PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Professional Ethics



Professional Ethics

Introduction

In recent years, there has been exponential growth in research on specific types of workplace harassment and discrimination particularly sexual harassment and racial discrimination. However, there is a dearth of literature on the overall experience of workplace harassment and discrimination, that is, whether and how these experiences overlap, what general theories apply to this broad class of workplace stressors, and whether experiences of different kinds of harassment and discrimination lead to similar outcomes. In fact, anecdotal accounts of harassment and discrimination tend to indicate that different types of harassment and discrimination frequently occur together (e.g., “gendered racism,” Essed, 1991), suggesting that distinctions between types may be artificial. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to synthesize the literatures on various types of harassment and discrimination to provide an overall picture of the meaning and implications of these types of experiences in the workplace. We draw heavily from the sexual harassment literature, however, because theory development and overall quantity of research predominate in this area. We believe that much of what has been learned in the area of sexual harassment research can be applied to the study of other forms of harassment and discrimination.

Discussion

We first articulate the distinction between harassment and discrimination and define these separate but related constructs. Then we discuss the prevalence of different types of harassment and discrimination at work and delineate key measurement issues. Next we present major theoretical models that have been applied to the study of harassment and discrimination. We then describe the antecedents, outcomes, and moderators associated with harassment and discrimination. Throughout the chapter, we highlight major empirical studies that have looked at these phenomena in work settings. We conclude with a discussion of fruitful future research directions and implications.

Definition of Workplace Harassment and Discrimination

In the United States, when harassment is mentioned in the context of work, most people assume the reference is to sexual harassment. However, sexual harassment is only one form of workplace harassment actionable under U.S. civil rights laws (Platt, 1994). In the United States, such laws protect against employment discrimination based on race, ethnicity, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, and disability. Thus, the intent of these laws is to protect historically less powerful groups. The essence of harassment and discrimination as stressors involves perceiving differential treatment in the workplace based on some biological, physical, or social characteristic leading to the creation of an unwelcoming or hostile environment that can negatively affect targets' job satisfaction, mental and physical health, and ability to do the job.

Although we recognize that alternate “equal opportunity” forms exist that are not based on legally protected characteristics, the focus of this chapter is on those forms of harassment and discrimination that are covered under U.S. law. We should note, however, that legally proscribed forms of harassment not only tend to co-occur (as noted earlier) but also may occur alongside more generalized harassment (e.g., bullying) and even violence on the job. For example, Barling, Rogers, and Kelloway (2001) found that sexual harassment ...