Allegations of Serious Sexual Misconduct at Dubois Industries

Allegations of serious sexual misconduct at
Dubois Industries
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Research questions and objectives...............................................................................................................2
Expected outcomes......................................................................................................................................2
Literature review.........................................................................................................................................3
Methods.......................................................................................................................................................4
Ethical implications.....................................................................................................................................4
Data analysis...............................................................................................................................................5
Timetable.....................................................................................................................................................5
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................................6
References...................................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the incidence of sexual harassment in the workplace of
Dubois Industries. In this case, an employee of Dubois Industries has brought a serious allegation
against the senior managers of the company. Young consultancy is a management consulting
firm whose offices are situated in Melbourne, Sydney and they have recently opened an office in
Singapore. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the effects of sexual harassment on the
employees and financial profit of the organization. Moreover, this paper will also evaluate how
Dubois Industries can overcome this situation and prevent the occurrence of such situation in
future.
Research questions and objectives
The research question of this research proposal are as follows:
 What are the effects of sexual harassment on the employees of an organization?
 What are the effects of sexual harassment on the financial development of the
organization?
 How can the organizations prevent such events in future?
The research objective of this research proposal are as follows:
 To understand how an organization can overcome the situation of sexual harassment
 To understand the effects of sexual harassment on the employees of an organization
 To understand how an organization can prevent such incidents from happening in the
future
Expected outcomes
The purpose of this research proposal is to provide suitable solutions to Dubois Industries on
how they can handle these type of situations in future. The research proposal will provide
answers on how the organizations can overcome these situations and prevent from happening
such incidents in the future.
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Literature review
According to Lockhart, (2016), sexual harassment is defined as the unwelcome behavior which
affects the employment decisions of the victim. In the words of HerscH, (2015), the majority of
these cases, women constitute the victims, but men can be sexually harassed in the workplace.
Generally, the senior professionals of an organization tend to participate in this kind of behavior
towards the new employees of the organization. As per (Chavkoska, 2016), examples of sexual
harassment in the workplace includes unwanted jokes, offensive gestures, and comments on the
clothing a person. Incidences of sexual harassment in the workplace are common all over the
world. In words of Malhotra & Srivastava, (2016), sexual harassment in the workplace creates a
hostile environment in the workplace. These type of behaviors can result in serious
consequences on the physical and mental health of the victim. Accusations of sexual harassment
in the workplace can have a negative effect on the employees of an organization. According to
Morral et al., (2016), it can affect the emotional well-being of an employee, and it affects their
self-esteem. It can seriously affect the personal relationship of the employees within the
organization. In the words of Buchanan et al., (2018), the physical health of the employees are
closely linked with their mental health. In case the victims of the organization experiences
mental and emotional problems, it can lead them to suffer from stress, anxiety etc. It can cause
serious economic problems for the organization, as it will increase the rate of employee
absenteeism within the organization. According to McDonald et al., (2015), the rate of employee
turnover can increase thus affecting the overall profitability of the organization. Thus it can have
a negative effect on the overall financial profitability of the organization.
In the given case, an employee of Dubois Industries has accused the senior manager of the
organization of engaging in sexual harassment activities against her. In the words of Mukosi et
al., (2015), employers have the legal responsibility to provide a supportive environment to their
employees and prevent any incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace. According to
Farhang et al., (2015), they are liable to provide a safe environment to the employees of the
organization. The reputations of the organizations facing these allegations can be diminished to a
great extent. So they need to address this issue in a sensitive way to avoid any future implications
for the organization (Schultz, 2018). According to Marshall, (2017), the organizations should
have a strict anti-harassment policy in their work to prevent such type of incidents. The research
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methodology used for this research is the qualitative approach, and the method of sampling is
used to understand the nature of the issue. A sample size of 80 men and women are selected to
understand the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. To address this issue, organizations
like DuBois Industries must understand the issue of sexual harassment (Pateman, 2014). In the
words of Bell, (2016), they must observe and examine if their employees are engaging in these
type of conducts and they must confront the offender immediately. In the words of McDonald, &
Charlesworth, (2016), the alleged person must be fired from the position and the victim must be
provided with support so that she can overcome this issue. In the words of, they must set an
example for their employees so that they do not participate in this type of behavior in the future
(Crenshaw et al., 2018). According to Goodman-Delahunty et al., (2016), more employees of the
organization should be encouraged to talk about it and proper measures should be taken to stop
this incident from happening in the future.
