Introduction to Business - Employee Harassment Within the Workplace.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS
Introduction to Business
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS
Abstract
The following paper has discussed about the aspect of employee harassment within the
workplace. The forms of workplace harassment have been discussed in this paper because
several types of employee harassment have been noticed in the recent times. The impacts of the
employee harassment have also been highlighted in this scenario since employee feel greatly
disrupted when they are victimized by this issue. The roles and responsibilities of the
stakeholders are also highlighted in this discourse. The Biblical integration relating to the
employee harassment at workplaces have also been described in the following research paper.

2INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS
Outline
Thesis statement: The negative approach of the workplace harassment has disrupted the
organizational environment though Jesus Christ was strictly against the harassment of any
people in the society.
Research questions
Has workplace harassment affected the stakeholder management?
Do the managers have to take the responsibility of dealing with workplace harassment
incidents?
Do Bible support the issues of workplace harassment?
Can employees and managers work together to tackle this evil?
Various sections will be addressed in this research paper. The structure of the paper will
be divided into seven sections. These are introductory section, role of the managers,
organizational strategies, impact on the employees and stakeholders, legal issues for the
employees, Biblical integration into the topic and concluding section.
References
Becton, J. B., Gilstrap, J. B., & Forsyth, M. (2017). Preventing and correcting workplace
harassment: Guidelines for employers. Business Horizons, 60(1), 101-111.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681316300933
Conte, A. (2019). Sexual harassment in the workplace: Law and practice. Aspen Publishers.
https://books.google.co.in/books?

3INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS
hl=en&lr=&id=km_JDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=workplace+harassment&ots=r
TtbqzC4Fv&sig=bXptCkzRabVN6b1XiKJqqZhp_VU
Feldblum, C. R., & Lipnic, V. A. (2016). Select task force on the study of harassment in the
workplace. Washington: US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
https://www.kutakrock.com/files/Uploads/Images/KCCLE2018_Washkuhn_Handouts.pd
f
Hersch, J. (2015). Sexual harassment in the workplace. IZA world of Labor.
https://wol.iza.org/articles/sexual-harassment-in-workplace/long
Khubchandani, J., & Price, J. H. (2015). Workplace harassment and morbidity among US adults:
Results from the National Health Interview Survey. Journal of Community Health, 40(3),
555-563. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10900-014-9971-2
Introduction

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The concept of the harassment in the workplace is considered as one of the major
problems in the contemporary business institutions. This evil practice has drastically increased in
the recent times and employees have become the victims of discrimination in various ways. Most
women employees are the victims of the workplace harassment in the recent times. This
harassment practice has affected the organizational culture and it has hampered the level of
production also (Feldblum & Lipnic, 2016). Therefore, it is very crucial for the managers to take
the strict action against the culprits engaged in this workplace harassment on their colleagues.
The rise of #MeToo movement is a major protest in the contemporary times against this
act of discrimination. The toxic culture of the organization has turned the organizations into
unproductive ones. In this research paper, the responsibilities of the managers will be discussed
along with the impact of this practice on the employees. The legal sphere and Biblical Scriptures
on this issue will be highlighted to seek the challenge from Christian perspectives.
Managerial responsibilities on workplace harassment
When the culture of the organization turns into a toxic one, it is a major responsibility for
all the managers to take care of this situation. The interference of the managers will only help the
company to overcome this issue. The managers must understand that the long term practice of
workplace harassment will ultimately ruin the reputation of the organization completely
(Feldblum & Lipnic, 2016).
Therefore, managers and leaders should be very cautious and strict about the ways this
issue can be dealt with. There is no shadow of a doubt that managers might have to take strict
decisions in order to restore the lost reputation of the organization. The policies and procedures
of company operations should be taken up positively so the organization can find the benefits.

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According to the reports of many research groups, it has been identified that about 33 million
women in the United States have been harassed on different groups.
The leaders or managers should find out the actual types of the workplace harassments.
As this is a very sensitive issue, leaders must take up the strong strategies to prohibit the
workplace harassment on the basis of discrimination. Different kinds of discrimination in the
workplace include gender discrimination, racial and ethnic discrimination, discriminations based
on the linguistic differences and many others. Very recently, workplace bullying is regarded as a
major issue in terms of workplace harassment. It is time for the leaders and managers to take up
the role of strict vigilant. They can use the CCTV footage of different incidents on the floor if
something wrong happens and complained by individual employees. Sometimes it has also been
applied by the supervisors only (Neall & Tuckey, 2014).
Sometimes supervisors are criticized of harassing employees by blocking their
promotions for some personal grudge on the employees. There might be some personal distance
between employees and supervisors but it should not come in way of professional behaviors.
Many critics have often criticized of this practice of workplace bullying and stressed on the role
of leaders to emphasize on finding the way outs. The leaders should always provide all sorts of
facilities to workers as per the agreement and consider their promotions entirely based on their
performance. It is also the responsibility of managers to punish the guilty on the basis of Zero
Tolerance Policy (ZTP) (Neall & Tuckey, 2014). This will go on to protect the physical and
mental well being of all employees.

