tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/workplace-ethics-28187/articlesWorkplace ethics – The Conversation2023-10-09T19:10:38Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2148572023-10-09T19:10:38Z2023-10-09T19:10:38ZDoes your employer have to tell if they’re spying on you through your work computer?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552447/original/file-20231006-15-qydplx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C54%2C5986%2C3961&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID pandemic stimulated an irreversible shift in where, when and how we work. This 21st-century model of working – dubbed the “new normal” – is characterised by increased <a href="https://theconversation.com/morning-or-evening-type-choice-of-hours-is-the-next-big-thing-in-workplace-flexibility-194170">flexibility and productivity gains</a>. </p>
<p>Yet this reshaping of work, underpinned by technology, has also <a href="https://theconversation.com/work-life-balance-in-a-pandemic-a-public-health-issue-we-cannot-ignore-155492">eroded our work-life boundaries</a> – and persisting 20th-century attitudes are preventing us from successfully managing the new normal.</p>
<p>We find ourselves struggling with “<a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/why-managers-and-employees-cant-agree-on-how-much-work-is-getting-done">productivity paranoia</a>”: a term used to describe managers’ concerns that remote and hybrid workers aren’t doing enough when not under supervision. </p>
<p>As a result, we’re seeing a surge in the use of electronic monitoring and surveillance devices in the workplace. These devices allow managers to “watch over” employees in their absence. This practice raises serious legal and ethical concerns.</p>
<h2>Big bossware is here</h2>
<p>In a survey of 20,000 people across 11 countries, <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hybrid-work-is-just-work">Microsoft reported</a> 85% of managers struggled to trust their remote-working employees. In Australia, this figure was 90%.</p>
<p>In 2021, American research and consulting firm Gartner estimated
the number of large firms tracking, monitoring and surveilling their workers had <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/the-right-way-to-monitor-your-employee-productivity">doubled</a> to 60% since the start of the pandemic. </p>
<p>Electronic monitoring and surveillance technology can capture screenshots of an employee’s computer, record their keystrokes and mouse movements, and even activate their webcam or microphones. </p>
<p>On one hand, these <a href="https://home.coworker.org/worktech/">“bossware” tools</a> can be used to capture employee and production statistics, providing businesses with useful evidence-based analytics. </p>
<p>The other side is much darker. These devices are indiscriminate. If you’re working from home they can pick up audio and visual images of your private life. </p>
<p>Managers can be sent notifications when data “indicate” an employee is taking breaks or getting distracted. </p>
<p>Some aspects of electronic monitoring and surveillance are legitimate. For instance, it may be necessary to safeguard an organisation’s data access and transfers. </p>
<p>But where are the boundaries? Is your organisation legally obliged to tell you about electronic intrusions? Alternatively, what can you do if you find out you’re being watched without being informed?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/not-big-brother-but-close-a-surveillance-expert-explains-some-of-the-ways-were-all-being-watched-all-the-time-194917">Not Big Brother, but close: a surveillance expert explains some of the ways we’re all being watched, all the time</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The legal framework</h2>
<p>A complex array of regulation governs workplace privacy and surveillance in Australia. <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-02/privacy-act-review-report_0.pdf">Proposed reforms</a> to the Privacy Act 1988 are set to strengthen privacy protections for private-sector employees. </p>
<p>However, this legislation doesn’t specifically cover workplace surveillance. Instead, a patchwork of laws in each state and territory regulate this matter. </p>
<p>Specific legislation regulates the surveillance of workers in <a href="https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2005-047">New South Wales</a> and the <a href="https://www.legislation.act.gov.au/a/2011-4">Australian Capital Territory</a>. Importantly, surveillance must not be undertaken unless the employer has provided at least 14 days’ notice. This notice must include specific details about the surveillance that will be carried out. Employers must also develop and adhere to a surveillance policy. </p>
<p>In both states, employers can only record visual images of an employee while they’re “at work”. This is broadly defined to capture any place where work is carried out. </p>
<p>Covert surveillance is prohibited unless the employer has obtained a court order. In this case it’s restricted to situations where the employee is suspected of unlawful activity.</p>
<p>Even then, a covert surveillance order would not be granted where this unduly intrudes on the employee’s privacy. Covert surveillance for the purpose of monitoring work performance is expressly prohibited. </p>
<p>Other states and territories don’t have specific electronic workplace surveillance laws. Employers must instead comply with more general surveillance legislation.</p>
<p>Broadly speaking, employees must give consent, express or implied, to any surveillance. In practice, such consent is usually obtained through the implementation of a workplace surveillance policy, which employees must agree to when they accept the job. So if you’ve signed a contract without reading the fine print, you may have agreed to being surveilled via electronic monitoring tools.</p>
