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Sexual Harassment Ethical Dilemma at the Workplace

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Sexual Harassment Ethical Dilemma at the Workplace

Description of the Dilemma

At my previous workplace, I once witnessed an ethical dilemma at play. I was an intern at the organization at the time. The organization is renowned and it deals with children’s protection. It was a non-profit membership organization that was fully donor-funded that implemented various programs for children’s protection. I was barely three months into the organization when I came to learn that one of the department heads was sexually harassing one of the interns. The department head named Peter (not his real name) had served in the position of Senior Program Officer for more than seven years now. He had started as a program assistant and managed to climb the career ladder in the next few years. He managed a team of three program officers, each implementing projects under different grants, one program assistant, and three interns. I was among the three interns. It came to be known that he had made sexual advances on one of the interns named Olivia, which violated workplace rules. Olivia was the quiet type who rarely spoke unless addressed. She had a laidback personality and kept to herself most of the time. If not out on fieldwork, you would find Olivia sited quietly as she worked on her desk. Nobody would have suspected that Peter was preying on Olivia and making her feel uncomfortable. When Peter started making advances on her, Olivia thought that he was probably joking, so she did not make the situation serious. One evening, Olivia was working late as she waited for traffic to die down so that she can go home. Peter was also still in his office working. He called her into his office under the pretense of work and tried to force himself on her. Peter’s actions petrified Olivia. She managed to escape from his firm grip and ran outside to where the security guard stationed at the gate was. She explained to the guard, who was a lady, what had happened. The following day, Olivia then filed a harassment complaint to the human resource manager who purposed to investigate the matter and take it up with his seniors, including the executive director and board of directors. This was the first incidence of sexual harassment to ever happen at the organization and it took people by surprise.

Impact of the Incident Others and Myself

The sexual harassment incident affected everybody in the organization. The team members who reported to Peter were more affected than other people since they were the ones that worked with him one-on-one. His behavior came as a shock to everyone because he had never displayed his negative side. Olivia was the most affected by the occurrence. She was my friend and colleague. We attended the same college and had applied for internships in the same organization since we studied the same course and had similar interests. On that fateful day when Peter attacked her, Olivia was scared. She was traumatized by the incident, and she was afraid that people would not believe her since there was no witness. People had already gone home by the time Peter attacked her. There were no cameras to back her story, and it was upon her to prove that her boss had tried forcing himself on her. The human resource manager suspended Peter the following way to pave the way for impartial investigations. The Human resource manager also apologized to Olivia for what she had been through and asked her to take a few days off. For the next two days, the office was not the same. People seemed unsettled, and they could barely function properly. Olivia took two days off, and with the help of her therapists, she managed to get back on her feet and go back to work after five days.

Impact on Relationships within the Organization

The incident had a serious effect on the organization as a whole. By virtue of being a rights organization, one would not expect such behavior from a senior manager (Klein, & Shtudiner, 2021). Before hiring employees, organizations are expected to probe the individual well to know their character. However, nothing could have prepared people for what Peter did; he did not have a criminal record, and the background check conducted before hiring him was clean. The incident affected the relationship between him and his team members and his employers. His team members were disappointed in his actions. They alienated themselves from him. After the investigations were conducted, it was affirmed that Peter had indeed attacked Olivia. He was called for a disciplinary meeting where he admitted to the wrongdoing. The Board of Directors arrived at the decision to terminate him indefinitely. The move made Olivia feel happy and secure. Now that her attacker had gone, Olivia could get back to her work and become productive. The team members felt disappointed in Peter, and they stood with Olivia, who was the victim in this case. Although the management did all they could to contain the situation and resolve it internally. Within no time, a word about Peter’s termination was out. The civil society sector is so small, and it is hard to hide such things. This is because organizations tend to be partners; they work together as like-minded organizations. They eventually came to learn the real reason behind Peter’s termination, which negatively affected their reputation. The organization was not able to get interns and volunteers for the next six months because students had learned about the incident and stooped sending applications.

