Diversity Issues Essay Example for Free

Diversity Issues Essay It does not create a mouth-opening effect on us when we get to know any issue related to sexual harassment that is happening somewhere in the country, whether it is any organization, community, educational institution, or village. It is because there is no such country in the world that has totally eliminated this issue, even if they have, then other diversity issues such as, discrimination, hatred, and glass-ceiling occur. The paper would discuss an article about sexual harassment, analyze the legal concerns, and highlight the thoughts regarding the issue. Introduction Sexual harassment is a term that is used to define any act of harassment where a person or employee â€Å"makes continued, unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, to another employee, against his or her wishes† (Heathfield, 2010). Examples of Sexual Harassment There is not any specific way of harassing the opposite gender in the workplace; in fact, there are variety of ways that can be used depending on the circumstances. People pass on jokes, non-verbal gestures, or other offensive comments on the physique, dresses, or way of walking or talking of the other party. Touching and making some bodily connection also comes under sexual harassment, where patting someone’s back, holding him or her from waste, and scratching is done. Moreover, requests to the other party are made to have date even that party has refused before. And finally, sending emails or texts that contain some lewd text or pictures and playing sexy music are also part of sexual harassment. Legal Concerns Sexual harassment has increased to so much extent that now it is considered to be a common thing, which would not have any negative impact towards the organization or its performance. But in reality, it does have several legal concerns over the confidence and self-esteem of the harassed one, performance of the organization, violation of the ethical and moral principles, and also the corporate culture. Starting from the moral and ethical issues, one does not have any right to sexually harass anyone else in the workplace even if the other party does not entertain the offer or gets reluctant to it. It violates the ethical principles because one does not feel the sense of freedom where he or she is working, and since it is the workplace so protest or condemnation cannot be done openly. Second of all, it diverts the mind of both the harasser and harassee from their work since they continue to disturb and get disturbed from each other’s reactions. Therefore, the time is wasted and focus is not made on the everyday tasks, hence resulting in the decline in productivity of both parties. As far as the self-esteem and confidence of harassee is concerned, it gets hurt seriously because the harassee cannot openly raise voice in front of others to either protect him/her or complaint about the harasser. Moreover, there is a great chance of other people perceiving the harassing situation as the consensual relationship or flirting of both the parties, which might degrade one’s image. Not only this, once the rumors about sexual harassment being happening in an organization spread, it exacerbates company’s image and so many of the women or minorities would hesitate to join it in the future. Thoughts and Beliefs This growing issue in the workplaces have tarnished the image of many organizations and as well as the countries where minorities are harassed either sexually or for some other purpose. Although this is a silent issue that has not been considered to deal at the upper level either by the companies or governments; nevertheless, employees are the only one who can help themselves and get out if this nuisance. Sexual harassment can be prevented by the organizations if they develop and introduce certain stiff rules about the issue, which ensure that whoever is found to be harassing others would either be fired or suspended. Of course, the employer would not want this issue to prevail in the company so the harassee must complain secretly to the immediate boss or manager who could take the issue seriously in dealing with it. Also, harassee must have proper proofs and records of harassment been done by the harasser, so that he or she could take legal actions against the harasser and let him or her face the music (Heathfield, 2010). This would not be it; in fact the role of government and law-making bodies is very decisive here that can introduce certain laws especially for the workplaces where sexual harassment usually takes place. Once the rules are implemented, the issue would certainly take a rain check and minimize. Conclusion Therefore, there are many diversity issues prevailing in the organizations, one of them is sexual harassment that involves the passing of certain remarks, words, jokes, or some physical contact with the other party. Its outcomes are quite gloomy where the performance level of employees goes down, image is tarnished and corporate and ethical principles are violated. The issue can be managed by taking action on-the-spot by the harassee and the employer, and also by implementing stiff rules and regulations. References Heathfield. S. M. (2010). Address an Employee Sexual Harassment Complaint. Retrieved on August 4, 2010. From http://humanresources. about. com/cs/workrelationships/ht/sexualharass. htm Heathfield. S. M. (2010). Sexual Harassment. Retrieved on August 4, 2010. From http://humanresources. about. com/od/glossarys/a/sexualharassdef. htm