<p>Currently, <a href="https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1971-050">Queensland</a> and <a href="https://www.legislation.tas.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1991-021">Tasmania</a> provide the most limited protection for employees. Their surveillance legislation is limited to the regulation of listening devices. </p>
<p>Enterprise agreements, employment contracts and workplace policies may also limit or prohibit the use of surveillance devices. In practice, however, most employees will lack the bargaining power to negotiate the inclusion of any such terms in their employment contract.</p>
<h2>The law is failing to keep up</h2>
<p>In 2022, a parliamentary <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/other/nsw/NSWLCSelCPubInq/2022/7.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=nsw%20consol_act%20wsa2005245%20s10">select committee</a> reporting on the future of work in NSW observed the current regulatory framework is failing to keep pace with rapid advancements in electronic monitoring and surveillance. </p>
<p>The report criticised legislation that simply allows an employer to notify workers surveillance will be carried out, with no mechanism for this to be negotiated or challenged. The situation is slightly better in the ACT, where employers must consult with workers in good faith about any proposed surveillance activities.</p>
<p>Workers who suspect their employer is spying on them should review their workplace surveillance policies. They may need to reflect carefully on how they use their work computer.</p>
<p>Where an enterprise agreement applies, the <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/issues-we-help/common-issues-workplace/resolve-dispute-your-workplace">Fair Work Commission</a> can arbitrate surveillance disputes. A worker who is dismissed following intrusive surveillance may be able to <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/job-loss-or-dismissal/unfair-dismissal/process-unfair-dismissal-claims">challenge the dismissal</a> on the basis of it being unfair. </p>
<p>Workers who haven’t been informed of their employer’s surveillance practices can also lodge a complaint with the relevant authority or regulator, who may have powers to investigate and prosecute offences. </p>
<p>To thrive in our “new normal” work landscape, we’ll need to address the gap between the existing legal protections and the capabilities (and potential harms) of electronic monitoring and surveillance. For now, it remains a significant legal and ethical challenge. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bunnings-kmart-and-the-good-guys-say-they-use-facial-recognition-for-loss-prevention-an-expert-explains-what-it-might-mean-for-you-185126">Bunnings, Kmart and The Good Guys say they use facial recognition for 'loss prevention'. An expert explains what it might mean for you</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214857/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Meredith receives funding from an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Holland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The electronic monitoring and surveillance of employees is on the rise as growing numbers of people switch to hybrid and at-home work.Jacqueline Meredith, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of TechnologyPeter Holland, Professor in Human Resource Management and Employee Relations, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2076942023-07-09T12:02:17Z2023-07-09T12:02:17ZThe ethical values and behaviours of CEOs play a crucial role in attracting new talent<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534676/original/file-20230628-17-nj42jt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C26%2C5973%2C3961&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New research has found that CEO ethics are more important to young job seekers than corporate social responsibility acts.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In today’s job market, where <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/18-001-x/18-001-x2022002-eng.htm">highly skilled workers are scarce</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/10/study-employers-seek-immigrants-amid-shortage-of-high-skilled-workers.html">specialized skills are in high demand</a>, employers are facing the challenge of filling job positions.</p>
<p>This situation has sparked intense competition — often referred to as the “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220421-what-the-war-for-worker-talent-really-looks-like">war for talent</a>” — among companies to attract and keep the best employees.</p>
<p>To stand out in this battle for new talent, organizations have to appeal to job seekers. One way of doing this is for employers to effectively communicate their ethical values to outsiders.</p>
<p>This is key because the younger generation of workers values <a href="https://www.zenefits.com/workest/corporate-social-responsibility-and-the-rise-of-the-gen-z-worker/">social responsibility, transparency and ethical behaviour</a> from their potential employers. </p>
<h2>Skepticism about CSR</h2>
<p>Companies have historically demonstrated their commitment to ethical values through corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts.</p>
<p>Examples of these efforts include <a href="https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/corporate-social-responsibility-examples">Starbucks’ commitment to ethically sourcing its coffee</a>, <a href="https://blog.tentree.com/where-do-we-plant-your-trees-these-are-the-countries-where-we-plant/">tentree’s tree planting and community projects</a>, <a href="https://www.patagonia.ca/one-percent-for-the-planet.html">Patagonia’s pledge to give one per cent of sales</a> to environmental organizations and <a href="https://www.bnpparibas.ca/en/philanthropy-and-volunteering/">BNP Paribas’ volunteering program</a>. </p>
