Employee response to harassment by immediate supervisor

EMPLOYEE RESPONSE TO HARASSMENT BY IMMEDIATE

SUPERVISORS

BY

MOETI GILBERT MAIBI

A MINI DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS IN

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA) IN THE GRADUATE

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP

NORTH WEST UNIVERSITY

(MAFIKENG CAMPUS)

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 0600423630

North-West University Mafikeng Campus Library

SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR LUKAS EHLERS

2013

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the people who contributed to the completion of this dissertation.

I would like to thank the following in particular:

• The Almighty God, "I am that I am" whom through his love, grace and mercy gave me the strength and the wisdom to complete this mini- dissertation.

• My wife, Masego, your support and your understanding can never go unnoticed, I am very grateful to have you as my partner.

• Neo, Olerato and Resegofetse this work took away your father for a longer time, thanks for hanging on there.

• My mother Kgalalelo Gloria Maibi -"MaGio" thanks for supporting me and being there for Resegofetse and her mother, when I was away from home working on this project

• Josephine Bosiame, Moleti Gaboutlweloe and all my family, relatives, friends and colleagues who walked the journey with me and supported me in different ways I am more grateful. Your efforts in not in vain.

• Rre T. G. Kupi your hospitality ntate will never be forgotten

• Mr Fannie Postma for editing language in tight schedule, it is much appreciated • My supervisor, Professor Lukas Ehlers -" Oomluk" your guidance and support is

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ... vi

Declarations ... vii

List of Acronyms ... viii

Chapter 1: Introduction and Problem Statement. ... 1

1.1. Introduction ... 1

1.2. Nature of the Problem ... 2

1.3. Research Objectives ... 3

1 .4. Overview of dissertation ... , ... 4

Chapter 2: Literature Review ... 5

2.1. Introduction ... 5

2.2. Definition of Supervision ... 5

2.3. The nature and role of Supervisors ... 7

2.4. Guideline for effective Supervision ... 1 0 2.5. The effect of poor supervision .... : ... 11

2.6. Management. ... · ... 11

2. 7. Definition of Workplace Harassment. ... 13

2.8. Forms of Workplace Harassment. ... 15

2.9. Dealing with workplace harassment. ... 17

2.1 0. Workplace Harassment and Law ... 20

2.1 0.1. The Constitution ... 20

2.1 0.2. The Employment Equity Act. ... 20

2.10.3. The code of good practice: Sexual Harassment. ... 21

2.1 0.4. Legal implications of workplace harassment. ... 22

2.11. Employment Response options ... 23

2.11.1. Introduction ... 23

2.11.2. Employee Response to Unfair Treatment. ... 24

2.11.3. Not to be influenced or Ignore the problem ... 25

IIJ

---2.11.4. 2.11.5. 2.11.6. 2.11.7.

Complain to friends and family ... 25

Request for supervisor to stop behaviour ... 25

Formal grievances ... 26

CCMA dispute ... 27

2.11.8. Resignation ... 28

2.12. Related Research Findings ... : ... 28

2.13. Conclusion ... 29

Chapter 3: Research Methodology ... 30

3.1. Introduction ... 30

3.2. Research Design ... ·'··· ... 30

3.3. Questionnaire as Research Instruments ... 30

3.4. The Existing Database ... 32

3.5. Research Samples ... 33

3.6. Data Capturing and Statistical Analysis ... 33

3.6.1. Descriptive Statistics ... 34

3.6.2. Inferential Statistics: The Mann Whitney U Test. ... 35

3.7. Ethical Clearance ... : ... 36

3.8. Summary ... 36

Chapter 4: Research Results- Data Analysis and Interpretation ... 37

4.1. Introduction ... 37

4.2. Intensity of intended response to harassment. ... 39

4.3. Differences in intended response to harassment by immediate supervisor ... .40

4.4. Summary ... 43

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations ... .44

5.1. Introduction ... 44

5.2. Findings and General Response ... .45

5.3. Significance of Findings on age and gender ... .46

5.4. Significance of findings on race differences ... .46

5.5. Limitations ... : ... 47 5.6. Recommendations ... 47 5.7. Conclusion ... 48 References ... 49 Annexure: A Annexure: B v

ABSTRACT

Workplace harassment is a major problem in all employment relationships. It has negative implications for employee satisfaction, performance and productivity. This in turn leads to poor organisational performance, and often causes formal grievances and labour disputes which are not in the best interest of the employee or the employer. The constitution of the Republic of South Africa and other related acts like Employment Equity Act (EEA) protect employees against any form of unfair discrimination. Harassment within the workplace is also classified as form of unfair discrimination and is clearly prohibited in the constitution and other related statutes.

Immediate supervisors are the face of the employer and they play an important role in employment relationships. They are responsible for representing the employer's dealings within the workplace agreements. The immediate supervisors' can impact negatively or positively on employee behaviour within the workplace.

Many labour disputes arise because supervisors and subordinates in South Africa lack the necessary knowledge, appreciation- and sensitivity for applicable legal prescriptions and acceptable behavior norms required within workplace environment.

Keywords: Workplace Harassment, Immediate Supervisors.

Declarations

I, Moeti Gilbert Maibi, do hereby declare that this dissertation is the result of my own investigation and research. All the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. This dissertation was

not previously submitted by me for a degree at another university.

/d1

Moeti Gilbert Maibi Date

LIST OF ACROMYMS

BALR Butterworth Arbitration Labour Reports BLLR Butterworth Labour Law Reports

CCMA Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration EEA Employment Equity Act

GIBS Gordon Institute for Business Science HIV Human immunodeficiency Virus LAC Local Appeal Court

LC Labour Court

LTD Limited

MBA Masters of Business Administration

NBCCI National Bargaining Council for the Chemical Industry NWU North West University

PATH Program for Appropriate Technology in Health

PEPUDA Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act PTY Proprietary

SARS South African Revenue Service

so

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Science UK United Kingdom

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT

1.1 Introduction

The CCMA (2002) defined Harassment as an incident that has happened to an individual at the workplace that is unwelcome, unwanted and has a destructive effect. Harassment is one of the issues that are protected by the law, it is recognised as unfair discrimination. The CCMA states that employers have a duty to protect workers from harassment, and employers should develop a code of conduct on harassment in consultation with the employees and employee representatives.

