Business Ethics Case Study of Sexual Harassment

Business Ethics Case Study of Sexual Harassment Facts

The allegation of sexual harassment concerns the relationship between a buyer and a salesman working for the supplying company . Jane Thompson , a longtime successful employee of the Purchasing Department at the Propmore Corporation , accused Bill Smith of Airgoods Corporation of sexually harassing her

The harassment , in her words , happened at lunch where she went on Bill 's invitation . Jane reported to her direct supervisor , Head of the Purchasing Department at the Propmore Corporation . She insisted on removal of Airgoods from the list of

suppliers , informing the company 's president of an employee 's behavior , and suing Bill Smith through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Don 's attempt to do a preliminary investigation did not yield many results . His conversation with Bob Peters , Jane 's colleague , ended with Bob 's statement that the thing was being blown out of proportion (Madsen , Flaming , n .d ,

.5 . Ann Perkins , the HR manager , was not sure Propmore had responsibility to deal with the case since Bill was not their employee and harassment did not happen on the company 's premises Don 's investigation of Jane 's personal revealed that she had already reported to her former employer a case of sexual harassment , an action that had most probably served as a basis for her termination despite the alleged `unsatisfactory work ' claim

The final blow for Don was the call from Bill 's supervisor Joe Maxwell Obviously unwilling to lose a client in the face of the Propmore Corporation and its Purchasing Department , he tried to talk Don into putting the issue to rest . Joe promised to put another person to this assignment and suggested that Jane may calm down in a couple of days Joe insisted that there had been no harassment going on

Issues

There are a number of issues involved in the case . From the individual perspective , Don faces such issues

Does his idea of leadership embrace helping employees with such delicate problems as sexual harassment , in the light of facts being unclear

This is a highly personal question . It seems that Don has to decide since otherwise there is nobody who can take responsibility

What is more important to him as a manager , retaining the trust of a valuable employee like Jane or losing a good contract with Airgoods

Don should not take the loyalty of a single employee in his department lightly , especially one who is valuable and has been with the organization for 10 years . Nor should he neglect a long-term relationship with a supplier

From the organizational perspective , issues are even more diverse

Does the Propmore Corporation have an obligation to employees to protect them from sexual harassment by other stakeholders and their representatives ? Website

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC ) on its website provides basic information about sexual harassment where it states that harassment can be perpetrated by a non-employee . In this case Bill 's action can constitute a case of sexual harassment even if he is...