<p>However, the public is growing increasingly skeptical about CSR. Many view CSR initiatives as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198802280.013.9">misleading attempts to appear ethical</a>. </p>
<p>Research has found <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488419866888">a number of reasons for this</a>, including: the disparity between the business and the cause they support, the company’s prior reputation and the use of reactive versus proactive approaches to CSR. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A 'Now Hiring' sign posted on a lawn" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534680/original/file-20230628-17-kodtu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534680/original/file-20230628-17-kodtu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534680/original/file-20230628-17-kodtu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534680/original/file-20230628-17-kodtu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534680/original/file-20230628-17-kodtu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534680/original/file-20230628-17-kodtu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534680/original/file-20230628-17-kodtu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In today’s job market, highly skilled workers are scarce and specialized skills are in high demand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So how can firms best showcase their morals to outsiders? What would send a stronger message than CSR acts? </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370772651_CEO_Ethical_Leadership_as_a_Unique_Source_of_Substantive_and_Rhetorical_Ethical_Signals_for_Attracting_Job_Seekers_The_Moderating_Role_of_Job_Seekers%27_Moral_Identity">forthcoming research</a>, we studied these questions and found something surprising — CEO ethical leadership is more important to job seekers than the company’s CSR initiatives, even after considering typical factors such as salary and fit. </p>
<h2>Why candidates care about CEO ethics</h2>
<p>Our research shows that when CEOs demonstrate their personal ethical values, they inspire individuals to want to work for their organizations. </p>
<p>We conducted three different studies and found a few reasons for this. First, job seekers are likely to believe that the ethical CEO’s company treats its employees fairly. Second, job seekers are likely to believe that the CEO’s company cares about society and the environment. </p>
<p>Lastly, job seekers tend to experience feelings of awe, admiration and inspiration when they learn about the CEO’s ethical goodness. This lead to something called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/10594-012">moral elevation</a>. Moral elevation are positive feelings that arise when someone witnesses another person act in an uncommonly moral way.
Not surprisingly, we found that, because of the above reasons, job candidates who strongly identify as moral persons are more attracted to the ethical CEO’s organization. </p>
<h2>Cisco: A case study</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A man in a suit and tie appears to be listening intently to someone speaking off-screen" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534675/original/file-20230628-19349-uu2ug9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534675/original/file-20230628-19349-uu2ug9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534675/original/file-20230628-19349-uu2ug9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534675/original/file-20230628-19349-uu2ug9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534675/original/file-20230628-19349-uu2ug9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=991&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534675/original/file-20230628-19349-uu2ug9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=991&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534675/original/file-20230628-19349-uu2ug9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=991&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former CEO of Cisco John Chambers at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2010 in New York.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some CEOs have already figured out the importance of CEO ethical leadership in the workplace and are using it to effectively attract top workers. For example, during his tenure as CEO of Cisco, <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/10/09/ciscos-lean-in-how-john-chambers-is.html">John Chambers focused on building a diverse and inclusive workforce through strategic recruitment initiatives</a>. </p>
<p>Chambers pursued partnerships with universities, participated in career fairs and established programs to attract underrepresented groups, including women and minorities, to the tech industry. </p>
<p>He also emphasized the importance of creating an inclusive culture where employees could thrive and contribute their unique perspectives. </p>
<p>Chambers aimed to make Cisco an employer of choice for a diverse range of talented individuals, helping the company expand its talent pool and strengthen its position in the market. </p>
<h2>Strategies for attracting workers</h2>
<p>Based on our research findings, we suggest a number of ways organizations can effectively use their CEO’s ethical leadership to attract good workers.</p>
<p><strong>1. Avoid overemphasizing CSR initiatives.</strong> While it’s important to highlight a company’s commitment to ethical values and practices, it’s also important to avoid overemphasizing CSR initiatives to the point where it can be seen as “greenwashing.” Instead, managers should focus on genuine and impactful initiatives that align with the company’s values and mission.</p>
