Sexual Harassment at Work: An HRM Perspective

Author(s): S. Jayashree
Source: Indian Journal of Industrial Relations , Oct., 1999, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Oct., 1999), pp.
202-216
Published by: Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27767652

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 IJIR, Vol. 35, No. 2, October 1999 COMMUNICATION

SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORK: AN HRM

PERSPECTIVE

S. Jayashree

INTRODUCTION

Sexual harassment is a social problem, involving a very real

issue in the work place and which is crying out for proactive HRM
intervention. It is, in sum, an offence against the dignity of a human
being. Sexual harassment is one of those offences, which leave a
long-term impact on the victim and destroy an otherwise healthy
work environment. In this paper an attempt is made to give the
reader a socio-psychological insight into its occurrence and
recommend measures for its prevention. The emphasis is on
proactive and value based HRM intervention, which contributes
towards building a value based work culture. This paper could be
viewed as an endeavour towards understanding the phenomenon
of sexual harassment at work and delving into its myriad facets
with a view to prescribe measures to prevent and reduce its
occurrence. In doing so, it will look at what basically comprises
sexual harassment, the need for it to be addressed in an
organization, suggest certain broad guidelines and procedures
which are instrumental in establishing and implementing a policy
that acts as a deterrent to and safeguards victims of sexual
harassment. Finally, the paper highlights some of the imperatives,
which are vital to render the proposed system executable and
implementable.

Ms. S. Jayashree is Superintendent-in-Charge of the Programmes Division of the

National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai.

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Communication 203

BACKGROUND

Ever since the First Industrial Revolution, women have always

received the cleft end of the stick. For years sexual harassment
was taken for granted as a work hazard or as a price a woman
had to pay to gain equality. Things have changed no doubt, but
not fast enough considering that women comprise up to 80 percent
of organized labour in certain sectors and occupations. In the
Indian construction industry, for instance, sexual discrimination
is rampant. In privately owned schools the story with adolescent
pupils and young female teachers is much the same except perhaps
in the metropolitan cities. Similarly, for years, female students have
been known to complain about harassment by their teachers, as
have female athletes about their coaches. When there is a complaint
made, the typical male chauvinist response is why do you wear such
provocative clothes? Or why did you visit the lecturer's house at night?
That the lecturer may have called the poor student there does not
feature in the calculus. Principals of some colleges in Mumbai have
been known to impose their false morality on their female students
by insisting that they wear ultra-conservative clothing to class.
Political parties are not far behind as we witnessed some months
ago in demonstrations against the movie Fire. A few years ago this
political-moral hype took the form of misplaced religious fanaticism
when Salman Rushdie's book Satanic Verses was banned in India.
This may have been probably out of fear of upsetting the vote bank
but the political publicity claimed otherwise. Self appointed
guardians of culture and ethics propped up their heads to speak
without first engaging their brain into gear.

The culture of the society is the macro environment of which

the college and the industrial organization form a microcosm. Hence
social mores affect workplace behaviour. On-the-job sexual
harassment has been in the spotlight for several years now. Despite
widespread publicity about its perils, businesses are still exhibiting a
suprisingly casual attitude about the problem. When the Inc.
Magazine surveyed business managers in 1992, for example, it found
that thirty-four percent of companies (in the US) said they had not
even thought about formulating a written sexual harassment policy.
Moreover, less than a quarter said they would promptly investigate
a complaint. A survey of the corporate sector in Mumbai showed

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204 Indian Journal of Industrial Relations

that except for some well known business houses like the Tata and
Godrej or some multinationals, a policy on sexual harassment just
did not feature in the HRM psyche. In the Chotanagpur Region of
Eastern India, for instance, Sadri reports that sexual gratification
often was a precondition for being offered employment in the mines
and the collieries during the 1960s and 1970s.