Muzuva (2011 :1) explains that harassment, and particularly sexual harassment, remains pervasive in workplaces around the world. The challenge identified is that, there is also no indication that this offensive conduct will be stamped out within the foreseeable future. In an attempt to identify the reasons for this pervasiveness, many academic writers are unanimous in the fact that harassment is about an "abuse of power". This is particularly true where the harasser is in a supervisory position and thus able to exert 'real' economic power over his victim (so-called quid pro quo harassment, where the victim faces loss of tangible job benefit such as promotion or salary increase if she does not comply sexually).

Workplace harassment is a major problem in all employment relationships. It has negative implications for employee satisfaction, performance and productivity. This in turn leads to poor organisational performance, and often causes formal grievances and labour disputes which are not in the best interest of the employee or the employer.

South African employees are specifically protected against many forms of unfair discrimination is in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the Employment Equity Act. Workplace harassment is classified as a form of unfair discrimination, and is

expressly prohibited in the Constitution and other labour statutes (Sasson, Christianson, Garbers, le Roux, Mischke and Strydom, 2002).

Immediate supervisors play an important role in employment relationships, and they can be viewed as the face of the employer, because they are responsible for representing the employer in dealings with employees at workplace level. The behaviour of immediate supervisors can have a negative or positive effect on employee behaviour, and it should therefor be an important consideration in modern organisations (Robbins and Judge, 2011).

Many South African supervisors and subordinates lack knowledge, appreciation and sensitivity for applicable legal prescriptions and acceptable behavioural norms required for the establishment and maintenance of harmonious employment relations. Subsequently, many labour disputes arise because of harassment or other forms of inequitable treatment of subordinates by supervisors. Organisations should therefore ensure that these abusive supervision practices are recognised and eradicated, in order to promote harmonious employment relations and productivity in organisations.

1.2 Nature of the Problem

Harassment at the workplace is always a sensitive and undesirable behaviour form in all South African workplaces. Many employees endure workplace harassment in silence due to a lack of knowledge of their rights, or for fear of victimisation or loss of a job, in the face of unemployment. Other employees will choose to resign from a job if they are dissatisfied with the employment conditions. In terms of South African labour laws, employees may adopt a variety of interpersonal, organisational and statutory prescribed dispute resolution procedures to resolve unfavourable experiences or conditions in employment relationships (Bendix, 201 0; Finnemore, 2009; Nel, Kirsten, Swanepoel, Erasmus and Poisat (2009).

All forms of harassment is generally easily identified, but in most cases very difficult to prove. The legal principle of "he who alleges must prove" often scares victims, because there is often a lack of witnesses to the act of harassment, and it may leave the

complainant without proof. Harassment is a cancer which can kill businesses or at least seriously dent the image of the organisation. It can demoralise the victim and further lead to poor work performance. The feeling of insecurity by employees might lead to resignation in which case the employer may suffer performance problems, or financial loss due to poor service delivery due to the loss or lack of trained staff members. Legal action against an organisation may also cause financial losses (Grogan, 2007:303).

This dissertation is written in the hope that it will contribute to knowledge and understanding related to the nature of workplace harassment in South Africa, and employee response to harassment by immediate supervisors.

1.3 Research objectives

The objective of this dissertation was to investigate how employees intend to respond to harassment by their immediate supervisors. In order to achieve this objective the researcher firstly conducted a comprehensive literature review on supervision and options that are available to employees who are subjected to harassment by superiors. Data from an existing database was then analysed in order find answers on two specific research questions:

i. How do a group of typical South African white collar employees intend to respond to harassment by their immediate supervisors?

11. Will typical South African white collar employees respond differently to harassment by their immediate supervisors, if they belong to different race, gender and age groups?

This chapter provides a detailed overview of the research methodology that was followed in this study.

1.4 Overview of dissertation

This dissertation is structured in five chapters. Chapter one provides an overview of the problem. Chapter two contains a literature review dealing with the nature of immediate

supervision, and related aspects of workplace harassment.

Chapter three handles an overview of the research methodology, and in chapter four research findings are discussed in detail. Chapter five handles specific conclusions and recommendations that were deducted from the literature review and research findings.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Introduction

This chapter provides a literature review of supervision and workplace harassment. The most important legal provisions that apply to harassment in the workplace will be reviewed and typical responses to harassment will be discussed. Research findings relating to employee response to abusive supervision and harassment are discussed in conclusion.

2.2 Supervision

According to Mcintyre (2009:5), supervision is the process by which staff are supported to perform to the best of their ability, fulfil their potential and receive feedback on their performance and discuss any issues with their manager on a regular basis and is the means by which all staff are held accountable to the organisation for their performance and meeting their objectives. It is a process that provides uninterrupted, quality time to allow staff to undertake reflection and self-assessment with an experienced practitioner(s) to maintain and develop their quality of practice.

Robbins and Decenzo (2006:77) defined supervision as the abilities of a supervisor(s) to provide emotional and technical support and guidance with work-related tasks.

Luthans (2011: 143) defined supervision as another moderately important source of job satisfaction. There seem to be two dimensions of supervisory style that affect job satisfaction. One is employee-centeredness, which measures by the degree to which a supervisor takes a personal interest and cares about the employee. It is commonly manifested in ways such as checking to see how well the employee is doing, providing advice and assistance to the individual, and communicating with the associate on a personal as well as an official level. There is considerable empirical evidence that one of the major reasons employees give for quitting a company is that their supervisor does not care about them.

Yuki (2006: 176) states that supervisors who exercise power in an arrogant,

manipulative, domineering manner are more likely to encounter resentment, resistance or negative responses from their subordinates

The term supervision is widely misunderstood. People widely believe that it only applies to overseeing the productivity and development of workers at entry level and that cannot be true. The term "supervision" refers to the activity or a role of one's immediate superior in the workplace, the person whom the person is reporting to directly in the organization. It can be a worker whose supervisor is first line manager or a first line manager who report to middle manager as his/her supervisor and Middle manager typically would be a senior or top manager ·serving as supervisor.