<p><strong>2. Leverage social media.</strong> Managers can leverage social media platforms to advertise the ethical values of their CEOs. This can be done by regularly posting about any awards, accomplishments, blogs, presentations or other relevant content that specifically highlight the CEO’s ethical leadership. </p>
<p><strong>3. Use video content.</strong> Recruitment strategies can include videos of CEOs speaking about their personal ethical values and how they shape their companies’ values. This content can be used on the company’s website, social media platforms and during recruitment events to provide a visual representation of the CEO’s ethics.</p>
<p><strong>4. Highlight the link between CEO ethics and CSR initiatives.</strong> This can be achieved by sharing stories or case studies showcasing how the CEO’s personal ethical convictions guide the company’s CSR decisions and initiatives. Job candidates will see how the CEO’s ethics and the organization’s values are reflected in its CSR initiatives and be inspired to join the company to make a positive impact.</p>
<p>By implementing these strategies and effectively communicating the ethical values of their CEOs, organizations can differentiate themselves in the market and attract top candidates that share similar values.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207694/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meena Andiappan received funding for this study from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tunde Ogunfowora received funding for this study from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madelynn Stackhouse does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When CEOs and workplace leaders communicate their personal values and ethics clearly, they inspire individuals to want to work for their organizations.Meena Andiappan, Associate Professor of Human Resources and Management, McMaster UniversityMadelynn Stackhouse, Assistant Professor, Bryan School of Business and Economics, University of North Carolina – GreensboroTunde Ogunfowora, Associate Professor, Organizational Behavior and Human Resources, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2072892023-07-03T12:05:54Z2023-07-03T12:05:54ZIf companies want to stop quiet quitting they need to take burnout seriously<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534165/original/file-20230626-27-r5orsw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=122%2C73%2C5340%2C3563&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Unless businesses deal with the root causes of employee burnout, they will struggle to retain their workforce.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2023, between a <a href="https://www.mhrc.ca/findings-of-poll-16">quarter</a> and a <a href="https://www.bcg.com/en-ca/publications/2023/workplace-burnout-costing-canadian-companies-billions">third</a> of Canadians are feeling burned out. Burnout has not declined <a href="https://www.hcamag.com/ca/specialization/mental-health/canadians-more-burned-out-now-than-this-time-last-year/447897">compared to last year</a>. A full <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2023/06/09/a-third-of-canadian-professionals-are-reporting-burnout-heres-why.html">36 per cent of employees</a> are more burned out now than last year. </p>
<p>If you aren’t burned out, it may well be because you did some <a href="https://theconversation.com/quiet-quitting-why-doing-less-at-work-could-be-good-for-you-and-your-employer-188617">quiet quitting</a> to keep work at bay. Most workplaces haven’t changed their workload or how work is done, although there are a growing number of exceptions.</p>
<p>My research focuses on <a href="https://doi.org/10.7146/kkf.v31i3.128517">organizational governance</a>. I study organizations and employees’ experiences of their workplaces. Last summer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-ways-to-deal-with-burnout-at-work-184994">I wrote about how employee burnout remained high in Canada</a> and discussed how it could be addressed. I cautioned that often, workplaces hold employees responsible for managing burnout. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/13505084231156267">addressing the root causes of burnout</a> requires workplaces to examine the workload and expectations they place on employees. How can workplaces change their approach to burnout? Are they now more concerned with handling the root causes of burnout? </p>
<h2>Burnout and quiet quitting</h2>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/psychosocial/mh/mentalhealth_jobburnout.html">Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety</a>, burnout includes a variety of symptoms from being emotionally depleted to detachment and cynicism to a sense of low personal accomplishment and depersonalization — the feeling that work does not belong to oneself.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534166/original/file-20230626-23-aa5w3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A stressed man in front of a laptop places his fingers on his forehead" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534166/original/file-20230626-23-aa5w3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534166/original/file-20230626-23-aa5w3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534166/original/file-20230626-23-aa5w3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534166/original/file-20230626-23-aa5w3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534166/original/file-20230626-23-aa5w3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534166/original/file-20230626-23-aa5w3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534166/original/file-20230626-23-aa5w3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To address burnout businesses should examine how much work their employees have and how they expect them to do it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fact that burnout hasn’t decreased suggests that organizations have not addressed its root causes. Instead, employees have taken matters into their own hands and done some quiet quitting. </p>