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Strategic organizational methods for workplace harassment
According to the experts of the strategic management, there are several ways in which the
workplace harassment problem can be dealt properly. According to the survey reports, it has
been acknowledged that around 35% of the workforce in the United States has been bullied at
their workplace environments for the above mentioned reasons (Nielsen, Glasø & Einarsen,
2017). This type of behavior is always disruptive to a certain amount and this has affected the
workplace culture completely. Therefore, it will be very important to deal with this situation by
implementing some strategic concepts. This kind of behavior among the colleagues will
definitely create an uncomfortable organizational culture where the organization If all these
issues of workplace harassment are left being unchecked, this might harness a negative
consequence on the overall organizational behavior (Khubchandani & Price, 2015).
In order to deal with these issues, managers must come up with innovative strategic
concepts after identifying the reasons of this practice. They must point out the potential victims
of this practice properly also. It has been a commonplace behavior that important data of an
employee has been held back by the other, insulting jokes have been cracked in a verbal manner
or violation of the organizational policies. All these reasons and impacts must be monitored
properly so actions could be taken by the strategic managers.
As the means of taking steps against this practice, managers can arrange for an incident
report where victimized employees will put down their complaints properly. The policies should
be furnished in a strict manner and it should be implied for all levels of employees. The
responsibilities of the leaders are to motivate their employees and inspire them to achieve the
objectives of that organization. The training on diversity must be given to the employees in
different sessions so better outcomes can be achieved (Khubchandani & Price, 2015). The

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leadership training should also include the bullying prevention techniques. This would definitely
help the employees and managers of the organization to thrive in a multicultural business
environment.
Impact on employees and stakeholders
The impacts of the workplace bullying are large in the minds of the employees. Rather
this disrupts the entire organizational outputs and creates an unproductive culture. As a result of
this practice of workplace bullying or workplace harassment, the employees go through
problematic phases in their lives (Okechukwu et al., 2014). Researchers have identified some
very common notions of the workplace harassment that are seen in the modern organizations.
Some of these processes are to criticize colleagues unfairly, threatening others, passing racist
comments on the people, excluding people from the important meetings for personal grudges,
stealing away the credits for the jobs and others.
The researchers have made surveys and interviews on some victimized people and found
out that these people get afraid of attending their shifts at offices suspecting they will be bullied
once again. This leads them to bear negative performance properly. The employees will suffer
from trauma and panic (Astrauskaite et al., 2015). The effects of post traumatic stress disorder
will be immense on the employees and sometimes they will leave their jobs for that. They will
lose their self esteem because of these reasons (Becton, Gilstrap & Forsyth, 2017).
They will troublesome times in sleeping properly and might grow the health issues like
higher blood pressure. This will surely waste the resources spent on them by the company. In
fact, they will spend their times in the organizations looking for support and avoiding bully.
They will lose their motivation completely and spend their time on planning to skip this bullying

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behavior on them by others. In most cases, women are victimized by sexual harassments at the
workplaces (Bader et al., 2018).
Women suffer from the trauma and they are also threatened of losing the job if they
complain to the concerned authorities. This creates a mental pressure on them and their overall
performance is down. They suffer from emotional problems like anxiety and depression. Upon
seeing this unproductive environment in the business, their stakeholders might terminate the
contracts as they will run into losses (McDonald, Charlesworth, & Graham, 2015). These acts
will degrade the positions of organization in the industry too.
Legal concerns for employers
The legal concerns are very important in this scenario because victimized employees
might opt to take the legal ways to deal with this issue. At the beginning, employees might report
this scenario to the HR department so mandatory actions are taken. The employers should always
be cautious of handling workplace harassment (Conte, 2019).
According to the employment rights and legal regulations, workplace bullying is
definitely illegal. Some states in the USA have considered the needs for implementing the anti-
bullying legislation, yet they have not been able to pass strict laws against this workplace
bullying (McDonald & Charlesworth, 2016). Moreover, this comes as a ethical concern for the
organizations. Relevant laws have been passed in many countries because they want to protect
their workforce from the evil practice of discrimination and bullying.
The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
and Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 have been implemented within United

