Health Law and Ethics - Essay Example

? Health Law and Ethics Health Law and Ethics A number of studies have explored various studies that could be relied upon for the purposes of lessening the occurrence and prevalence of sexual harassment at the work place and all related risks. Many of the strategies explored aim at creating an environment that is free of the causative factors of sexual harassment. Over the times, the working environment has evolved in a way that makes it difficult to detect forms of sexual harassment (Boland, 2005). Traditionally sexual harassment was usually construed in terms of some form of coercive physical abuse of an individual at the work place. Often times, the pattern of abuse involved senior male workers extorting sexual acts from junior female staffers (Boland, 2005). The imbalance of power was generally one of the driving factors behind sexual abuse at the work place. However, recent times have witnessed a shift in the manifestation of harassment due to changes in social life and social roles. Discourses of liberalization, women empowerment, and the development of information technology systems have altered the definition and manifestations of sexual harassment (Roux, Orleyn & Rycroft, 2005). An effective policy against sexual harassment at the work place should incorporate the various manifestations of sexual harassment. It must be comprehensive enough to cover all obvious and subtle pressure points of sexual harassment. For instance, the policy should spell out in very specific terms what constitutes sexual harassment. It should cover the manifestation of sexual harassment in language, physical forms, and the virtual space. Such a policy should have sufficient structures of protecting the vulnerable groups within the organization without suggesting bias against the dominant groups. It should prescribe various forms of punishment in light of the degree of the offence. The policy should also spell out the kind of language that should be used at the work place. Only official language should be embraced at the work place. It is also important for the policy to develop an elaborate code of conduct that should be used to determine the kind of office etiquette at the work place. Training employees about the manifestation and forms of sexual harassment is one of the ways that an organization could use in limiting the occurrence and prevalence of sexual harassment (Roux, Orleyn & Rycroft, 2005). The work place comprises of people from different cultural and environmental backgrounds. In some cases, what may pass as sexual harassment within one culture may be considered as innocuous in another culture. Therefore, it becomes important for the organization to adopt a uniform view of sexual harassment in order to have common ground in matters of definitions and assessment. One strategy that could be used in the training of workers is the development of case scenarios for training purposes. These case scenarios would help to broaden the understanding of the employees on matters of sexual harassment and awaken their sensitivities to the various forms of sexual harassment. Such training should include training of the employees on the proper and improper use of the internet resource. Further, the training should involve the provision of sufficient training of the employees about the proper and improper use of the internet technology. The training should incorporate legal counsel to sensitize the employees on the legal definitions and possible penalties that relate to the matter of sexual harassment at the work place. Documented resources on the legislations that govern the use of mobile phones, the internet, social networking sites such as Face Book and Tweeter, should be supplied to the workers in order to sharpen their awareness on the legal implications of misuse of such resources. Recent studies have shown that many of the people who admitted having used the resources to send sexually explicit content to their colleagues expressed ignorance in the specific elements of the law which govern the usage of these facilities (Boland, 2005). One of the challenges of safeguarding the work place against incidents of sexual harassment and legal concerns involved basically revolves around the mismatch between technological advancements versus the legal structures available (Roux, Orleyn & Rycroft, 2005). Some laws have not been developed to interpret the legality or illegality transacting or posting of sexually explicit content on the internet. Training of employees about these challenges would prepare them better for the purposes of handling some of the basic challenges of the internet resource. Another dimension of training workers should involve sensitizing them on the changing nature of sexual harassment at the work place. For instance, it might be important to consider some of the issues such as the vulnerability of both male and female workers to sexual predators. As such, the training should target the expansion of the workers’ understanding on the ways and forms through which sexual harassment shifts in meaning and manifestations at the work place. One of the strategies that could be used for the purposes of monitoring the work place is the installation of integrated systems with a central locale (Roux, Orleyn & Rycroft, 2005). The organizations should invest in special systems for identifying and isolating features of sexual harassment in the organization’s systems. This would shield the work place from the various forms of sexual abuse that takes place through the internet. Another way of monitoring the work place is to set up a transparent physical arrangement so that there are no secluded places that could be exploited for purposes of sexual harassment. One of the ways of achieving this is to design transparent offices using glass and put in place systems of monitoring storage rooms and other lockable places. This would significantly reduce cases of sexual harassment at the work place. In order to encourage employees to come forward and report cases of sexual violence, it would be appropriate to cultivate a culture of openness and transparency so that no worker regardless of their station are immune to disciplinary action if found guilty of sexual harassment (Boland, 2002). A well defined channel of communication and a special independent office to deal with cases of sexual harassment would suffice as a remedy. It would be the responsibility of that office to take complaints and investigate cases of sexual harassment. In order to empower the office and increase its efficacy, it would be appropriate to set up systematic channels complete with time frames from the time a matter is reported until the point in time when it is fully settled. Such an office would operate independently and work together with the human resources department in the resolving of all cases related to sexual harassment. This would make it possible for it to operate effectively without manipulation from higher authorities within the organizations. Placing such offices under the charge of the general organizational management system makes it difficult for them to operate without fear or favor. References Boland, M., L. (2002). Sexual Harassment: Your Guide to Legal Action : What You Should Know and What You Can Do. New York: SphinxLegal. Boland, M., L. (2005). Sexual Harassment In The Workplace. New York: SphinxLegal. Roux, R., L., Orleyn, T. & Rycroft, A. (2005). Sexual harassment in the workplace: law, policies and processes. London: Butterworths. Read More