What Could Be Done Differently

In my viewpoint, nothing could have been done differently in this situation. Considering the fact that Peter almost raped Olivia, his termination was justified. Sexual harassments are a serious violation of the workplace policy because the organization prohibits sexual relations of all forms. I commend the administration for the swift action that it took to investigate the allegations before making a decision. The human resource manager did well first to send Peter home to pave the way for investigations. If he had continued coming to work, he would have influenced the investigations or even retaliated against Olivia for reporting him. Reporting Peter was a necessary action and the right thing to do.

Insight into Other Ethical Dilemmas

Olivia’s sexual harassment incident by her boss indicates the extent to which how rampant ethical violations at the workplace have become. While incidents of sexual harassment at the workplace are rampant, most of them go unreported (Kancharla & Dadhich, 2020). Worth noting, sexual harassment is one of the numerous examples of ethical issues that people grapple with at the workplace. Other common ethical dilemmas range from unethical leadership, toxic work environments and culture, unrealistic goals to misuse of company resources and technology. While some ethical dilemmas are dramatic, others are not, but nonetheless, these violations are wrong. When faced with an unethical situation, one should always go with the personal values that they value the most as a guide.

References

Kancharla, R., & Dadhich, A. (2020). Perceived ethics training and workplace behavior: the mediating role of perceived ethical culture. European Journal of Training and Development. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/EJTD-03-2020-0045/full/htmlKlein, G., & Shtudiner, Z. (2021). Judging severity of unethical workplace behavior: Attractiveness and gender as status characteristics. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 24(1), 19-33. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2340944420916100

Sex trafficking in the United States

Sex trafficking in the United States.

Sex trafficking is a type of modern slavery which is illegal trade which is in existence throughout the United States and globally.

Those who perform the act of sex tracking use violence, lies, debt bondage, threats as well other forms of coercion to entice adults as well as children so as to engage them in sex for commercial gain which is against their will. Any minor who is under the age of 18 years under the US federal law, who is induced into commercial sex is regarded as a victim of the act of sex trafficking without the regard whether or not the trafficker used fraud, force or coercion.

Those who are involved in sex trafficking the situations they face are very dramatically. Many of this victims are subjected to romantically involvement with someone who then forces them as well as manipulates them later into prostitution. There are other sex victims who are lured with fake promises of a job which includes modeling and dancing. Some victims are forced to sell sex by their parents or any other one’s family members. Those who are involved in sex sells might remain in the act for a few days or even weeks. In addition, the victims might remain the situation of sex trafficking for one year or more.

The people who are involved in sex trafficking and sex sells can be from citizens of United States, people from foreign nationals, women, men, children as well as LGBTQ individuals. Traffickers of sex mostly target those population which are vulnerable which might include the people who had run away as well as homeless youth and other victims of domestic violence, war, social discrimination as well those who are sexually assaulted.

The act of sex trafficking mainly occurs in a number of venues which includes fake massage businesses which recruit people via online ads as well as escort services which take place in residual brothels which takes place in the streets, at hotels as well as motels, and at truck stops.

There are a number of key statistics which have been taken on sex trafficking cases. One, the national human trafficking hotline since 2007 which is operated in Polaris have received 22191 sex trafficking reports which are reported inside the United States. In addition, the national center for missing and exploited children in 2016 had estimated that 1 in 6 people who are endangered and had run away reported to the center are likely to be sex trafficking victims. Furthermore, it is estimated by the international labor organization that there are about 4.5 million people who are trapped in sexually forced acts and sexually exploited globally.

In the United States, the victims who are involved in sex trafficking provides a crucial insight into the realities of sex trafficking in US which mostly are based largely on the experiences from the sex trafficking cases which are reported by United States citizen survivors. Based on the information which is reported by the national human trafficking resource center (NHTRC) hotline as well as Polaris be free text line in 2014 provides with information which includes a variety of situations which those involved in sex trafficking undergo in rural, urban communities as well as in suburban areas all over the country.