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States so this practice can be stopped properly. The employers will be liable for any kind of
harassment acts that are committed by the members of organization (Hersch, 2015).
If the acts of harassment are proved by the victim by presenting evidence, severe actions
will definitely be taken against the people. The nature of misconduct on employees and other
factors will be scrutinized by the concerned authorities to stop the discrimination.
Biblical integration for workplace harassment
There are several organizations in the United States that follow the Christian worldviews
behind their decision making. Christian worldview always favors the rights of employees and
sees them as human individuals (Pearson, 2014). As all the human individuals are created by
Jesus Christ Himself, it is definite that the people harassing the employees are insulting Jesus
Christ also. It has been said that Bible has never highlighted the workplace bullying directly.
Rather in Mark (12:31), it has been said that people should always love themselves as
well as their neighbors. In Luke (6:31), it has been said people should always treat others in the
same way in which they would like to be treated. These messages from Jesus Christ are strong
and direct advice to the people to stay away from the act of bullying. The Christian worldview
has directly opposed the action of abusing someone. In Genesis 1:26-27, it has been written that
human beings are created in the image of God (Raday, 2016). Therefore, it would be a privilege
to respect all the human beings and share the fellow feeling among them.
Conclusion
In the concluding part of this research paper, it must be mentioned that workplace
bullying or harassment has been criticized in all sections of the society. Therefore, it is not at all

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a good step to indulge in the workplace harassment. People might have individual problems with
others but they should always stay professional and keep these distances away. The organization
has to suffer the problems for this issue. The dignity of all human individuals should be kept so
people could enjoy their working experience in a better manner. The Biblical integrations have
also been against any kind of bullying or harassment towards others.

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References
Astrauskaite, M., Notelaers, G., Medisauskaite, A., & Kern, R. M. (2015). Workplace
harassment: Deterring role of transformational leadership and core job
characteristics. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 31(1), 121-135.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956522114000682
Bader, B., Stoermer, S., Bader, A. K., & Schuster, T. (2018). Institutional discrimination of
women and workplace harassment of female expatriates. Journal of Global Mobility.
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JGM-06-2017-0022/full/html
Becton, J. B., Gilstrap, J. B., & Forsyth, M. (2017). Preventing and correcting workplace
harassment: Guidelines for employers. Business Horizons, 60(1), 101-111.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681316300933
Conte, A. (2019). Sexual harassment in the workplace: Law and practice. Aspen Publishers.
https://books.google.co.in/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=km_JDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=workplace+harassment&ots=r
TtbqzC4Fv&sig=bXptCkzRabVN6b1XiKJqqZhp_VU
Feldblum, C. R., & Lipnic, V. A. (2016). Select task force on the study of harassment in the
workplace. Washington: US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
https://www.kutakrock.com/files/Uploads/Images/KCCLE2018_Washkuhn_Handouts.pd
f
Hersch, J. (2015). Sexual harassment in the workplace. IZA world of Labor.
https://wol.iza.org/articles/sexual-harassment-in-workplace/long

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Khubchandani, J., & Price, J. H. (2015). Workplace harassment and morbidity among US adults:
Results from the National Health Interview Survey. Journal of Community Health, 40(3),
555-563. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10900-014-9971-2
McDonald, P., & Charlesworth, S. (2016). Workplace sexual harassment at the margins. Work,
employment and society, 30(1), 118-134.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0950017014564615
McDonald, P., Charlesworth, S., & Graham, T. (2015). Developing a framework of effective
prevention and response strategies in workplace sexual harassment. Asia Pacific Journal
of Human Resources, 53(1), 41-58.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1744-7941.12046
Neall, A. M., & Tuckey, M. R. (2014). A methodological review of research on the antecedents
and consequences of workplace harassment. Journal of Occupational and Organizational
Psychology, 87(2), 225-257. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/joop.12059
Nielsen, M. B., Glasø, L., & Einarsen, S. (2017). Exposure to workplace harassment and the Five
Factor Model of personality: A meta-analysis. Personality and individual
differences, 104, 195-206.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886916309126
Okechukwu, C. A., Souza, K., Davis, K. D., & De Castro, A. B. (2014). Discrimination,
harassment, abuse, and bullying in the workplace: Contribution of workplace injustice to
occupational health disparities. American journal of industrial medicine, 57(5), 573-586.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajim.22221

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Pearson, M. (2014). Offensive expression and the workplace. Industrial Law Journal, 43(4),
429-450. https://academic.oup.com/ilj/article-abstract/43/4/429/2724347
Raday, F. (2016). An Urgent Appeal for Structural Measures against Sexual Harassment at
Work. Int'l Lab. Rts. Case L., 2, 369. https://brill.com/view/journals/ilrc/2/3/article-
p369_13.xml