<p>Quiet quitting refers to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-10-2022-0792">doing what our job requires and nothing more</a>. Gone are the days of overwork and constant availability. According to a <a href="https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace-2022-report.aspx">2023 Gallup report</a>, most employees around the world are quiet quitting. Because employees who quiet quit may <a href="https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/quiet-quitting/">set better boundaries around their work</a>, quiet quitting enables them to prevent burnout.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/quiet-quitting-is-a-new-name-for-an-old-method-of-industrial-action-189752">Quiet quitting is a new name for an old method of industrial action</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The fact that many employees have resorted to quiet quitting suggests workplaces are not addressing or taking burnout seriously enough.</p>
<p>As a result, work remains the <a href="https://www.bcg.com/en-ca/publications/2023/workplace-burnout-costing-canadian-companies-billions">primary source of stress</a> for Canadians. We have <a href="https://www.hcamag.com/ca/specialization/mental-health/heavy-workloads-see-more-employees-burned-out-report/447917">too much work, work in organizational cultures that are too toxic and don’t feel supported enough</a>. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly then, a recent survey found one third of Canadians have <a href="https://blog.canadianprosperityproject.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Pollara_TPP-W6_Workplace_Report.pdf">left a job</a> due to burnout. <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-621-m/11-621-m2022022-eng.htm">One in four businesses</a> in Canada have had challenges with employee retention.</p>
<h2>How workplaces can address burnout</h2>
<p>Employers need to revisit the workload they place on their employees. They should consider how realistic it is for employees to complete their work within the required time frame. </p>
<p>They also need to address their culture and question how it can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/toxic-work-cultures-start-with-incivility-and-mediocre-leadership-what-can-you-do-about-it-204198">toxic</a>, notably concerning how <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-let-go-of-toxic-workplace-emotional-labour-108245">work is done</a>, and how toxicity can be addressed. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534168/original/file-20230626-21-pgg5t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman working on a laptop with a baby beside her in a high chair" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534168/original/file-20230626-21-pgg5t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534168/original/file-20230626-21-pgg5t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534168/original/file-20230626-21-pgg5t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534168/original/file-20230626-21-pgg5t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534168/original/file-20230626-21-pgg5t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534168/original/file-20230626-21-pgg5t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534168/original/file-20230626-21-pgg5t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">By accommodating the needs of their employees, businesses can improve retention and reduce burnout.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, organizational leaders need to listen to their employees and set a <a href="https://theconversation.com/corporate-leadership-why-the-tone-at-the-top-has-moral-consequences-172134">tone</a> that is supportive, shows empathy and is not merely rhetoric. Words have to be followed by actions to ensure the work environment fits the <a href="https://hbr.org/2023/03/to-curb-burnout-design-jobs-to-better-match-employees-needs">needs of employees</a>.</p>
<p>Paying employees more isn’t sufficient. Having a good work-life balance is often <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/canada-vacation-days/">more important than higher salaries</a>. </p>
<p>There are signs that some workplaces are serious about addressing the root causes of burnout. They are concerned with reducing workload. For instance, they can offer prolonged, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/parents-burnout-leave-1.6767710">or even unlimited</a>, paid leave. They can provide more <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/canada-vacation-days/">days off</a> to allow employees to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/adv/article-best-workplaces-in-canada-2023-1000-employees/">recharge</a>.</p>
<p>A growing number of businesses are also embracing <a href="https://www.4dayweek.com/">four-day work weeks</a> as a way of boosting employee morale. Other workplaces give their employees the flexibility to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/adv/article-best-workplaces-in-canada-2023-1000-employees/">work onsite and remotely</a>. </p>
<p>Flexibility is essential for employees who also shoulder care work. Care work in many households is still done by women more than men. Women with young children take time away from their paid work for family responsibilities and miss more than twice as many days at work than men, leaving <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/parents-burnout-leave-1.6767710">many mothers drained</a>. </p>
