Abstract
Details of a sexual harassment investigation were shared with members of the community by the employee who initially filed the related complaint and were subsequently leaked to the local media. Such details are regarded as confidential personnel matters, and parties to an investigation are encouraged not to discuss details in order to ensure full and impartial fact gathering. With that said, parties to complaints of this nature are not obligated to hold details in confidence – largely because it is their personal story. The broad distribution of details led to workplace protests, expressions of distrust of leadership, impassioned calls for greater transparency in handling of sexual harassment complaints by Human Resources, and a demand for review of sanctions levied on parties found responsible for violating policies. Leadership responded by convening a task force to examine current policies, to research best practices in sexual harassment response and prevention, and to recommend a plan of action.
TopHistory And Context
A newspaper article detailed an investigation of a complaint which found an administrator in violation of the organization’s sexual harassment policy, and the resulting sanction of demotion with a substantial reduction in pay. Employees and students protested the sanction levied as being too lenient. The workplace climate quickly heated and emotions charged. Organization leaders were caught off guard by the reaction of the community, especially the apparent deep lack of trust in administration – with a great deal of anger and frustration directed at the human resource function. Senior leadership needed to repair the tears in its credibility in order to move forward with meaningful sexual harassment reform, but meaningful reform is very challenging to implement without trust in leadership.
The above narrative, unfortunately, describes an all-too-common phenomenon in today’s higher education workplaces.
The higher education institution (HEI) that is the subject of this hypothetical case is located in the Northeast region of the U.S. It has over 1,100 employees and 8,000 students. In spring 2017, a Title IX sexual harassment investigation was opened into the conduct of a university administrator. The Office of Equity & Inclusion (OE&I) conducted an investigation, during which several measures were taken to prevent the interaction of this individual with the reporting party. OE&I’s investigation found that the administrator had violated the university’s non-discrimination and sexual harassment policy; and hence, he was found responsible for the alleged behavior. The OE&I investigation was concluded in summer 2017, and subsequent notice of the findings was made to the reporting and responding parties. Further, in mid-July, notice of disciplinary sanction was made to the administrator, which resulted in substantial salary reduction, reducing both his present income and his future pensionable earnings. Following the conclusion of the investigation, OE&I also took steps intended to prevent a recurrence of similar behavior that violated university policy.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Sexual Harassment: Unwelcome advances, inappropriate language, conduct, or gestures of a sexual nature in the workplace.
Workplace Investigations: Often engaged in response to a complaint or other notification of improper conduct in the workplace; a formal process for collecting evidence, assessing the meaning of evidence, making determinations of credibility, and implementing any sanctions as appropriate.
Human resource management: A set of integrated processes and dedicated resources aimed at the recruitment, retention, rewarding, development, engagement, and overall management of an organization’s human capital.
Leadership: Top management team of an organization that is responsible for setting strategic goals and fostering engagement of employees towards achievement of these goals; responsible for oversight of organizational mission and purpose and for guiding managerial and administrative action.
Organizational Climate: Artifacts, values, and norms and basic assumptions held within an organization; collective emotional response and state by workers towards the external environment and internal events of an organization; relies on both individual and shared perceptions about how fairly and effectively employees believe the organization treats them.
Culture of Inclusion: A workplace environment where all members feel respected, valued, and included and in which their talents and contributions are encouraged; and where there is a pervasive sense of belonging and meaningful engagement occurs.
Organizational Change: A process through which an organization realigns itself from a present to desired future state. Oftentimes alignment is associated with organizational structure, culture, values, processes, and procedures to effectuate this desired future state.