Methods
The research method used to collect the data for this study is the research method of qualitative
approach. The method of sampling is conducted to collect the data for this study, in which a
sample size of 80 men and women is selected, who has worked in Dubois industries at some
point of their life. A semi-structured interview is conducted to collect their response. A majority
of the sample group, mostly women, have responded in positive and they have also said that the
senior management of the organization was aware of the incident. They have also said that they
did not take any appropriate measures to prevent such incident with the organization.
Ethical implications
The research follows the ethical guidelines of National Statement of Ethical Conduct while
collecting information for this study. The participants are told beforehand about the nature of the
study and the potential vulnerability of the participants are considered while conducting the
study and the study is conducted in a considerate way.
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Data analysis
The data collected from the study will analyze with the help of narrative analysis technique of
qualitative data analysis method. In this study, the response of the participants of the study will
be analyzed against the narratives of other respondents to evaluate the accuracy of the data
collected.
Timetable
The research is conducted over a course of a week from May 21 to May 28, 2018. In this time
period, the researcher has talked to several employees of Dubois Industries. The data collected
from this study will be analyzed on 30 may 2018. The research proposal will be submitted on the
mid-week of June 2018.
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Recommendations
Young Consultancy should proceed to submit the tender to Dubois Industries to participate in the
research. This case can be one of the important cases for the organization and it will help to earn
more recognition in the market. If the company conducted the research successfully, they will be
able to gain knowledge about the incidence and verify if it is true. In case the incident is true,
they can give specific directions to the company on how to handle this type of situation and how
to prevent such incidents in future. Thus it will enable Dubois Industries to manage their image
in the market and it will help Young Consultancy to increase their recognition.
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References
Bell, R. (2016). Whispers from the bush: The workplace sexual harassment of Australian rural
women [Book Review]. Bar News: The Journal of the NSW Bar Association, (Winter
2016), 65.
Buchanan, N. T., Settles, I. H., Wu, I. H., & Hayashino, D. S. (2018). Sexual Harassment, Racial
Harassment, and Well-being among Asian American Women: An Intersectional
Approach. Women & Therapy, 1-20.
Chavkoska, B. (2016). Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. Women and Sustainability in
Business: A Global Perspective, 143.
Crenshaw, K. W., Delgado, R., Matsuda, M. J., & Lawrence, C. R. (2018). Introduction.
In Words that wound (pp. 1-15). Routledge.
Farhang, S., Kastellec, J. P., & Wawro, G. J. (2015). The politics of opinion assignment and
authorship on the US court of appeals: Evidence from sexual harassment cases. The
Journal of Legal Studies, 44(S1), S59-S85.
Goodman-Delahunty, J., Schuller, R., & Martschuk, N. (2016). Workplace sexual harassment in
policing: Perceived psychological injuries by source and severity. Psychological injury
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HerscH, J. (2015). Sexual harassment in the workplace. IZA World of Labor.
Lockhart, L. (2016). Sexual harassment in the workplace. Nursing Made Incredibly Easy, 14(6),
55.
Malhotra, S., & Srivastava, A. (2016). Sexual harassment at the workplace: how organizations
can pro-actively reduce its incidence. Human Resource Management International
Digest, 24(7), 1-3.
Marshall, A. M. (2017). Confronting sexual harassment: The law and politics of everyday life.
Routledge.
McDonald, P., & Charlesworth, S. (2016). Workplace sexual harassment at the margins. Work,
employment, and society, 30(1), 118-134.
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McDonald, P., Charlesworth, S., & Graham, T. (2015). Developing a framework for effective
prevention and response strategies in workplace sexual harassment. Asia Pacific Journal
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Morral, A. R., Gore, K. L., & Schell, T. L. (Eds.). (2016). Sexual Assault and Sexual
Harassment in the US Military: Volume 4. Investigations of Potential Bias in Estimates
from the 2014 RAND Military Workplace Study (Vol. 4). Rand Corporation.
Mukosi, M. M., Nyasha, M., & Faith, M. R. (2015). EFFECTS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT
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Pateman, C. (2014). Sexual contract. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Schultz, V. (2018). Telling Stories About Women and Work: Judicial Interpretations of Sex
Segregation in the Workplace in Title VII Cases Raising the Lack of Interest Argument
[1990]. In Feminist legal theory (pp. 124-155). Routledge.
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