Sexual harassment occurs in the workplace and affects both men and women. There are many ways of dealing with these sexual harassment situations, but getting the sexual harassment to stop may not be so easy, especially in the social media workplace. Sexual harassment when viewed from a utilitarianism ethical theory evaluates the moral claims in terms of their outcomes, and to the extent these outcomes generate the greatest benefit for the greatest number of people (Mosser, 2013). There are many forms of sexual harassment which include unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favors, sexual slurs, lewd sexual remarks, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature (EEOC, 2016). What is sexual harassment in the workplace?
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There are four main groups of sexual harassment; physical, verbal, visual, and hazing harassment. Physical harassment involves touching someone in a sexual manner by rubbing, patting, and pinching. Verbal harassment involves jokes of racial sexual nature, sexual comments about a person’s body, and using offensive language of a sexual nature. Visual harassment include displaying sexually explicit drawings, photographs, e-mails, and faxes. Hazing harassment involves teasing, practical jokes and talking about a person 's personal sex life. None of these groups bring happiness to the workplace, ultimately there is no place in our society where sexual harassment should be morally allowed to take place. Mills (2008) identifies the theory of morality as, “Pleasure and freedom from pain are the only things that are desirable and that everything that is desirable is either for our pleasure or a mean to promote pleasure and prevent pain” (p.5). Utilitarianism provides an answer to what moral value is appropriate when dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace. Morally, that which produces the greatest good or consequences possible is what ultimately makes the decision whether an act is right or wrong (Mosser, 2013). This brings about one of the great strengths of …show more content…
The typical sexual harassment policy informs employees that sexual harassment is prohibited and attempts to prevent or reduce its occurrence. The widespread use and growth of social media in the workplace has created problems throughout industry. Mainiero and Jones (2007) noted, “Sexual Harassment not only occurs in the workplace, the widespread use of social media has created a new avenue of ethical concerns pertaining to romance and sexual harassment policies in today 's workplace” (p. 187). These social media avenues raise new ethical issues where managers cannot be expected to keep tabs on their employees in this way. Today, co-workers are likely to connect using Facebook, LinkedIn, tweet, blog, and text before a lunch meeting or outside the office after working hours which have a possibility of having emotional spillover effects. Virtual harassment can take a variety of forms, including sexting, cyberstalking, sending sexually explicit messages on social Web sites, or any form of harassing or bullying behavior. One of the risks noted by Mainiero and Jones (2007) with using social media in the workplace is, “Utilitarian romances may develop where subordinates try to create unfair advantages for themselves by participating in a hierarchical workplace romance as a career advancement strategy” (p.189). A romance that creates a supervisor to subordinate relationship, can have a
There are four main groups of sexual harassment; physical, verbal, visual, and hazing harassment. Physical harassment involves touching someone in a sexual manner by rubbing, patting, and pinching. Verbal harassment involves jokes of racial sexual nature, sexual comments about a person’s body, and using offensive language of a sexual nature. Visual harassment include displaying sexually explicit drawings, photographs, e-mails, and faxes. Hazing harassment involves teasing, practical jokes and talking about a person 's personal sex life. None of these groups bring happiness to the workplace, ultimately there is no place in our society where sexual harassment should be morally allowed to take place. Mills (2008) identifies the theory of morality as, “Pleasure and freedom from pain are the only things that are desirable and that everything that is desirable is either for our pleasure or a mean to promote pleasure and prevent pain” (p.5). Utilitarianism provides an answer to what moral value is appropriate when dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace. Morally, that which produces the greatest good or consequences possible is what ultimately makes the decision whether an act is right or wrong (Mosser, 2013). This brings about one of the great strengths of …show more content…
The typical sexual harassment policy informs employees that sexual harassment is prohibited and attempts to prevent or reduce its occurrence. The widespread use and growth of social media in the workplace has created problems throughout industry. Mainiero and Jones (2007) noted, “Sexual Harassment not only occurs in the workplace, the widespread use of social media has created a new avenue of ethical concerns pertaining to romance and sexual harassment policies in today 's workplace” (p. 187). These social media avenues raise new ethical issues where managers cannot be expected to keep tabs on their employees in this way. Today, co-workers are likely to connect using Facebook, LinkedIn, tweet, blog, and text before a lunch meeting or outside the office after working hours which have a possibility of having emotional spillover effects. Virtual harassment can take a variety of forms, including sexting, cyberstalking, sending sexually explicit messages on social Web sites, or any form of harassing or bullying behavior. One of the risks noted by Mainiero and Jones (2007) with using social media in the workplace is, “Utilitarian romances may develop where subordinates try to create unfair advantages for themselves by participating in a hierarchical workplace romance as a career advancement strategy” (p.189). A romance that creates a supervisor to subordinate relationship, can have a