Supervisors are mostly responsible for producing direct reports on progress made on productivity within the organization. At times basic management skills like planning,

organizing, leading control, delegation or any decision making and problem solving are part of supervisor's work. It further covers the human resource duties hiring new employees, job roles allocation, assessing performance of employees and any other related duty. Supervisor ensures the conformance to personnel policies and any other internal regulations. This includes policies dealing with workplace harassment.

It is important that supervisors have a strong knowledge of the policies and activities within their groups, for example what is the workplace behaviour that influences labour relations outcomes, how to develop their product, carry out their service, etc. Many also use the term "supervisor" to designate the managerial position that is responsible for a major function in the organization, for example, supervisor of customer service.

Supervision is an extremely vital part of a workplace that intends to maximize its

success potential. It naturally follows, then, that poor supervision in a workplace is among the primary obstacles to achieving potential successes by a business. After all,

that they are doing their jobs correctly, and with minimal risk of error or injury as retrieved from www.anonymousemployee.com on 11/08/2011

Robbins and Judge (201 0) identified four typical responses to job dissatisfaction, namely:

A) staying loyal and passively wait for improvement, b) neglect by allowing conditions to worsen,

c) voicing dissatisfaction and d) exiting the organisation.

2.3 The nature and role of supervisors ,

According to Robbins and Decenzo (2006: 1 0), supervisor's job is unique in that it bridges the management ranks with the operating employees. No one else in the organisation can make that claim. Yet because of this uniqueness, supervisors have an ambiguous role.

Each of the following offers a different viewpoint of the supervisor's role:

• Key person: supervisors serve· as the critical communication link in the organisation's chain of authority. They are like the hub of a wheel around which all operating activities revolve.

• Person in the middle: because they are "neither fish nor fowl," supervisors must interact and reconcile the opposing forces and competing expectations from higher management and workers. If unresolved, this conflicting role can create frustration and stress for supervisors.

• Just another worker: To some, particularly among the upper-level managers, supervisors are often seen as 'just another worker", rather than as management. This is reinforced when their decision-making authority is limited, when they are excluded from participating in upper-level decisions, and whey they perform operating tasks alongside the same people they supervise.

• Behavioural specialist: this is considered with the belief that one of the most important abilities needed by supervisors is strong interpersonal skills, they are

looked at as behavioural specialists. To succeed in their jobs, supervisors must be able to understand the varied needs of their staff and be able to listen,

motivate, and lead.

According to Grobler, Warnich, Carrell, Norbert and Hatfield (2006:210-214), the task of the employee's supervisor is to ensure that the employees in the section receive all information necessary to enable them to function as efficiently and effectively as possible. This will include the introduction of new employees to co-workers, explaining job duties and responsibilities as well as policies, procedures, rules and regulations and also taking the employees on a familiarisation tour of the workplace. The supervisor will also briefly discuss the job description and talk about standards and how the new employee's performance will be assessed.

Grobler eta/ (2006:279) defined supervisor as the person in the best position to observe the employee's behaviour and determine whether the employee has reached the specified goals and objectives. He is the best person to conduct appraisal. Often only the supervisor directly and consistently observes the employee's performance and knows what level of performance should be expected. Supervisors often prefer to avoid the appraisal process because of uncomfortable face-to-face confrontations often result. Even so, policy-makers should ensure that performance assessments are conduced in a professional manner because appraisals of subordinates are a legitimate and critical part of supervision. Supervisors must give complete and accurate feedback to employees when appraising their performances. Employees must be told what they are doing well and which performance areas need improvement.

Grobler et a/. (2006:417 -418) raised the other matter of the fair and just supervision: The authors indicate that the day is long gone when supervisors could rule their employees with an iron fist. A significant reason for the general shift in leadership style from autocratic to people-orientated patterns is the insistence by unions that supervisors treat employees fairly, justly and respectfully. Most contracts specify that employees can only be disciplined for 'just cause'.

Kelloway (2004:90-91) states that generally employees who perceive their supervisors to be abusive experience low levels of job and life satisfaction, lower levels of affective commitment, increased work-family conflict, and psychological distress as well as

psychosomatic symptoms, anxiety, and depression

Dupre, Inness, Connelly, Barling, and Hoption (2003) found a relationship between

teenagers' experience of abusive supervision and their own aggression directed toward

their supervisors resulted because of the how they were treated. This clearly shows that

supervisors can spark negative emotions in the work environment if they do not handle the situation correctly and the positives can also result from their proper supervision.

The stress of poor supervision also manifests in physical outcomes.

Supervisor remains a leader within the unit or department of an employee's work environment and abusive leadership occurs when individuals in a formal leadership role engage in aggressive or punitive behaviours toward their employees. These behaviours can vary widely from one supervisor degrading their employees by yelling, ridiculing, and name-calling to terrorizing employees by withholding information or threatening employees with job loss and pay cuts. Such behaviours have been variously termed

"workplace harassment" by Rospenda (2002), while Keashly (2001) referred to

harassment as emotional abuse or simply workplace aggression.

Pizzino (2002) reported that supervisors accounted for 20% of aggressive behaviour reported by unionized respondents whereas members of the public were responsible for

38% of respondents' reports of aggressive behaviour.

2.4. Guidelines for effective supervision

Noe, Hollenbeck, Gehart, Wright (2006:598) explained that supervisors have the most direct contact with employees. It is critical that they be proactive in establishing good relationships with employees if the company wishes to avoid union organising strike attempts. It is also important for supervisors to know what not to do should a drive take place.

The following effective management practices can be implemented at all times:

• Deliver recognition and appreciation;

• Solve employee problems;

• Protect employees from harassment or humiliation;

• Provide business-related information;

• Be consistent in treatment of different employees;

• Accommodated special circumstances where appropriate;

• Ensure due process in performance management; and

• Treat all employees with dignity and respect.

