Analyzing the #MeToo Movement's Influence on Organizational Behavior

This essay delves into the critical issue of the #MeToo movement within contemporary organizations. It highlights the rise of women's voices against sexual harassment, emphasizing the need for zero-tolerance policies and increased awareness among female employees. The essay explores the movement's relevance, citing examples like Google's response to employee protests and the importance of organizational leaders taking proactive steps to ensure a safe and equitable workplace. It discusses the role of social media, the responsibility of organizations to protect their employees, and the significance of internal investigations and harassment training. The conclusion underscores the #MeToo movement's widespread impact and the necessity for strict consequences for offenders, supported by legal and human resource professionals, and the role of social media in amplifying these voices.

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Organizational Behavior
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The purpose of the following essay is to throw the light upon one of the most important
issues in the contemporary organizations. The issue is the #MeToo movement that has been
initiated by the women employees of the organizations spread worldwide. This movement is
dedicated to raise the voice on the sexual harassments that take place within the premises of the
organizations by the male employees at different levels (Garber 2018). In the current times many
big organizations like Google and others have taken the firm steps against this sexual violation or
harassments on their female employees. It is very important for the higher authority managers of
the different organizations to adopt the zero tolerance policies within the organizations that will
help the women employees to be retained. Many other strict steps should be taken and awareness
among the women employees should be awakened as well.
Relevance of the #MeToo movement
The #MeToo era has been the hottest trend in the contemporary organizations and the
media world as well (Sayej 2017). This movement is to make the women aware that they are
always exposed to the male dominance and the society reigned by the patriarchy. According to
the words of the critics, the women voice had been suppressed in the organizations and the
society for many years now. However, the women decided to raise their voices in the protest so
they could do something against this male dominance. In the year 2017, the global protests came
in this context and the women began their protests by the Global Protest March. The activist
signs had been shown up and this was the beginning of the protests by the female employees all
around the world. In the words of Hacker (2017), the women were up to the fact that they had to
wake up and make sure that the inevitable change was coming up. The women began their
protests by stepping forward and throwing their hats off into the ring and running for the public

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office (Garber 2018). It had been seen that the sexual misconduct on the women had been
increasing. The time had come for the women to protest since it would ruin the overall reputation
of the organization. It has become inevitable that the contemporary organizations will have to
change for the good since their brand reputation will be on the line. It is up to the leaders of the
organizations whether they want to adopt this change or not (Kiser 2015). If they adopt this point
of view it will surely add more value to their organizational ethics. This fact of sexual
misconduct will surely hamper their ethics. However, on the contrary Sayei (2017) has argued
that it is sure that this will be imposed on their companies if they do not apply by their own. If
this is imposed upon them by the external forces by the external forces it will not at all be good
for them. Apart from the sexual misconduct it has also been seen that the women have been
victims of the unequal pay. It is the responsibility of the leaders to take up the lead and make the
necessary positive changes to their workplace culture (Byerley 2018).
Many female employees have been the victims of this movement in this era because of
the lust and greed of their male colleagues (Michailidis, Morphitou and Theophylatou 2012). As
they have decided to make the heavy protests from the go, it will be a huge upheaval task for
them (McLaughlin, Uggen and Blackstone 2012). They have to be united in the various
organizations and their strength will be reflected through this only. However concerning the state
of mind of the survivors of this sexual violence, they will need to build up a community that will
be helpful for them to make the bonding (Byerley 2018). This fact of sexual violence upon
women is nothing new but it has been important to gain the attention of the social media of late.
Rawski and Workman‐Stark (2018) have opined that the social media will be able to create a
platform by which the women could be able to raise their voices properly. The organizational
leaders should be more effective in solving these problems for the sexually harassed women. It

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must be said in this context that the protests by women regarding the sexual harassments by the
Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein came into the forefront indeed. The women will need to
be more conscious about their position and equality in the organizations (Lee et al. 2018).
The stance of the organizations
The organizations should look to increase the awareness among the female employees
and ask them to be much careful when they go for a meeting, party and dine out with their male
colleagues. The critics are of the opinion that the managers can also take the help of the social
media in this case. The proper training will be given to the female employees so they can be able
to defend themselves at the time of the need (McLaughlin, Uggen and Blackstone 2012). The
community concerning the female employees should look to shift their focus on the recent events
that have taken place in the several organizations. On the contrary, a stern example can be given
in this scenario and it is of Google. Last month, the female employees of Tokyo in Japan had
been so outrageous that they had stopped their work and this was due to the failure of Google to
tackle the sexual exploitation issues of their female employees (García-Moreno et al. 2015). The
protests grew stronger and stronger and the waves of female employees began to come out of
their offices in different locations around the world like Dublin, Berlin, Hyderabad, Singapore,
New York and their corporate headquarters at California. McLaughlin, Uggen and Blackstone
(2012) have argued that this walkout movement was caused due to the dissatisfaction and
discontent of the employees as the leadership of Google had adopted some immoral choices in
this context of the sexual exploitations of the female employees.
However, Google had taken some serious steps in this context as well. One of the
creators of the Android mobile service by Google, was alleged of sexual harassments on the

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female employees. This had been the cause that he was given the farewell and an exit package
worth of $90m. The internal investigation was carried out by Google and the results went against
Andy Rubin, one of the creators of the Android mobile service. As per the critics, the fact came
out that the internal complaints against the company should not have come to light rather one of
the executives had been given the farewell with a multimillion dollar exit package for his
behavior. This #MeToo movement had been started by the social activist Tarana Burke when she
came up with the information that a 13 year old girl had been sexually harassed by the boyfriend
of her mother. Tarana Burke had set up an organization of her own that would help and support
the victims of the sexual abuse. This entire thing came to light in the year 2017 when the actress
Alyssa Milano had tweeted about this (Sayej 2017).
The responsibility of the organizations
In the words of the critics, it is the responsibility of the organizations to protect their
female employees from the various kinds of sexual abuse. The liability and responsibility of all
the male members of the organization should be evaluated towards their female colleagues
(Stanko, Hanmer and Radford 2013). The internal investigations should be done as per the
complaints and allegations of the women employees. In this light, the judgments should be done
and strict actions should be initiated against the culprits. The harassment training should be given
to all the female employees and supervisors. García-Moreno et al (2015) have opined that the
Zero Tolerance Policies should be practiced more often. The male employees should be told that
this kind of treatment will not at all be accepted indeed. Both internal and external scrutiny
should be done perfectly so the alleged persons can be given the strict punishments and the
female victims should be served their justice (Stanko, Hanmer and Radford 2013).

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Conclusion
As per the above discussion, the paper can be concluded by saying that the #MeToo
movement has become quite widespread and this has become the major weapon for the women
in the organizations and in the other industries as well. The male employees should be given the
strict punishments if the allegations are proved to be true. The legal and human resources
professionals should see after this issue properly. The social media should also take up the
responsibility to raise their voices against this as well.

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