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Workplace Harassment

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An Analysis of Workplace Harassment and Bullying in Today’s Society
Introduction
Workplace harassment and bullying occurs when an employee subjects another employee to degrading behaviour, whether verbal abuse and threats or actual physical violence. It is an inappropriate expression of power that affects workers and their productivity in an unfavourable way (Spry, 1998). Management, and other types of employees, who occupy high-status roles sometimes believe that harassing their subordinates is within their rights and make demands of the lower-status employees (Langton, Robbins, Judge, 2010, p. 313).
Harassment is often a result of stress, power, differences of opinion, undefined expectations of management, absent policies, and tasks …show more content…

(Johns & Saks, 2008, p. 135)
It has typically been thought of as a type of harassment that only women experience in the workplace; however, men can be victims of sexual harassment as well. Sexual harassment demeans its victims, whether female or male.
A victim of sexual harassment can be anyone within an organization, although some individuals are more prone to victimization. For example, women within an organization who are highly educated, young, and seeking to move up within the ranks of the organization can be perceived by men as a threat and so are targeted (Mueller, De Coster, & Estes, 2001). The corporate culture in which individuals work can also influence who becomes a victim of sexual harassment. Women who work in male-dominated occupations or work-groups are more likely to be harassed than women who work in female-dominated or gender integrated occupations or work-groups (Mueller et al., 2001). Corporate cultures that are more open about sexual matters may become too lenient regarding this topic which can potentially lead to increased sexual harassment cases. It has been

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