Sexual Harassment in Organizations Sexual harassment has always been an important t

Sexual harassment has always been an important topic in organizational studies. However, it has become especially important following the recent confirmation trial for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. During that trial, Professor Anita Hill, a former employee of Thomas, claimed that Thomas had made unwanted sexual advances toward her. In the final outcome of the trial, Thomas' word was believed over Hill's, and Thomas was confirmed as a Supreme Court Judge. Nevertheless, the events of the trial showed the world how difficult it is to determine the truth in sexual harassment cases.

One of the reasons for this difficulty is the fact that sexual harassment is a "grey area" in which it is hard to tell which side is telling the truth (Abcarian, 1991, p. E3). Sexual harassment is always a matter in which one person's word is placed against another's. Determining which side is telling the truth is usually "a subjective thing" in the mind of the interpreter (Abcarian, 1991, p. E3). Despite this fact, various Civil Rights laws have been interpreted by the courts in order to arrive at a legal definition for sexual harassment on the job. Specifically, sexual harassment is defined as an unwanted sexual advance (either verbal or physical) in which: submission to the advance is a condition for further employment; sex is used as a basis for decisions affecting worker status; or the advance interferes with the employee's work by creating "an intimidating, hostile or offens

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men throughout the nation" (p. 13). Women make up a significant part of the American workforce. Because the topic of sexual harassment is important to women employees, there is a need for organizations to develop effective "sexual harassment policies" which protect women on the job (Schafran, 1991, p. 13). At the same time, however, Gest, Saltzman, Carpenter & Friedman (1991) have indicated that the women themselves need to take responsibility for the issue by confronting the problem directly on their own terms (p. 40). The logic of this statement is obvious. Clearly, positive change for women employees will never come about unless the women themselves stand up for their rights. On an individual level, there are a number of things that a woman employee can do if she is harassed on the job. Among other things, she can: confront the harasser; tell a supervisor; find support among colleagues; and file a complaint with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Walters & Silverstein, 1991, p. D2). If the investigations following the filing of the complaint do not yield good results, the individual employee can file a lawsuit against the harasser or the company

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