Essay Example on Sexual Harassment: Human Resources' Critical Role

Introduction

Sexual harassment is one of the critical areas of human resources managers because the Civil Rights Act covers it. The area of sexual harassment is particularly crucial for human resources departments because the litigation and the liability of the organization in the matter heavily depend on the initial responses by the company to the charges of this type of harassment. Typically, these responses are the work of individuals in HR. Sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advancement at the workplace. As a result, in situations where behavior is unwanted and occurs more frequently to the extent that it creates an abusive work environment, the employers are entitled with the responsibility of changing the situation by reprimanding, warning, or firing the harasser (Bailey, Mankin, Kelliher, & Garavan, 2018). In a case where a female employee approaches an HR manager with the claims that a male co-worker is creating a hostile environment through sexual harassment, the manager must take action. In this case, the manager talks to each of them to change the situation before the company is held responsible.

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Conversation Plan for the Female Employee

The goal of the conversation is to investigate the extent of the alleged sexual harassment and to assure the victim that the company will get into the matter. In the discussion, the manager needs to convince the victim that since the issue has been brought to the company, the organization is responsible for changing the situation. It is also important to inform her that if she takes any legal action against the behavior, the company will not be liable. However, even when the practice continues after telling the HR personnel, the company becomes responsible for not taking any step. Besides, the manager will also inquire from the victim the extent of the sexual harassment (Bailey, Mankin, Kelliher, & Garavan, 2018). The manager will also assure the victim that regardless of the scale and pattern of the sexual harassment, the behavior is illegal, and it is the responsibility of the organization to control it.

The importance of making the above conversation is to show the employee that the company is taking responsibility so that in future, the company is not held legally responsible for sexual harassment. Secondly, the conversation helps the manager to understand the extent of the matter to seek further legal advice on how to handle the case. Since the definition of sexual harassment is vague, the conversation will allow the manager and the employee to objectively determine if the action against her was indeed sexual harassment.

Conversation Plan for the Male Co-worker

The goal of the conversation with the accused male co-worker is to inform him of the allegation label against him and listen to his side of the story to solve the issue without the victim taking legal action against him. The conversation also aims at informing him of the consequence of sexual harassment to the harasser and the company. Since the company is entitled to the responsibility of providing an environment free of sexual harassment, the HR manager will be held liable for not taking any action. As a result, the company will undertake necessary measures to stop the behavior from occurring in the future by introducing measures that protect the victim. Besides, disciplinary action will be taken against the accused of sexually harassing others (Collings, Wood, & Szamosi, 2018). The importance of this conversation is that protect the company against taking responsibility for sexual harassment taking place in the work environment.

From the above discussion, it is evident that sexual harassment is a serious, complicated, and delicate matter among the human resources managers. If the HR managers fail to take action against sexual harassment, the company will be held responsible for not protecting the victims. Besides, any form of sexual harassment in the work environment is illegal, and it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that it does not occur.

References

Bailey, C., Mankin, D., Kelliher, C., & Garavan, T. (2018). Strategic human resource management. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books

Collings, D. G., Wood, G. T., & Szamosi, L. T. (2018). Human resource management: A critical approach. In Human resource management (pp. 1-23). Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315299556/chapters/10.4324/9781315299556-1