Marquez and Kean 2002 states that supportive supervision is "a process that promotes quality at all levels of the health system by strengthening relationships within the system, focusing on the identification and resolution of problems, and helping to optimize the allocation of resources - promoting high standards, teamwork, and better two-way communication. A cornerstone of supportive supervision is working with health staff to establish goals, monitor performance, identify and correct problems, and proactively improve the quality of service. Together, the supervisor and health workers identify and address weaknesses on the spot, thus preventing poor practices from becoming routine. Supervisory visits are also an opportunity to recognize good practices and help health workers to maintain their high-level of performance.

Moving from traditional, hierarchical supervision systems to more supportive ones requires innovative thinking, national buy-in, and time to change attitudes, perceptions,

who recognize the importance of supportive supervision and who are implementing it in their programs. Program managers should adapt these guidelines to their local situation and share their results with others.

2.5 The effect of poor supervision

A number of international research studies were conducted into the relationship between abusive supervision and undesired organisational outcomes. Some surveys done noted supervision as one of the factors that contributes to job satisfaction. Reference was made to good and poor supervision as contributory factors to job satisfaction.

Grobler eta/ (2006:116-117) indicated that when supervisors are perceived to be fair, helpful, competent and effective job satisfaction is considerably improved. This includes the supervisor's skill as a problem-solver, coach, trainer and listener, and as the timely, authoritative source of key job-related information for employees. Poor supervision is when a supervisor is seen as insensitive, incompetent and uncaring supervisor. This includes unfair, biased treatment by supervisors, failure of supervisor to listen and respond to employees' problems or concerns and problems with management communication credibility.

2.6 Management

Robbins and Decenzo (2006:7) defined the term management as the process of getting things done, effectively and efficiently through and with other people. The term process in the definition of management represents the primary activities that the supervisors perform and that is referred to as management functions. The four management functions are being identified as planning, organising, leading and controlling. Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) produced a guideline for Implementing Supportive Supervision (2003: 1) which states that supervision is an excellent opportunity to provide follow-up training, improve performance, and solve other systemic problems that contribute to poor immunization coverage. Though there are many examples and case studies where supportive supervision has been used to

improve health worker performance and immunization coverage, long-term and

sustainable results have not been thoroughly documented. The following guidelines

focus on supportive supervision - A process that promotes sustainable and efficient

program management by encouraging effective two-way communication, as well as

performance planning and monitoring.

The guideline refers indicate that an on-going supervision is an important, often overlooked, step to ensuring quality services. While supervision can be a very

participatory process, traditional supervisory visits focus more on inspection and fault finding rather than on problem solving to improve performance. Health workers often receive little guidance or mentoring on how to improve their performance. They are frequently left undirected, with few or no milestones to help assess their performance,

until the next supervisory visit. Motivation is hard to maintain in such an atmosphere.

Supervisors often lack the technical, managerial, or supervisory skills needed to effectively evaluate health facilities across the many sectors for which they are responsible. In addition to assessing performance, supervisors are also expected to monitor services, evaluate management, and ensure th9t the health facility supply chains are working properly- all in a short period of time. Consequently, they are unable

to provide adequate technical guidance and feedback to improve service delivery.

Supportive supervision requires staff time, costs for per diem, and travel to remote sites. Health budgets frequently do not allocate sufficient funds or personnel to conduct

supportive supervision, making regular visits difficult to finance and coordinate.

Furthermore, supervisors need support and authority from the central or district level to

2. 7 Definition of workplace harassment

Ehlers (2007) defined harassment as an incident that has happened to an individual at the workplace that is unwelcome, unwanted and has a destructive effect on such an individual.

Dennison (2002:1) defines work place harassment as any unwelcome verbal, written or physical conduct that either denigrates or shows hostility or aversion towards a person on the basis of race, sex, colour, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, political affiliation, or disability, that: (1) has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment; (2) has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an· employee's work performance; or (3) affects an employee's employment opportunities or compensation.

Mom berg 2010:20 emphasis that harassment in its wider sense may include anything from taunting an employee about some personal characteristic, nagging, unpleasantness or persecuting them with frivolous disciplinary action, provided that it is

done on one or other of the grounds mentioned in the Act. However, harassment does not necessarily involve discrimination. ·

Mom berg 2010:20 further states that workplace harassment is interchangeably used with workplace bullying as contemplated in Labour Relations act and EEA. Workplace harassment is not clearly defined and documented as sexual harassment which clearly identifies a specific problem and field of harassment. This create a problem when you are to clearly define what are you dealing with, definition is subject to different interpretation which might be wrong or right.

Muzuva (2011 :7) made an analysis and made submission that harassment, especially sexual harassment, remains universal problem in workplaces around the world. In an endeavour to find the reasons for this universal problem, many writers unanimously agree that in the fact, harassment is about gaining power over those who are dependent on you for any type growth especially within the work place. The way this power is being

exerted the harasser becomes more abusive. This becomes true if a person is in a supervisory position. Normally these type of people able to exert "economic power over his victim (so-called quid pro quo harassment, where the victim faces loss of tangible job benefit such as promotion or salary increase if she does not comply sexually).

The act promulgated in 1 September 2000 PEPUDA seeks to ensure that the constitutional rights of protecting citizens from discrimination is upheld

Section 11 of this Act as referred to by Lawlor (2007), prohibits harassment, Section 1 (1) of PEPUDA gives expounded on definition of harassment as unwanted conduct which is persistent or serious and demeans, humiliates or creates a hostile or intimidating environment or is calculated to induce submission by actual or threatened adverse consequences and which is related to sex, gender or sexual orientation, or a person's membership or presumed membership of a group identified by one or more of the prohibited grounds or a characteristic associated with such group. The key point to be noted in terms of section 15 of PEPUDA, harassment does not have to be unfair in order to qualify as discrimination.