<p>More than one third of working mothers in Canada say it is <a href="https://www.pollara.com/burnout-is-the-new-threat-to-canadas-economy-especially-for-women/">difficult for them to arrange child care</a>. Mothers are about 20 per cent more likely than fathers to consider leaving their job because they struggle to find child care. </p>
<p>Employees need accommodating and flexible workplaces that understand their needs. Workplaces need to be mindful of that flexibility and should not view employees who seek it <a href="https://claudinemangen.com/les-structures-organisationnelles-sont-elles-faites-pour-les-femmes-aussi/">as less reliable</a> than those who can work in offices for longer hours.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claudine Mangen receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Many Canadians are still feeling burned out at work. Companies can help by being more accommodating of their workers’ needs and addressing some of the root causes of burnout.Claudine Mangen, RBC Professor in Responsible Organizations and Associate Professor, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1739702022-02-03T13:11:04Z2022-02-03T13:11:04ZHow to reduce investing’s gender gap: try talking about ethics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440557/original/file-20220112-13-1pf5lau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C9%2C2114%2C1400&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why have women lagged behind in finance, while their numbers grow in other professions?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/women-meeting-in-business-office-royalty-free-image/1144541711?adppopup=true">MoMo Productions/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em> </p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Women’s perception of unethical behavior among finance professionals may contribute to how underrepresented they are in the industry, according to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pacfin.2021.101669">recently published article I co-authored</a> with colleagues at Zhejiang University and Creighton University.</p>
<p>We administered surveys to nearly 3,000 college students in the U.S. and China, describing 10 scenarios in which a character makes an ethically questionable decision. Students were asked to rate how ethical the action was and what percentage of investment managers they believe would act in the same way. </p>
<p>By a statistically significant margin, women in the U.S. ranked the characters’ actions as more unethical than men did. However, they also proved more pessimistic about financial professionals’ ethics, presuming that a significantly higher percentage of investment managers would take the same action. In other words, female respondents in the U.S. perceived a larger discrepancy between their own ethical views and what they believe about investment managers. </p>
<p>For example, in one scenario, a financial adviser suggests a risky fund to an elderly client. It will potentially provide a better return for the client, but also a substantial commission for the adviser. Of the men in our sample, 38.8% felt that a relatively low number of financial professionals – less than 40% – would take this questionable action. By comparison, only 26.7% of women felt that a low number of financial professionals would take this action. Just 29.5% of men felt that a high percentage of financial professionals – more than 60% – would recommend the risky portfolio, compared with 38.3% of women. </p>
<p>Based on our surveys, however, women in China appear to have more favorable perceptions of investment manager ethics than men do, by a statistically significant margin.</p>
<p>These differences seem to mirror some differences in gender representation in the industry in the U.S. and China. In 2018, for current or future investment professionals taking the <a href="https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/programs/cfa#:%7E:text=The%20CFA%20Program%20is%20a,accounting%2C%20economics%2C%20or%20business.">CFA exam</a> in the U.S., only 29% were women, while in China, 52% of test-takers <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-25/face-of-finance-may-soon-be-more-female-at-least-in-china">were women</a>.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Many reasons have been proposed to explain why women in the U.S. have been less likely to pursue careers in finance, particularly in investment management, such as a <a href="https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/research/financial-analysts-journal/2018/ip-v3-n1-6-can-role-models-encourage-more-women-in-finance">lack of role models</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726720942826">industrywide cultural norms</a>.</p>
<p>Universities and professional organizations have been trying to <a href="https://www.cfp.net/initiatives/diversity-and-inclusion/womens-initiatives">boost the number of women</a> in finance careers for many years. However, recent evidence suggests that the percentage of female fund managers has not <a href="https://www.morningstar.com/articles/1029482/the-percentage-of-us-female-fund-managers-is-exactly-where-it-was-in-2000">improved</a> over the past two decades. Only 18% of investment professionals who have earned the CFA designation in the U.S. are women.</p>
<p>This participation rate significantly trails other professions, as women represent <a href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/physicians-by-gender/?dataView=1&currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D">37% of active doctors</a>, <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/female-lawyers-still-underrepresented-especially-in-partnership-ranks-which-law-firms-do-best#:%7E:text=Over%20the%20last%20six%20years,female%20lawyers%20are%20also%20underrepresented.">38% of attorneys at law firms</a> and <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm">62% of accountants and auditors</a>.</p>
