Sexual harassment remains hot topic in business

The recent $26.6 million jury award in favor of a man who was fired for sexual harassment after telling a female colleague about a Seinfeld episode has proved at least one thing.

After a decade of training about harassment, sensitivity sessions and diversity consciousness raising, we're still about as clueless as we were before regarding what constitutes harassment, and more particularly, what we should do about it.

Even a few members of the diversity training movement are willing to admit that it hasn't worked, at least not as well as expected. Psychologist Hellen Hemphill and management consultant Ray Haines, partners in Transition Strategies, a management consulting group based in Bellevue, Wash., are two of them. They have taken their disillusionment one step further and written a book, Discrimination, Harassment and the Failure of Diversity Training: What to Do Now (Quorum, $49.95, 1997). Companies are spending billions of dollars to try to rid themselves of bias, discrimination and harassment, Hemphill said. And yet the number of cases -- and the amount of claims paid out in such cases -- continue to increase. In 1995, companies spent about $5.5 billion on diversity training, and about 75 percent of U.S. companies with more than 20 employees had some kind of training. Diversity training has been a booming industry, in part because companies used it as a kind of pro-active strategy, Haines said. If a company could say it had offered training to its employees, it was considered a good defensive move in the event of a discrimination or harassment suit. And yet, such lawsuits are on the rise as well. In 1990, there were 6,126 sexual harassment cases filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. By 1995, the number had more than doubled to 15,549 cases. Meanwhile, the number of job discrimination cases filed by private law firms increased from 8,140 in 1991 to 19,059 in 1995, according to the book. One would presume that with all that money and training, the number of cases reaching the litigation stage should be declining. "Diversity training was to have been a solution to eliminate harassment," Haines said. "Really, it's been part of the problem. Somebody had to say the emperor has no clothes.' War stories about diversity training sessions abound. There are cases where comments made in training sessions designed to root out people's biases were later used as the basis of lawsuits. There are stories about meetings that deteriorated into "white male bashing" sessions, an irony because "diversity" presumably includes this group as well. There are examples of trainers using diversity training as a personal forum to air grudges and past abuse of their own. Instead of raising morale, in many cases diversity training actually caused more rifts and divisions within the ranks, sometimes irreparably, Haines said. The problem lies in the focus of much of the diversity training movement, Hemphill said. Traditional diversity training focuses on changing people's values and beliefs, a long-term, difficult task. What diversity training actually needs to change is behavior. "You've bought into a kettle of worms when you try to change employees' beliefs and values," she said. It's especially unrealistic to think you can change ingrained beliefs in a three-hour seminar. People end up feeling demoralized, judged or criticized for their views, or that their views have been misinterpreted. Other people feel betrayed by colleagues when they encounter attitudes that may never have surfaced at work, but get uncovered in the "encounter group" setting. The whole thing is a setup for backlash and miscommunication, she said. There are some steps companies can take to help eliminate harassment and discrimination, however. "Stop denying that it exists," Haines said. That's the first step. Second, identify what is unacceptable behavior and publish a zero- tolerance policy that includes guidelines and examples. Often, people really don't know what is acceptable and what crosses the line, Hemphill said. Specific examples help, because unacceptable behavior can vary according to place and industry. What is acceptable joking among medical school peers taking anatomy classes, for example, would not necessarily be acceptable in an insurance office. Next, educate employees about what will happen if they violate the policy. Put a complaint process in place as well as a procedure for impartial investigation of claims. Include a forum for appeals as well. Training is also important, but don't label it "diversity training," Haines said. Instead, focus on communications skills, such as listening, breaking negative emotional habits and conflict management. A lot of what is construed as sexual harassment starts out as "innocent" remarks. The perpetrator has to be told explicitly that what he or she has said is offensive, Haines said. "What we're talking about is behavior modification."

Copyright 1997
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