Van Niekerk (2008:23) Harassment is not defined in the Employment Equity Act but generally constitutes treating a person in a manner that has the effect of violating that person's dignity, or creating a degrading environment. Harassment in the work place amounts to creating discrimination because it establishes arbitrary barriers to the full and equal enjoyment of a person's right in the workplace, and it violates the dignity of a person. Various kinds of harassment are found in the work place - for example,

harassment based on religion, race, and sex. The case law suggests that sexual harassment is the most common form of workplace harassment, and it is the only form of harassment that is the subject of a statutory code

Tepper (2000: 178) defined workplace harassment as a behaviour that it is related to many forms of abusive supervision practices, which can be more specifically defined as a sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behaviours, excluding physical contact.

It is important to align work environment do deal with harassment against employees such as physical attacks and intimidation. In South Africa, as in many countries, harassment against employees has become a serious problem in workplace and it listed amongst forms of violence which leads to safety issues. It is therefore, important for employers to ensure that the necessary systems are put in place to create a conducive working environment.

Nel, Gerber, Van Wyk, Haasbroek, Schultz, Sono and Werner 2003:179 express the view of Employment Equity Act (EEA) which regards harassment of employees as form of discrimination, and it is prohibited. This includes harassment based on sex, sexual orientation, race, and religion. In the case where a worker is found guilty of harassment in the workplace, his or her employer may also be held liable. To avoid such outcome it would be prudent for employers to develop clear policies and procedures regarding workplace harassment, and to publicise these broadly to all employees.

2.8 Forms of workplace harassment

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) compiled an information sheet with an aim to provide guideline to both employers and employee when dealing with harassment and in that sheet defined workplace harassment as an incident that has happened to an individual at the workplace that is unwelcome, unwanted and has a destructive effect. Harassment could, however, be perpetrated by any person under various situations and is not limited to the workplace or supervision.

The information sheet gave the following examples of harassment: i. mental bullying;

ii. spreading malicious rumours, or insulting someone, particularly on gender, race or disability grounds;

iii. ridiculing or degrading someone- picking on them or setting them up to fail; iv. exclusion or victimisation;

v. unfair treatment, for example based on race, gender sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, disability, religion, HIV status, etc.;

vi. overbearing supervision or other misuses of power or position;

vii. unwelcome sexual advances - touching, standing too close and displaying of offensive material;

viii. making threats/comments about job security without foundation;

ix. deliberately undermining a competent worker by overloading and constant criticism; and

x. preventing individuals progressing by intentionally blocking promotion or training opportunities.

The emphasis of CCMA is that each individual has the right to be treated with dignity and respect at work. The employers have a duty to protect workers from harassment because any kind of harassment should not be tolerated at any workplace. The issue of protecting employees from harassment must be coupled with informing and educating them about the issue of harassment.

The information sheet identifies reasons why harassment should not be ignored in the workplace as follows:

• Morally the conduct is unacceptable

• Harassment creates organisational problems such as:

~ Human rights violations

~ Poor employee relations and

~ Poor morale

• Employee performance is threatened both physically and psychologically • It leads to loss of productivity

• Persistent absenteeism, late coming and resignations • Hostile and intimidating work environment

Muller (2009:144) defines another form of harassment that emanates from national origin. According to Muller harassment based on national origin can take many different forms, Including ethnic slurs, workplace graffiti, or other offensive conduct directed toward an individual's birthplace, ethnicity, culture, or foreign accent. Relevant factors in evaluating whether national origin harassment rises to a level of creating a hostile work environment may include any of the following:

• Whether the conduct was physically threatening or intimidating; • How frequent the conduct was repeated;

• Whether the conduct was hostile and/ or patently offensive; • The context in which the harassment occurred; and

• Whether management responded appropriately when it learned of the harassment.

2.9 Dealing with workplace harassment

Swanepoel (2005:157-158) gave a guiding principle on avoiding workplace sexual harassment by indicating

that:-1. Employers should create and maintain a working environment in which the dignity of employees is respected. A climate in the workplace should also be created and maintained in which victims of sexual harassment will not feel that their grievances are ignored or trivialised, or fear reprisals. Implementing following guidelines can assist in achieving these ends:

a) Employers/ management and employees are required to refrain from committing acts of sexual harassment.

b) All employers/management and employees have a role to play in contributing towards creating and maintaining a working environment in which sexual harassment is unacceptable. They should ensure that their standards of conduct do not cause offence and they should discourage unacceptable behaviour on the part of others.

c) Employers/management should attempt to ensure that persons such as customers, suppliers, job applicants and others, who have dealings with the

business, are not subjected to sexual harassment by the employer or its employees.

d) Employers/management is required to take appropriate action in accordance with this code, when instances of sexual harassment which occur within the workplace are brought to their attention.

Harassment of any kind should not be tolerated in the work place. Employers have a duty to protect their workers from harassment; they must also inform and educate them about the harassment.

Swanepoel (2005:203) give advice in the form of Policy Statements that Employers should issue as a policy statement which should provide

that:-1. As a first step in expressing concern and commitment to dealing with the problem of sexual harassment, employers should issue

a

a) All employees, job applicants and other persons who have dealings with the business, have the right to be treated with dignity.

b) Sexual harassment in the work place will not be permitted or condoned. c) Persons who have been subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace

have a right to raise a grievance about it, should it occur, and appropriate action will be taken by employer.

2. Management should be placed under a positive duty to implement the policy and take disciplinary action against employees who do not comply with the policy.

3. A policy on sexual harassment should also explain the procedure which should be followed by employees who are victims of sexual harassment. The policy should also state

that-a) Allegations of sexual harassment will be dealt with seriously, expeditiously, sensitively and confidentially.

b) Employees will be protected against victimisation, retaliation for lodging grievances and from false accusations.

4. Policy statement on sexual harassment should be communicated effectively to all employees.

Ehlers (2007: 101) state that in dealing with workplace harassment employers and individuals should take action to stop the occurrence of unwanted sexual attention or other forms of harassment. The most frequently used actions tend to be:

• Ignoring the behaviour by doing nothing or avoiding the perpetrator; • Reacting against the behaviour or asking the person to stop;

• Making a joke of the behaviour or going along with it;

• Threatening to tell others;

• Actually reporting the behaviour to a supervisor or other official; • Taking legal action; and

• Quitting the job or seeking a transfer.

