participants gave a very positive evaluation of the workshop for helping them develop awareness of what constitutes sexual harassment and accordingly being able to take steps against it. Organizations also evaluated this workshop positively as they felt it would help prevent such incidents. However, organizations felt that to eliminate this problem totally, the workshop should not be implemented as a single event, but, rather, it should be part of a total program to handle sexual harassment effectively. Also, organizations also felt the need to include men as part of such workshops so that they would also be aware of what behaviour can be misconstrued as sexual harassment and avoid such behaviour. 14 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE CONCLUSION Though sexual harassment is widely discussed in the corporate context, a practical definition of what constitutes sexual harassment has been difficult to frame. As per Title VII of The Civil Rights Act, 1964, sexual harassment constitutes “Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal and physical conduct of sexual nature” when the subject enters into employment or interferes with work performance or creates a hostile work environment. From an organization perspective, it is advisable to frame a definition of what constitutes sexual harassment considering the legal framework and the work environment of the organization. The extent to which the superior will exercise power in social-sexual interactions is determined by characteristics such as minority status, marital status, age and education with respect to subordinates and gender, attitude towards women and personality variables with respect to superiors. The climate and social composition of an organization also influence the subordinate’s attributions regarding the intent of the superior in social-sexual interactions. Prior to this study, age and gender had been well established as factors affecting attitudes and perceptions of sexual harassment. This study however aims at uncovering other factors such as past experiences, organizational policies, employer perception and gender ratio that affect the attitudes and perceptions. Hofstede and Schwartz’s theories can be used to explain the effect of culture on the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace. Countries with high power distance and low individualism (Hofstede) and those with hierarchy and conservatism value priorities (Schwartz) are likely to observe higher incidents of sexual harassment. Research indicates that sexual harassment has negative psychological, job-related, and health effects such as lower job satisfaction, withdrawal symptoms and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in victims. Apart from the individual effects, it has been observed that ambient sexual harassment also leads to higher team relationship conflicts, low team cohesion and low financial performance of the team. Workplace romances, especially between a supervisor and subordinate, also lead to higher incidents of sexual harassment, if these relationships sour. To avoid this, some organizations prohibit such relationships. This policy is usually not effective or practical. A better policy would be to get both employees to sign a written contract in which they mutually agree to congenial terms such as shifting to different locations. This ensures that the organization does not have to deal with sexual harassment complaints after romances break up. Rulings in various cases led to an expanded interpretation of Title VII as follows:  Same sex harassment is also considered equivalent to sexual harassment.  Organizations are subject to strict liability for sexual harassment caused by a supervisor. 15 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE  An employee can claim damages from an organization for sexual harassment even if a supervisor’s sexual demands are not met or no disadvantages accrued on failure to submit to sexual harassment. Organizations therefore need to put in place training programmes to prevent any incidents of sexual harassment. It was observed that training led to an increased perception of more behaviors as sexual harassment and thus decreased tolerance to harassment. However, training also helped clarify men’s views on the ‘grey area’ as to which behavior can be misconstrued as sexually harassing. Training was also observed to bring down complaints of sexual harassment. In addition to training programmes, a cognitive-behavioral workshop with simulation games, role plays, structured group discussions and live modeling has also been found to be effective in educating employees about what behaviors may be perceived as sexually harassing. When an organization faces a claim of sexual harassment, rather than resort to litigation or arbitration (which are expensive and time-consuming), it can set up fact-finding teams comprised of both men and women to investigate the issue. This avoids negative publicity to the organization, while at the same time ensuring fairness to both parties. Organizations can institute training programmes to control internal sexual harassment. However, if an employee reports harassment by a client of the organization, it creates a dilemma for the organization as to whether to handle the incident or not. This can have repercussions on the business of the organization. To avoid such situations, firms should set up a protective environment for employees during meetings with clients. Also, the client should first be made aware of his inappropriate conduct in a polite manner. If harassment still continues, firms should take a serious view and ensure support for its employees. With increasing digitization of the workplace, incidents of cyber-sexual harassment are also increasing. This includes active harassment such as offensive messages sent by e-mail as well as passive harassment such as exposure to offensive pictures in forced pop-up windows. Employees are also likely to engage in more risky behavior when online. Scales to measure the online environment with respect to anonymity, acceptability and aloneness and likelihood of cyber-sexual harassment have been devised. A well-drafted well-communicated sexual harassment policy can be valuable to an organization – as an employee relations tool, a basic education tool for supervisors as well as employees on the subject of sexual harassment and also serves as a way to minimize legal liability to the organization in hostile-environment sexual harassment cases. 16 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE REFERENCES Powell, Gary. (1983), Sexual Harassment: Confronting the Issue of Definition, Business Horizons, Jul/Aug83, Vol. 26 Issue 4, p24, 5pages Pierce, Charles A. & Aguinis, Herman (1997), Bridging the gap between romantic relationships and sexual harassment in organizations, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 18 Issue 3, p197-200, 4pages McCabe Marita P. & Hardman, Lisa (2005), Attitudes and Perceptions of Workers to Sexual Harassment, Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 145 Issue 6, p719-740, 22pages Luthar, Harsh K. & Luthar, Vipin K. (2007). 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