When a similar question was posed in India, the typical answer

was either one of these three: (a) Yes, we have a policy but no we
cannot show it to you, (b) We do not need one since our corporate
governance function is quite adequate for the purpose. However, the
role and goal clarity of this corporate governance function was
seldom spelt out. In many companies, it had degenerated into spying
for the boss, (c) It is against Indian culture to mistreat women so why
should we ape the West? Such delusions are self perpetuating myths
that help sweep sensitive issues conveniently under the carpet.

Although businesses know that it is prevalent, some appear

unsure of what to do about it. When the big boss himself is a known
womanizer, what can the hapless HRM expert do? When the trade
unions fail to take up molestation cases (for whatever reason) how
can the dignity of the employed woman worker be protected? At
most, companies draft the policy and define the methods for
investigation. Very few go about setting the right organizational
climate required for its successful implementation. It is therefore
of no wonder that most cases of sexual harassment still go
unreported. There is thus, a need to highlight the backup support
all organizations need to provide in order to stem the problem at
the grass roots level. For this is needed a kind of value based OD
intervention that raises the level of social consciousness at every
step in the hierarchical ladder. And the role as well as importance
of HRM in this regard can never be underestimated.

DEFINITION

Defining what acts actually amount to sexual harassment is

not as easy as it may seem. Subjective perceptions of objective reality
have never been identical. A major obstacle, which complicates
the issue, is that men and women tend to have different perspectives
concerning what constitutes sexual harassment. The variable that

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Communication 205

most consistently predicts variation in the people's definition is

the sex of the rater, with men classifying fewer kinds of behaviour
as harassment. And in a culture dominated by male chauvinism
the task becomes even more difficult.

It is, thus, imperative for the company framing the policy to clearly
define what comprises sexual harassment. At the same time, the
essence of sexual harassment cannot be conveyed by merely rattling
off a tidy list of potentially offensive behaviours. Each situation varies
depending on its facts and the relationship between the parties. Hence
the ethicality of a particular behaviour depends on the contingency
of the situation, to a large extent. And this contingency ipso facto is
very seldom seen objectively since passing lewd remarks or wolf
whistles, in some sub-cultures, is considered to be a sign of macho
behaviour. Girl students in colleges are known to take these lewd
gestures as signs of flattery and indirectly encourage them. Such
behaviour percolates into the work culture when the youth get
employed. The first job is seen as an extension of school or college.
The rules of the game change when one comes into employment.
Wolf-whistles, lewd remarks and other forms of overt behaviour is no
longer as acceptable as it could have been during school or college
days. We could define sexual harassment as a form of illegal or anti
social sex discrimination. It involves unwelcome sexual advances,
requests for sexual favours and other verbal or physical conduct of a
sexual nature. In the workplace, sexual harassment can be said to
have occurred when any of these conditions apply:

A. Submission to such conduct is either explicitly or implicitly

made a term or condition of an individual's employment.

B. Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual

is used as the basis for employment and related decisions.

C. Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably

interfering with an individual's work performance or creating
an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.

D. Undue advantage is taken of the victim's need to procure

employment or remain within it. Uncooperative subordinates
face transfers to dead end positions as a punitive gesture.

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206 Indian Journal of Industrial Relations

Four important elements, which the readership may do well

to remember, are:

* Physical contact is not an essential factor for sexual

harassment according to a Supreme Court ruling.

* Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic

injury to or discharge of the victim.
* The harasser's conduct must be unwelcome.

* Harassment occurs most frequently when there is a real or

perceived difference in power between the parties concerned.

One important corollary needs to be added. Women who sleep

their way to the top inadvertently or knowingly encourage male
chauvinism and abet the tendency towards sexual harassment. A
policy against sexual harassment must provide for this contingency
while ensuring that it is not misused.