Further, it is important to always document the exact date, time, place witness and other important information whenever harassment occurs. In deciding whether to report harassment, it is important to weigh up the issues involved. If less serious harassment occurred, it is advisable to confront the perpetrator in the company of a witness. During the confrontation you will stop the harassment. The more serious the incident and/or the more persistent the harasser, the more advisable it is to report the incident. It is important to find out about the organisation's procedures and policies for dealing with harassment and what actions or recommendations are made by a representative union.

Cheatle (2001 :214) states that bullying and harassment at work either by members of

the public or fellow employees may not cause physical harm but have a detrimental effect on employees' morale and health. Where insufficient action is taken by employer to stamp out the problem it is possible that they may be held liable for personal injury or even psychological damage. To deal with this employers may introduce bullying and

harassment policies to try and minimise the opportunities for bullying and harassment in the workplace, and to make it clear that acts of this nature are disciplinary offences

and will be treated accordingly, providing training for staff to promote awareness and minimise risks.

2.10 Workplace harassment and the law

2.1 0.1 The Constitution

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (No. 108 of 1996), which was signed by President Nelson Mandela on 18 December 1996, was implemented during February 1997. The important component of this Constitution is the Bill of Rights (chapter 2). The Bill outlines the fundamental rights afforded to all South Africans. The first right mentioned in this chapter is the right to equality. It states that all must be equal before the law and all must be entitled to equal protection of the law. Section 9 (2-3) further states

that:-(2) Equality includes the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms. To promote the achievement of equality, legislative and other measures designed to protect or advance persons or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination may be taken.

(3) The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.

2.1 0.2 The Employment Equity Act

Van Niekerk (2008) explains that the Employment Equity Act regards harassment as a form of unfair discrimination and prohibits it on any one or a combination of the grounds listed in section 6(1) of the Act. This formulation indicates that fairness is not an issue-an act of harassment is issue-an act of "unfair discrimination".

The EEA also in section 5 and 6 makes provisions as follows: 5. Elimination of unfair discrimination

Every employer must take steps to promote equal opportunity in the work place by eliminating unfair discrimination in any employment policy or practice.

6. Prohibition of unfair discrimination

No person may unfairly discriminate, directly or indirectly against an employee, in any employment policy or practice, on one or more grounds, including race,

gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, family responsibility, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, HIV status, conscience,

belief, political opinion, culture, language and birth.

2.1 0.3 The code of good practice: Sexual Harassment

Grobler et a/ (2006:89) explained that it is difficult to find a generally acceptable definition of sexual harassment because people's views on what constitutes sexual harassment differ widely. For some it is subtle, unwelcome sexual attention, for others it is sexual or suggestive remarks. For some it is extreme blackmail (e.g. promotion as a reward for sexual favours) while for others it is outright violent behaviour, such as attempted or actual rape.

The Code of Good Practice on the handling of sexual harassment has provided a definition in this regard, which reads:

(1) Sexual harassment is unwanted conduct of a sexual nature. The unwanted nature of sexual harassment distinguishes it from behaviour that is welcome and mutual.

(2) Sexual attention becomes sexual harassment if :

(a) The behaviour is persisted in, although a single incident of harassment can constitute sexual harassment, and/or

(b) The recipient has made it clear that the behaviour is considered offensive,

and/or

(c) The perpetrator should have known that the behaviour is regarded as unacceptable.

According to Van Niekerk et a/ (2008), The Code of Good Practice on the handling of sexual Harassment Cases issued in terms of the EEA in amended form in 2005, suggests that serious incidents of sexual harassment or continued harassment after warnings are dismissible offences. Similar principles apply to other forms of harassment in the work place, including racial harassment. Harassment is a form of discrimination and has to be treated with the necessary severity, irrespective of its form.

2.10.4 Legal implications ofworkplace harassment

Sasson eta/ (2002:314) explained that an employer could be held liable for the actions of its managers and employees under South African labour law.

Grogan (2007:303) explained that an act of workplace harassment perpetrated by a supervisor at the workplace may therefore have very serious negative consequences for an employer. He argues that the legislature makes specific reference to harassment as a form of prohibited discrimination and that was done to ensure that an employer will not

be able to argue that he not liable for the conduct of one of his employees, who

harasses another employee and the latter institutes a discrimination action against the employer.

Lawlor (2007:4) makes reference to the common law which makes the employer

vicariously liable for the harassment of his/her employees. The employer can be held

vicariously liable in terms of common law if it can be proven that the act of harassment occurred within valid working relationship and it happened through a delict meaning act

2.11 Employee response to workplace harassment

2.11.1 Introduction

Ehlers (2007: 13) explained that the nature of interaction between employers and employees will result in various positive or negative employment relations experiences and outcomes. Positive labour relations outcomes result from a multitude of relationship conditions, among others; compliance with labour laws, contractual compliance,

fairness, equity, good faith, consistency, supportiveness, respect, understanding, sincerity, acceptanc~, honesty, positivity, acceptance, tolerance, professionalism,

reasonableness and integrity.

Many of these conditions are interdependent and closely related to the outcomes of employment relations. They can therefore be loosely structured as seven generic criteria for harmonious employment relations at workplace level. Employment relations may become unfavourable if one or more of these criteria are ignored. They are:

• Compliance with all applicable labour laws and codes of good practice • Compliance with all contractual rights and duties

• Fair treatment of employees

• Equitable treatment of employees

• Consistent treatment of employees

• Trustworthy behaviour by employer and employee • Good faith in dealings between employer and employee

2.11.2 Employee response to unfair treatment

Bendix (2010) explained that there are a number of options that could be adopted in response to inequitable treatment in South African employment relationships. Some are guided by formal internal or external procedures, and others may take the form of less formal internal communication or interactive behaviour. Employees may also respond in many undesired behavioural forms, such as poor work performance, deviant behaviour or resignation. Robbins and Judge (201 0) identified four typical responses to job

dissatisfaction, namely: a) Staying loyal and passively wait for improvement, b) neglect by allowing conditions to worsen, c) voicing dissatisfaction and d) exiting the

organisation.