The information which the center gave is based on the data which was collected from 1611 cases of sex trafficking which were reported to the national human trafficking resource center hotline as well as the be free text line in 2014. The cases which was reported involved citizens from United States as well as legal permanent residents. In addition, the information involved deep analysis of the 292 survivor accounts who were directly contacted by NHTRC or be free. The information had been supplemented with data from the 141 United States citizen survivors who had received direct services from Polaris between 2011 and 2014.

It is unclear whether the numbers which are involved in sex trafficking are an accurate representation of the problem as there are many cases of sex trafficking which are not reported by the victims which is according to Monique Villa. She is the CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation which is involved in the combatting of human trafficking. Villa said that the problem with human trafficking the victims are silenced by every means possible as there was no good data about sex trafficking. The people who are involved in sex trafficking business tries to confuse the victims who were sexually exploited by telling them that they are offenders. The traffickers in addition threaten to call the police and report them for prostitution if they try to push back. This kind of narratives makes sex trafficking victims challenging to report as the victims fear to undergo the law enforcement as well as be charged with a crime.

The law enforcement in the United States sees a vicious cycle time by time in a repetitive manner. Women more so are pulled in to commercial sex through gangs or pimps which is the former function as service which involved delivery services which took women to houses in areas they control. The latter more so focuses on hotels as well as street level prostitution. Woolf said that the situation occurs in a gang controlled manner which ensures that the girl involved in the act is from the area. Pimp involves probably the girls from all over the place.

Some sex trafficking cases are difficult to identify as well as prosecute. For instance, police from the local might not believe that it is a problem from their community which is according to the 2012 study by the Urban Institute. Furthermore, most of the challenges occurs to surface prosecutors who were reluctant to enhance the new human trafficking into law where they commonly charged the offenders with charges which they were not familiar with which included rape, pandering as well as kidnapping.

The protection 2000 act which was the victim of trafficking and violence had the idea of changing the act by focusing on the prosecution as well as enforcement against the offenders. Even after the enhancement approach by the government, the process might still be grueling for the victims. Judge Hiram Puig-Lugo said that most of the traffickers particularly sex traffickers had a dysfunctional relationships which had developed between them and the victims. He placed as emphasis on awareness of sex trafficking where ensured his collaboration with the NGOs which included the fair girls which is an organization which was in place so as to combat human trafficking more so on the side of sex trafficking businesses.

Traffickers of sex mostly recruits potential victims who more so are economically vulnerable as well as socially vulnerable. Women and girls who are subjected to poverty, isolated from the society, who are also involved in families with violence as well as those who are addicted to drugs are the main inclusions trafficking business. Once women as well as girls are involved in the drug trafficking industry, it might be very difficult for them to escape from the business. Most of the victims receive legal barriers in that the traffickers confiscate all forms of immigration as well as citizenry documentation. Women and girls face a lot of problems which prevent them from airing out sexual exploitation that feces them. Some of the barriers to airing out the problems that faces them is language barrier they be citizens from another country with no common means of communication or may not be educated. In addition, the victims face fear to get involvement in lawful procedures as well as lack of money to facilitate their say. This leads to women and girls get more and more involvement in the business of sex trafficking without their ability to evade. Legal prostitution as well as the involuntary enslavement of the future generations of girls as well as women in the sex trafficking industry in many parts of the world is becoming an expected societal norm.

People who are involved in sex trafficking are exposed to adverse conditions which can negatively affect their physical, mental as well as emotional health. Many people such as physicians as well as nurses and many others are involved in the process of helping victims of sex trafficking. The victims are at risk of getting sexually transmitted infections and many other health problems hence should be avoided as well as stopped.

According to the records, global sex trade is the fastest growing form of business worth billions of money. As a matter of fact, it is the fastest area of organized crime as well as the fastest growing area of organized crime after narcotics and arms sales. The business is considered unique in that women and girls who are sold into the sex business earn profits for their pumps as well as the traffickers in a number of years which is not as the profit earned from drugs as well as narcotics which are sold and used only once.