Research has shown that depending on the circumstances,

sexual harassment may include, but is not limited to:

* sexual innuendo, jokes, and other sexually suggestive

comments or references to sex or gender-specific traits

* abusive written notes, e-mail, graffiti, telephone calls, or

facsimiles that are sexual in nature

* sexual propositions, insults, or threats

* persistent unwanted sexual/romantic attention

* leering, whistling, or other sexually suggestive or insulting

sounds or gestures

* displaying pictures, calendars, cartoons, or other material

with sexual content

* verbal abuse of a sexual nature, graphic commentaries about

an individual's body, sexually degrading words used to
describe an individual

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Communication 207

* coerced or unwelcome physical contact

* subtle or overt pressure for sexual favours

* sexual intercourse (e.g., as a condition of employment or

employment benefits)

A point worth noting is that the victim as well as the harasser

may be either a woman or a man. The victim does not also have to
be of the opposite sex but such instances are fewer. The harasser
can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor
in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee. The victim does
not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected
by the offensive conduct. In addition to looking at the conduct
itself, other considerations include the nature and severity of the
sexual advances, the persistence of the conduct, the context in
which it took place and how it affected the recipient.

EFFECTS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT ON AN INDIVIDUAL

Being subjected to sexual harassment usually has a negative

impact on one's emotional, social, and physical sense of well being.
In one study, adolescent females who had been sexually harassed
reported feelings similar to those identified by rape victims (Strauss).
Decreased feelings of competence and confidence and increased
feelings of anger, frustration, depression and anxiety all can result
from harassment. Anger, hate and aggression (AHA) are known
to also result from the behaviour and the AHA syndrome sets into
the victim's general behaviour.

A sense of self-blame, especially among women with traditional

gender-role beliefs, is also found to be common. These emotions in
turn can leave in their wake a decreased ability to concentrate
and a sense of listlessness. Inevitably, the victims face a choice
between their work and their self-esteem. Sometimes, the victims
are even known to face a choice between keeping their jobs and
maintaining their own safety.

Studies also indicate that absenteeism tends to increase among

employees who are sexually harassed, work attitudes are adversely

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208 Indian Journal of Industrial Relations

affected, and productivity drops. In addition to the impact of the

harassment itself, those who have been harassed often contend
with anxiety. Pressured by a male dominated work culture they
experience ambivalence about whether to report a transgression.
They harbour fears about possible retaliation if they decide to file
a complaint. In a case reported in Mumbai, a management trainee
was asked to quit because she dared to complain against the sexual
advances of the superior. The rationale was that it was easier to
replace the concerned young management graduate than the
concerned senior executive and the Chairman was taking a rational
business decision in asking the girl to quit. That the HRM officer,
in this particular case, proved to be a boneless wonder and did not
stand up for the affected employee is another matter altogether.
Let us not even for a moment believe that this is an isolated case.

THE NEED FOR A POLICY AGAINST SEXUAL HARASSMENT

In addition to a sense of moral responsibility, the legal

implications of sexual harassment at work for employees must
be kept in mind. In the US, employees are liable if they knew or
should have known and failed to take appropriate corrective
action and are always liable if a hostile, offensive environment
exists. In India, the recent Supreme Court Ruling of 21st January,
1999 reiterated that each incident of sexual harassment at the
place of work is a violation of the fundamental rights of the citizen.

Prevention is the best tool to eliminate sexual harassment in

the workplace. This can be tackled in two ways. The first is
through training and proactive OD intervention whereby the
work culture is made conducive to social propriety, and the
dignity of the employee is safeguarded. Employers are encouraged
to take steps necessary to prevent it from occurring. They should
clearly communicate to employees that sexual harassment would
not be tolerated. They can do so by establishing an effective
complaint or grievance process and taking immediate and
appropriate action when an employee complains. At the same
time, employers should ensure that male supervisors do not
overreact by avoiding unnecessary contact with females to
minimize the risk of engaging in sexual harassment.