There are a number of typical options for responding to unfair treatment in South African employment relationships. Six specific options of varying intensity are deemed to be representative of typical legal and socially acceptable responses to inequitable treatment in South African workplaces, for purposes of this study. These options are reflected in Table 1.

Table 1: Employee response to unfair treatment

RESPONSE INTENSITY

Resign 5

HIGH Seek CCMA intervention I protection 4

File a formal grievance 3

MEDIUM Request supervisor to stop behaviour 2

Complain to friends and family 1 LOW Not be influenced at al 0 NONE

2.11.3 Not be influenced at all or ignoring a problem

Robbins (2006) explained that employees can express dissatisfaction in a number of ways amongst them being neglect or ignoring the problem. This is where passively allowing the problem to worsen, including chronic absenteeism or lateness, reduced effort, and increased error rate. Ignoring a problem, however, will not make it go away, and often leads to the building of frustration which eventually erupts into conflict.

2.11.4 Complain to friends and family

Employees who believe that they are being treated unfairly will often seek support by complaining to friends and family. Even though friends and family members may sympathise with a disgruntled employee, they will mostly lack relevant expertise that is required to resolve the problem. These discussions will mostly be emotional and subjective and will contribute very little to resolving the problems at work. It is in the employee's best interest to engage in constructive discussions with officials at the workplace, or to follow the applicable grievance procedure to address the problems.

2.11.5 Request for supervisors to stop behaviour

Robbins (2006:79) explained that the other mentioned action can be to voice the problem. This is a way to actively and constructively attempt to improve conditions, including suggesting improvements or discussing problems with supervisors. The

supervisor can then be made to realise that it is in everybody's best interest to solve the problem before it escalates into a formal grievance. Ehlers (2007:99) provided the following guidelines for resolving employee complaints through discussion:

1. Meet the person in a quiet environment.

ii. Ensure that your meeting will not be interrupted.

iii. Explain that you wish to determine the nature of the complaint and want to assist the person to resolve it.

iv. Ask the person to explain his/her side of the situation, and listen attentively -don't interrupt.

v. Summarise your understanding of what the person told you and ask if your understanding is correct.

VI. Ask the person to make proposals on how to deal with the complaint and

listen attentively.

vii. Discuss the proposal and offer additional information on ways to resolve the

complaint.

viii. Decide jointly on the solution.

ix. Summarise the agreement on the solution and test the understanding of the

person.

x. Agree on an implementation plan and follow-up discussion date.

2.11.6 Formal grievances

A grievance is a feeling of dissatisfaction that is experienced by an employee as a result of behaviour or conditions specifically related to the labour relations environment that requires the formal attention of management. (Bendix 2010).

Most employees have the right to file formal grievances in terms of their employment contracts. Table 2 provides a brief overview of the steps in a typical grievance procedure. A grievance procedure provides a structured methodology for dealing with employee grievances about harassment in the workplace, and can be used by employees when informal discussions failed to resolve the problem.

Table 2: Steps in a Grievance procedure

(Ehlers, 2007:97)

DISPUTE Dispute may be declared if grievance remains unresolved after

step four.

STEP FOUR Formal written grievance referred to highest decision-making

authority if grievance remains unresolved after step three. STEP THREE Formal written grievance referred to next level of authority if

grievance remains unresolved after step two.

STEP TWO Formal written grievance filed and investigated by immediate

supervisor if grievance remains unresolved after step one.

STEP ONE Formal discussion of grievance with immediate supervisor

2.11.7 CCMA dispute

The Labour Relations Act provides for a basic two-step procedure which will apply whenever the parties in dispute have not agreed to a private dispute resolution

Procedure in a collective agreement which covers the issue in dispute (Bendix, 201 0).

The first step is always conciliation. If conciliation fails, parties can proceed to take one of three alternate routes for dispute resolution, namely: arbitration, adjudication by the Labour Courts or industrial action. Arbitration is the process in which the parties to a dispute use a neutral third party to hear their respective cases and then make an award which they will accept as a final and binding resolution of the dispute. It is similar to litigation but less formal (Ehlers, 2007:180).

2.11.8 Resignation

A major form of employee withdrawal is resignation. By not reporting for duty, or by resigning to seek another job, an employee can express job dissatisfaction with their jobs and escape from the unpleasant work environment that they are experiencing. Robbins (2006:79) explained that the exit strategy can be used where the behaviour is directed towards leaving the organisation, including looking for a new position as well as resigning.

2.12 Related research findings

Neethling (2005) investigated the link between sexual harassment of South African public service employees and found that the typical harasser in the Public Service would be a married male between 35 and 44 years old. One third of the respondents in her study admitted to being harassed but they mostly indicated that it did not pose a serious problem to them. She concluded that many respondents did not share their true experiences or feelings, since they fear reprisal or victimisation.

Chen and Portnoy (2009) conducted research involving respondents from China and the USA, and found support for their hypotheses that people show positive reciprocity responses to favourable treatment, and negative reciprocity responses to unfavourable treatment. They found that these tendencies may vary depending on the relationship with the party involved in the exchange.

Sasson (2007) believed that sexual harassment, remains pervasive in workplaces around the world, and those academic writers are fairly unanimous that the answer lies in the fact that harassment is about an abuse of power, rather than about the sex itself. She believes that this is particularly true where the harasser is in a supervisory position and thus able to exert "real" economic power over the victim, for example when a victim faces loss of a tangible job benefit such as a promotion or salary increase if she does not comply sexually.

Calitz (2009) found that South African employees who suffer work-related harassment by non-employees can neither institute action against their employer on the basis of vicarious liability, nor in terms of section 60 of the Employment Equity Act (EEA). She proposed that employers, who do not take action to protect employees against work-related harassment by non-employees, should be held directly liable in terms of the Constitution and the Employment Equity Act.

