Accusations of sexual harassment at the workplace can be avoided simply by acting in the most ethical, respectable manner as possible. If a person can refrain from making unwelcomed sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature either explicitly or implicitly he or she can avoid being accused of sexual harassment (Dessler, 2021). The three main ways to prove sexual harassment include quid pro quo, hostile environment created by supervisors, and hostile environment created by coworkers or those who are not employees. It is extremely important to note, as a manager/leader of an organization, one must not only conduct himself/herself in the most ethical/professional manner as possible, but one must not condone any activities that can be construed as sexual harassment. If a leader is a witness to sexual harassment or it is brought to his or her attention and the leader fails to properly address the alleged sexual harassment, this could be viewed as condoning the event and can place the employer and supervisor in an extremely uncomfortable situation with some serious legal consequences. Many sexual harassment cases go unreported either because of fear of retaliation either against the victim or others, there is also the “Bystander Effect” which says “we are less likely to help a victim when others are also present, this occurs for two reasons: diffusion of responsibility (if others are present, someone feels that other observers are responsible for intervening) and social influence (bystanders observe others behavior to determine the correct behavior.) This can give the appearance that the behavior is condoned by observers (Johnson, Kirk, et. al 2021). Sexual harassment is something that occurs more often than one would realize and can happen to anyone. In fact, I handled a workers compensation case several years ago for a male-on-male sexual assault that resulted in a $13 million lawsuit alleging rape, hostile work environment against the organization because a manager did not diffuse a situation, failed to address the allegations and as a result gave the impression to the aggressor that the acts were condoned.
Dessler, G. (2020). Human resource management (16th ed.). Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN-13: 9780135172780
Johnson , S., Kirk , J., & Keplinger, K. (2021, August 27). Why we fail to report sexual harassment. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/10/why-we-fail-to-report-sexual-harassment