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Communication 209

It is, thus, vital that a policy against sexual harassment be put

in place so as to spell out clearly the company's stand on this issue.
When disapproval of sexual harassment is spelled out in a policy
that is not only adopted but also followed, it provides the employees
with some assurance that preventing sexual harassment is a priority
and that complaints will be investigated in a thorough, timely and
professional manner.

POLICIES

Top management must walk their talk and lead by example.

Once that is ensured, the top management should issue a
comprehensive, detailed written policy against sexual harassment
and make it a high priority of the company. Thirdly, they need to
distribute this policy to all workers, supervisors, and even some
non-employees. There is a debate going on in academic circles
whether or not corporate governance should fall within the
purview of HRM. The opinion of this author is that it should,
otherwise the corporate governance manager behaves like a petty
bookkeeper at best and a boss's spy at worst. He then becomes a
liability for a progressive organization. Myopic CEOs fail to see
this trap and walk into it with their eyes open. Corporate
governance is charged with ensuring that policies are complied
with. HRM is charged with framing these policies and making
them acceptable, enforceable and environment friendly while
ensuring that the dignity of the human being is never threatened.
But HRM and Corporate Governance are seldom in
synchronization. A basic policy could set forth the following
conditions:

* An express commitment to eradicate and prevent sexual

harassment;

* A definition of sexual harassment including both quid pro

quo and hostile work environment;

* An explanation of penalties (including^ termination) the

employer will impose for such substantiated and proven
sexual misconduct;

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210 Indian Journal of Industrial Relations

* A detailed outline of the grievance procedure employees

should use;

* An additional resource or set of contact persons available

for consultation;

* An employee counselling service which helps employees to

overcome the social and psychological stigma;

* An express commitment to keep all sexual harassment

complaints and personnel actions confidential;

* A clear message that nobody is above the law and that

irrespective of status, this policy will uniformly apply to all;

* The corporate governance department is often a law unto

itself and becomes corrupt. The policy must ensure that there
is a way to even guard against the guardians;

* And it is for the HRM specialist to ensure that policies are

laid down properly.

One major problem in enforcing any policy on sexual

harassment has been to ensure that the fence does not start eating
the crops as a famous Hausa proverb goes. For this the CEO must
ensure that corporate governance and HRM work proactively and
in an employee friendly manner, while ensuring that their task is
performed.

PROCEDURES

The procedures for filing a complaint against sexual harassment

must be well defined in the policy. Employees who are sexually
harassed are entitled to an informal and/or formal investigation
and complaint process. Ethics officers in many companies are
employed just to ensure that victims of sexual harassment (among
other things) are protected from an executive backlash. There is a
great deal of counselling which takes place and both the perpetuator
and the victim go through an informal counselling process.

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Communication 211

In the informal process, the designated officials will meet with

any person(s) who have raised concerns about sexual harassment.
They provide general advice about sexual harassment, and will
also discuss options for pursuing both informal and formal
resolution of a sexual harassment complaint.

Once an accused person or group is identified, the officials

conduct an initial ivestigation of a sexual harassment complaint.
An initial investigation will include interviews with the person(s)
reporting harassment and the person(s) accused of harassment
and may include interviews of other potential witnesses. On the
basis of the investigation, a resolution may be reached. It may
involve one or more of the following:

* advising the person(s) about how to communicate the

unwelcome nature of behaviour to the alleged harasser;

* if both parties agree, arranging and facilitating a meeting

between the person(s) claiming harassment and those
accused of harassment to work out a mutual resolution.

If the informal process is not agreed upon or fails to

satisfactorily resolve the concern, the formal procedure is available
to the complainant. This may involve formal submission of a
detailed written statement by the complainant to the sexual
harassment panel, detailed inquiry, a written response from the
alleged harasser and a thorough evaluation of the case.

Despite prodent measures, companies will always face the

possibility, if not the probability, that sexual harassment will occur.
However, an employer greatly improves his position by having
grievance procedures that encourage employees to come forward
with sexual harassment complaints. Formal discreet queries should
be made an integral part of the procedure.