Tepper (2008) found that abusive supervision, which includes harassment, can create a

situation where the fellow employees of an abused employee will become more approving if the abused employee performs acts of organisationdeviance. They will believe that the deviance is justified in light of the abusive supervision. Harris (2007) also found that perceptions of supervisor fairness are related to the justification of deviant behavioral intentions of subordinates.

Joubert, VanWyk and Rathmann (2010) found that sexual harassment policies exist in South African higher education institutions, and that they are regarded as effective tools in addressing sexual harassment. They also found that the implementation of such policies is not effective and few academic staff members received training and/or guidance on the utilisation of the policy.

Loots (2008) believed that sexual harassment is unquestionably present in our society as well as in the conduct of political figures who abuse their power, and that this necessitated legal transformation in South Africa in order to promote gender equality.

She further argued that the South African doctrine of vicarious liability should be

extended to accommodate instances where members of political parties abuse their

positions of power in sexual harassment scenarios.

2.13 Conclusion

This chapter provided an overview of literature related to supervision and workplace harassment. The most important legal provisions that apply to harassment in the workplace were discussed and typical employee responses to harassment were

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

Chapter three provides an overview of the research methodology, design used, a research sample and its description, the instruments used to evaluate the intended employee response to harassment by immediate supervisor.

3.2 Research design

The research design for this study is very closely related to the quantitative survey questionnaire method (Leedy and Ormrod, 201 0) but should rather be viewed as a mixed research design, since it is not a purely quantitative or qualitative research design. Mixed methods can be used to explain quantitative results within qualitative data in order to make validated conclusions from a literature study (Maree, (2007:261 ).

A comprehensive literature review was thus conducted and data from a reliable existing dataset was used to investigate hypotheses, and make additional conclusions.

3.3 Questionnaires as research instruments

Although data from an existing database was used in this study, the following section provides a brief overview of questionnaires in research in order to demonstrate understanding of the method. Weier (2008:105) states that questionnaires are a commonly used research data collection instrument. They are either filled out personally by the respondent or administered and by an interviewer. Temane (2009:38 identified the following advantages of questionnaire survey designs:

i. It is a widely used data collection method for research into real life situations;

ii. It can extract the practical concerns of people in a situation and further the goals of social research simultaneously;

iii. It can be used by practitioners who wish to improve an understanding of their practice;

iv. it increases validity and reliability since results can be confirmed by means of different data sources;

v. It creates new lines of thinking by facilitating the emergence of fresh perspectives and contradictions; and

VI. Information collected through questionnaires is mostly already structured and

thus easy to analyse.

Jackson and Mazzei (2008:91) view the careful planning of the survey instrument as a prerequisite to ensure that the data collected is both reliable and valid. Leedy and Ormrod (2001:202-204), Weiman and Kruger (1999:171-179) and McMillian and Schumber (2006) proposed the following guidelines for developing questionnaires.

i. Define the purpose of the research clearly, and determine exactly which information must be gathered through the questionnaire and why it should be gathered.

ii. Set guidelines for writing and justification of items

iii. Determine the format and content of the questionnaire. Questionnaires should be as brief as possible and solicit only information essential to the research project. iv. Consider what the researcher intends to do with the information.

v. Consider the importance of each item for purposes of solving the research problem?

vi. Use clear, simple, unambiguous language to construct a draft questionnaire, vii. Write items that communicate exactly what is expected. Avoid terms that the

respondents may not understand, such as obscure words or technical jargon and words that do not have precise meanings, such as several and usually.

viii. Keep the respondent's task simple and provide clear instructions.

ix. Analyse each question in the draft questionnaire individually to determine whether it is unambiguous and whether it measures what it is supposed to measure.

x1. The questionnaire validity and reliability must be reviewed and statistically tested where necessary.

xii. The final questionnaire must be logical and easily comprehensible so that vagueness will not impair the outcome.

xiii. The researcher must make sure that sufficient control measures exist when the final questionnaires are distributed.

3.4 The existing database

An original questionnaire survey was conducted by a group of labour relations consultants in order to gather data on the strength and direction of intended employee responses to a number of abusive supervisory practices. (See Annexure A). The reliability and validity of the questionnaire is not known, although the consultant reported that the draft questionnaire was reviewed and face validated by two academics and three labour relations practitioners (Ehlers, 2011 ). The questionnaire had three sections, namely:

i. Section A: Fifteen questions related to biographical information, prior experience with negative employment relations behaviour and group affiliation.

ii. Section B: Twelve questions intended to measure the intended remedial

i

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'

,

,

,

I

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behaviour forms of immediate supervisors. A scale with progressive response options was provided.

iii. Section C: Twelve questions aimed at measuring the intended performance response of employees to a number of positive employment relations behaviour forms of immediate supervisors. A scale with progressive response options was provided.

Responses to the first eight questions from the biographical information section and responses to one specific question from Section B relating to the strength of intended employee reaction to harassment were extracted and analyzed for purposes of this research. (See Annexure B)

3.5 Research Sample

354 ·respondents participated in the original questionnaire survey. A convenience sampling procedure was followed in the original survey (Ehlers, 2011 ). The developers of the existing database requested delegates on training courses in Gauteng and the North West Province to complete questionnaires voluntarily in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Completed questionnaires were received from respondents who were part of the following groups:

i. MBA students enrolled at the NWU (Mafikeng Campus),

ii. Management and Labour Relations students enrolled at the University of Pretoria and GIBS,

iii. SARS employees attending courses on disciplinary procedures,

iv. Department of Land Affairs employees attending a course on labour relations, and

v. A number of random non affiliated respondents who were willing to participate in the research project.

3.6 Data Capturing and Statistical Analysis

Data in the existing database was initially captured in SPSS on a personal computer. The extracted data was then transferred and analysed by using the SPSS v18 statistical analysis programme that were available at the NWU Mafikeng campus. Data was analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistical methods. The following is a brief overview of the statistical procedures that were used in this study.