Business Ethics: Sexual Harassment - Assignment Example

?Running Head: Business Ethics - Sexual Harassment Business Ethics - Sexual Harassment [Institute’s Business Ethics - Sexual Harassment Introduction Casserly (2013), in her article, discusses how LinkedIn, a popular social networking site, used by people to build business and professional contacts, is now becoming increasingly cluttered with sexually harassing messages and provocative comments from random strangers and even prospective employers. The authors mentions that, as a women, Jessica Hatcher she has been immune to such comments and messages, as she admits that she has been receiving them for most part of her life, primarily because of the fact that he is a publicist and networking defines her success for most part. However, the fact is that when she received a harassing message from a prospective employer on a professional networking site, she finally reached her tipping about online sexual harassment. A portion of the message read that “I think you are beautiful and I and interested to hear more about your modelling experience. Have you ever thought about being an executive assistant? I make a lot of money and travel to some amazing places. I would take good care of you. One question though, are you single?” Quite clearly, for a professional networking, which people used to build business connections, this message did not only cross the limit of acceptability but also creepiness. There are no doubts about the fact that sexual harassment (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2012, pg. 74) is a serious issue and that even before the advent and mass proliferation of social media, employers and managers had always been facing a difficult time in combating with ever increasing sexual harassment at workplace. Now that social networking sites have become an imperative aspect of the lives of people, it appears that they have provided a new medium and breeding ground for harassers (Trevino & Nelson, 2010, p. 42; Ferrell, et al., 2012, p. 74). This paper makes an attempt to understand the issue of sexual harassment as discussed in the article Casserly (2013) from the perspective of business ethics, provide recommendations for combating with this problem and identify its impact on the stakeholders. Discussion Dynamics of Sexual Harassment and Online Sexual Harassment Much of the online sexual harassment on is “quid pro-quo” in nature (Devettere, 2002, p. 467). Quid Pro-Quo refers to an arrangement of giving something in return for something else. In most cases, the victims are likely to receive a message from someone with a higher position, authority and influence with a dreamy but conditional offer; the condition being their willingness to provide sexual favours or entering into a sexual relationship with that person. The immorality of these messages is massively apparent as it coerces the subject into doing something that he or she would not have done in normal circumstances (Trevino & Nelson, 2010, p. 42; Ferrell, et al., 2012, p. 74). As mentioned earlier that the business ethics issue highlighted in this article is that of online sexual harassment as faced by Hatcher, the case in focus, and several other women highlighted in the article from LinkedIn, specifically and several other online networking sites as well. There are several definitions of sexual harassments. In fact, legislators, experts, researchers and policymakers from different parts of the world have taken different approaches to define sexual harassment. Furthermore, sexual harassment might take different forms but one singular, common and defining element of sexual harassment is when the victim feeling being excessively “uncomfortable”. This is exactly what happened in the case of Hatcher, as argued in this article, that this invitation or message from Marcus was so disturbing and stressful for her that she no longer felt safe and comfortable regarding the same. Although, the data about the victims of sexual harassment (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2012, pg. 74) reveals that both the genders have been the victims of sexual harassment, as evident from overwhelming majority of several examples, women always remain at the receiving end of sexual harassment and our male dominated society teaches women from a very young age to accept this behaviour without any retaliation. The same also applies to the social media and social networking sites where most females receive dozens of such messages and comments every week from several identifiable and anonymous sources (Darwall, 2003, p, 452). Therefore, when females receive such messages in an overwhelming number, our societal structure forces them to blame themselves as the victims and they must have done something incorrect and proactive to induce such messages in the first place. This is one of the reasons why sexual harassment and online sexual harassment is a serious issue because rather than tackling it from the front, we have a tendency to suppress this issue both within the workplace and in online environment. As evident from the situation of Hatcher and other women mentioned and cited in the article, most women avoid these messages and comments assuming that they are not worth their time and these men would eventually get tired to latch on to their next victim. The same might be true and applicable for workplace sexual harassment but considering the dynamics of online sexual harassment, the same is not true. Social networking sites have made it so easy for people to communicate and interact that harassers do not really have to make any considerable effort in finding their target and make then uncomfortable. The same happened even in the case of Hatcher, when she reported Marcus and his activities, LinkedIn removed his profile, however, he did not stop harassing Hatcher and continued to do the same through alternative communication channels (Crane & Matten, 2007, p. 294). Recommendations LinkedIn has tried to deal with this issue through banning and removing the profile of Marcus from the website. However, it is apparent that the same has no good as Marcus has continued to harass Hatcher even through alternative communications channels. One possible recommendation to deal with the issue of growing sexual harassment on online sites is deter these comments through an active threat of exposing such people rather than merely issuing these harassers notices, warnings and banning them from the website. At least, when it comes to LinkedIn, unlike several others social networking sites, a considerable majority of the profiles are of genuine and real people and they are not fake profiles. They post information about their current employers and LinkedIn has the option to send notifications of the actions of these harassers to their current employers if they continue to harass people. LinkedIn should direct its energies at tweaking its user interface to make it more easier for people to report such messages and notifications to the authorities and in case of more than one instances, the alleged harasser should be given a final warning after LinkedIn should reserve the right to expose them to the general public with their name (Trevino & Nelson, 2010, p. 42). Quite understandably, Marcus (assuming that he provided correct information about his profile, employers and experience) would never have gathered the courage to send such a message to any member of LinkedIn had there been a threat of this message being shared with his current employer. Furthermore, LinkedIn, in cases when it doesn’t remove the profile of these individuals, should assume responsibility of highlighting