With any grievance procedure, one element is paramount: a

sexual harassment victim must not be required to address
complaints to a supervisor who is involved in, condones, or ignores
the harassment. And it is here that HRM intervention will play a
major role in corporate culture building. The culture will be based

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212 Indian Journal of Industrial Relations

on a set of values, ethics, trust and transparency that ensures

adequate protection to the complainant. An egalitarian culture
with emancipated as well as social conscious women executives
definitely helps in one to one counselling sessions.

ENFORCEMENT

Anything will succeed if there is a will and the ability to succeed.

The will comes from the seriousness that top management shows
in this issue while the ability comes when the infrastructure is in
synchronization with the policies laid down and both are (socially)
environment friendly. Even the most comprehensive sexual
harassment policies and procedures are bound to fail if a company
does not enforce them quickly, cosistently, and aggressively To be
effective, companies must take sexual harassment seriously. They
need to make certain that personnel responsible for enforcement
conduct prompt, thorough, and documented investigations of all
complaints, even those that appear trivial.

Employers should also keep tabs on their supervisors. This can be

accomplished by means of monthly meetings with higher
management, unscheduled spot checks, or periodic sexual harassment
training sessions. Depending on management style, some businesses
may find it useful to survey subordinates about sexual harassment
issues, as a way to gauge supervisors' attitudes about the problem.

Once a company has received notice or complaint of sexual

harassment, its liability may be reduced or eliminated depending
on how promptly and effectively it responds. Prompt means
precisely that: under no circumstance should a company delay an
investigation of sexual harassment more than a few days. Notably
egregious sexual misconduct should be handled immediately.
Whatever the situation, a company should take action that is
reasonably calculated to end the harassment. Such action must be
directed toward the harasser, and may include verbal warnings,
written warnings, job transfers, suspension of employment, and,
if necessary, termination.

In dealing with problems, companies must avoid any measures

that penalize the individual who has lodged a sexual harassment

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Communication 213

complaint. This can occur, for example, when a company transfers

the complainant to a less desirable position as a way to avoid
interaction between the victim and the accused. A remedial measure
that makes the victim of sexual harassment worse off is ineffective
per se.

A company should also be careful not to allow too much time

to elapse before achieving a satisfactory resolution of the
harassment. Once matters have been brought under control, a
company should continue to monitor the situation to ensure
compliance. When claims of sexual harassment cannot be
substantiated, an employer should still take the opportunity to
reemphasize to employees that sexual harassment would not be
tolerated.

THE BACKUP SUPPORTS

Adopting a proactive and aggressive stance on the issue of

sexual harassment through a well-defined policy is only the first
step towards reducing its occurrence. Although written policies
are important, organizational climate plays an even more
significant role in legitimizing or discouraging sexual harassment.

Swami Vivekananda in a public address had once remarked

that girls graduated from Calcutta University long before Oxford,
Cambridge, Yale and Harvard opened their doors to the fairer sex.
Today, in India, unfortunately sexual harassment has become a
macho thing in certain circles and a matter of privilege in others.
The question now arises, why are women so devalued today? Is
the populist cinema to blame or is it the corrupt politician-police
press nexus that focuses on the wrong issues and portrays women
in poor light? Or are the women not willing to stand up and be
counted, for fear of the male chauvinist social Mafia that parades
itself as self proclaimed guardians of culture? It is a truism that
where women are devalued, social disequilibrium arises and an
atmosphere is created in which sexual harassment may most likely
flourish. Newspaper reports in recent years about harassment of
women with police connivance and societal apathy support this
contention abundantly. To be maximally effective, efforts to combat
sexual harassment must focus not only on enacting policies but on

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214 Indian Journal of Industrial Relations

creating an institutional climate that is free from gender inequalities

for both men and women.

It is vital that the counsellors are always available for employees

to talk to about occurrences of sexual harassment. These counsellors
and designated officials should be under the CEO directly. And most
importantly, they should be well qualified for the job. If a counsellor
has an unhealthy mental bias, then the war is lost even before the
battle has begun. Trust, accountability and camaraderie are important
components of corporate culture. Besides, there has to be transparency
in the decision making process and evaluation of the cases.

Once a company develops a policy against sexual harassment,

it should circulate it widely. Companies should provide copies not
only to newly hired employees, but also to current ones. In addition,
companies should post copies throughout office and break areas,
issue periodic memos about the policy, and hold informal and
formal departmental meetings to discuss the topic. It should ensure
that employees are aware of the following:

A. To read the sexual harassment policy and make sure it is

understood.

B. If in doubt, to unhesitatingly seek advice.

C. Employers are concerned about "false claims" of sexual

harassment all the time, especially in companies where
internal politics is rife. If top management has to make a
judgement call where circumstantial evidence favours the
complainant, the benefit of doubt must go to the complainant.
The risk of such a judgment acts or should act as a deterrent
to those making false claims.

D. Employees must also be advised not to go overboard in

determining whether they are being sexually harassed.
Otherwise the workplace would start looking like a monastery
where everyone is so prim and proper that jocularity is taboo.

E. Jokes are good and a very effective means of relieving tension.

But when the thin line of decency is crossed these seemingly

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Communication 215

harmless jokes take on an unwelcome hue. Peer pressure

and a vibrant value based corporate culture ensures that
this does not happen and harmless statements are not
mistaken for sexual innuendoes.

The job of policing the workforce for manifestations of sexual

harassment is not particularly pleasant, and also the potential for
large damage awards is greater in sexual harassment cases than in
most other types of employment claims. Many employers have either
expressly or implicitly adopted zero tolerance policies. Pursuant to
those policies, an objective bystander might feel that the punishment
meted out in instances of provable sexual harassment is often
draconian when measured against the nature of the misconduct.

On the other hand, from the employer's perspective, a company

would never have to get into the question of whether the
punishment fits the crime if its employees complied with the
workforce rules governing sexual harassment. Doing so would
amount to entering a minefield. Thus, it is a good policy to inform
employees that the punishment may not necessarily fit the severity
of the crime. This is a good deterrent.

It must nevertheless be realized that issues concerning sexual

harassment are a delicate issue and must be handled with sensitivity
and discretion. It is here that the maturity of HRM intervention
plays a decisive role. It is also here that the top management must
come across as being thoroughly professional and its actions at all
times must be above board.

SUMMATION

As the battle for competition intensifies labour is going to be

increasingly feminized. As markets get more competitive the craving
for a higher level of profit will become more pronounced and
exploitation will intensify. While the number of women in the
organized workforce is increasing, the larger society continues to
be dominated by male chaunivism, especially in India. Thanks to
some social activists, working women too are waking up to their
rights albeit belatedly. Sexual harassment in the workplace can no
longer be swept under the carpet as it presents an ongoing and

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 216 Indian Journal of Industrial Relations

growing risk to businesses operating in the world. Today, the time

is right for businesses to begin to manage their risk in this area
more wisely. Preventing sexual harassment in the workplace
requires a considerable investment of time and personnel. In the
end, however, significant savings in legal fees and health-care costs
will offset these costs. Companies will also benefit from increased
worker morale, confidence and thus productivity.
From a purely business perspective, a company only stands to
gain if it takes a no-nonsense, hard-line position on sexual
harassment. Not only is it the right thing to do, it is the smart thing
to do. Is it such a difficult thing for our top level managements to
understand and implement? And unless top management
understands the gravity of the statement, gender inequity will
continue, male chauvinism will ride high and value based
management will remain an illusive rainbow. The time for HRM
intervention in this matter is at hand but the pity is that it is found
to be very much wanting. The ball has landed plumb in the court of
HRM specialist. Will he act on it or hide his head under the sand,
remains the big question which history will demand an answer to.
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