the profile of these individuals, such as Marcus in this case, which would allow people to see a “red flag” on that person’s profile which would reveal that the person has been proven to be a harasser to several members. However, LinkedIn would have to undertake a thorough investigation before making such bold accusations on people as they could taint the career. Towards the end of the day, such strong threat has the potential to ensure that no person ends up taking the issue seriously. Quite clearly, such information might ruin the profile and employment chances of that individual and such a huge threat will force employees to be more careful and discrete in their correspondence with other employees (Bowie, 2002, p.52). The previous two recommendations were put forward with the assumption that these harassers are real people and they information that they have provided concerning their profile is true and accurate. However, there is a possibility that Marcus might not be really Marcus but someone else and the information that he has provided might only be a hoax. In that case, the previous two recommendations might not do much to deter these individuals. Since LinkedIn members can join the site only though request and recommendation from existing members, LinkedIn should change its policy to enforce stricter requirements of entry and ensuring that the members recruiting new members share blame if their recruited or invited members ends up being a hoax. Although, most social networking sites do have policies against spamming, harassing and unsolicited messages, there is empirical evidence to suggest that most people on social networking sites remain unclear as to what constitutes sexual harassment. Since even the definition of sexual harassment is subjective, it is troublesome for individuals to draw the line between welcomed flirting, teasing, asking someone out or banter and harassment (Lagan & Moran, 2005, p. 87). There is this possibility that Marcus might not realised that at some point in that message he crossed the line and from being welcoming and friendly, he ended up being creepy and harassing. A casual mention of someone’s beautiful green eyes and their ability to mesmerise others might constitute as harassment for one person but it might be a sign of friendliness and appreciation for another person. Furthermore, the fact is that humans are sexual beings and whenever we interact with people from other sexes, these interactions are likely to have sexual undertones. In fact, as mentioned earlier, women as well men, in certain comfortable situations, appreciate and enjoy, sex related humour, physical contact, sexual references and some degree of flirting (Bowie, 2002, p. 52). Therefore, it is imperative for the authorities that are administering LinkedIn to spend significant time and resources on training their users to understand the thin line between welcomed flirting and sexual harassment. Most social networking sites take great pride in the fact that they try their level best to provide their users with an encouraging and comfortable work environment. Therefore, it is their ethical and moral responsibility to ensure that all of their users understand their limitations on this issue (Darwall, 2003, p, 452). If LinkedIn were to enforce strong rules against sexual harassment without ensuring that all of its users understand its sexual harassment policy, it would extremely unfair to the harasser. Again, the point here is that organisations should ensure that each and every user understands the severity and intricacies of this issue (Devettere, 2002, p. 467). Stakeholders and Impacts The stakeholders involved in this issue are Hatcher and other victims of sexual harassment. Marcus and other harassers and LinkedIn. Even from a stakeholder perspective, sexual harassment has negative impact for all the stakeholders involved within the process, especially for the management of LinkedIn. Consider this situation where online sexual harassment which is taking place currently. Hatcher and other victims of online sexual harassment obviously find him or her in substantial mental and emotional stress, given the fact that they have been a constant target of these unsolicited messages and stalking. More importantly, if LinkedIn or for that matter of fact, any other social networking site fails to deal with the flow of these harassing and unsolicited messages, it would force the victims to quit using the network and question the credibility of the networking site (Crane & Matten, 2007, p. 294). In long term, as the word spreads in the market, it would end up alienating an even bigger portion of the public. More importantly, these disillusioned and dissatisfied users would emerge as potential customers for a new entrant for any existing company which would begin to appeal to this niche market through creating an effective mechanism for dealing with these issues, which would becomes its core competency or even competitive advantage. Therefore, in the long term, it has the potential to impact the earnings and market position of the company (Darwall, 2003, p, 452). Nevertheless, Marcus is also a stakeholder within the process, who might perceive that he is safe from all the negative impacts. However, if Hatcher were to take up the courage to expose the complete profile of him public including those unsolicited messages and offers public, his career would turn into ashes and these allegations would continue to haunt his profile and image forever (Devettere, 2002, p. 467). Conclusion Sexual harassment has been prevalent in organisations all over the world. Over the past few years, the civil and human rights organisations and policymakers have made significant strides forward at resolving this issue. However, the advent of information technology and widespread use of social networking sites has created new challenges to put a lid on sexual harassment. Harassers can now easily track down their targets and send them all kinds of unsolicited messages and that also anonymously, if they desire the same (Crane & Matten, 2007, p. 294). This trend is even on the rise on professional networking sites such as LinkedIn and others. The costs of the sexual harassment to the reputation and brand equity of these sites in the long term are immense; something which the managers and top management of LinkedIn should take into account while devising their strategy to combat or ignore this issue. Comprehensive training of users (right from day one) and instituting stricter punishments for users that are found guilty are some of the methods to combat this problem. References Bowie, N. E. 2002. The Blackwell guide to business ethics. Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell. Casserly, M. 2013. Is LinkedIn The New Dating Hot Spot, Or A Breeding Ground For Harassment? Forbes. Retrieved on April 29, 2013: www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2013/03/01/is-linkedin-the-new-dating-hot-spot-or-a-breeding-ground-for-harassment Crane, A., & Matten, D. 2007. Business ethics: managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. London, Oxford University Press. Darwall, S. L. 2003. Virtue ethics. Wiley-Blackwell. Devettere, R. J. 2002. Introduction to virtue ethics: insights of the ancient Greeks. Georgetown University Press. Ferrell, O C., Fraedrich, J., and Ferrell, Linda. 2012. Business Ethics: ethical decision making and cases. New York: Cengage Learning. Lagan, A., & Moran, B. 2005. Three Dimensional Ethics: Implementing Workplace Values. Cengage Learning. Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. 2010. Managing Business Ethics. John Wiley and Sons. Read More