<p>Researchers and women’s advocates have outlined a slew of factors contributing to women’s slow advancement in many traditionally male-dominated fields, from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547012472684">bias</a> and discrimination to difficulty <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2827952">balancing work and child care</a> to a preference for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.122.3.1067">less competitive</a> environments. Given women’s faster progress in other fields, however, we hope to isolate factors specifically associated with investment management to better understand the lack of progress.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>Our research suggests that the many institutions interested in <a href="https://100women.org/">recruiting more women</a> into finance careers should devote effort to addressing concerns about ethics and modifying poor perceptions of the field.</p>
<p>However, it is unclear where these ethical perceptions are formed and how well they reflect reality. For instance, do women overestimate the occurrence of ethical misbehavior or do men underestimate it? Can these perceptions be altered by <a href="https://theconversation.com/study-finds-ethics-can-be-taught-in-finance-at-least-129877">ethics training</a> or highlighting the rigorous ethical standards employed by professional organizations such as the <a href="https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/ethics-standards/ethics/code-of-ethics-standards-of-conduct-guidance">CFA Institute Code of Ethics</a> – or are these views already ingrained by the time students arrive on college campuses? </p>
<p>Although devising the most effective reforms is a difficult path, we hope that understanding differences in ethical perceptions will lead to more successful efforts in recruiting diverse pools of financial professionals going forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173970/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyler Jensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many factors influence women’s underrepresentation in investment careers. One that isn’t often discussed: their concerns about ethics.Tyler Jensen, Assistant Professor of Finance, Iowa State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1763382022-02-02T23:30:17Z2022-02-02T23:30:17ZCNN president Jeff Zucker’s resignation shows why even consensual office romances can cause problems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444134/original/file-20220202-17727-4eya1g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C23%2C3040%2C2041&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jeff Zucker resigned from his role as president of CNN after revealing he failed to disclose a relationship with a subordinate. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2020DemocratsDebate/dac675d0c2b84703b0df5640bcca424b/photo?Query=Zucker%20CNN&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=65&currentItemNo=8">AP Photo/Paul Sancya</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Former CNN president Jeff Zucker <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/02/media/jeff-zucker-cnn/index.html">became the latest executive to lose his job</a> over a consensual relationship with a subordinate.</p>
<p>Zucker stepped down on Feb. 2, 2022, acknowledging in a statement that he was “required to disclose” the relationship but didn’t. “I was wrong,” he said.</p>
<p>The news follows <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/03/business/mcdonalds-ceo-steve-easterbrook-steps-down/index.html">previous incidents in which executives</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/RepKatieHill/status/1188591520531779584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1188591520531779584&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.refinery29.com%2Fen-us%2F2019%2F10%2F8631305%2Fkatie-hill-resigns-congress-leaked-photos-twitter">other leaders</a> were fired or resigned over consensual relationships with employees they oversaw. Most recently, the <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/01/18/university-michigan-fires-president">University of Michigan</a> ousted its president after learning of his affair with a subordinate.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.challengergray.com/press/press-releases/metoo-survey-update-more-half-companies-reviewed-sexual-harassment-policies">It’s common for organizations to have policies</a> related to romantic relationships between employees, including requiring disclosure of relationships between coworkers or banning sexual relationships between supervisors and employees altogether. </p>
<p>Whether policies overseeing consensual relationships at work are really necessary <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Abuse-of-Power-in-Intimate/99094">has been debated</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/business/global/18fund.html?scp=7&sq=Landon%20Thomas,%20Jr.&st=cse">many times</a>. And it seems reasonable to ask: Shouldn’t mutually consenting adults be allowed to make these decisions for themselves?</p>
<p>Based on my <a href="https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/people/vanessa-bohns">research on power and influence</a>, I believe the short answer is probably not. </p>
<h2><strong>Policies that regulate romance at work</strong></h2>
<p>A growing number of companies <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/05/sex-between-superiors-and-subordinates-what-are-the-rules/239141/">are clamping down on office romances</a>, particularly those marked by power imbalances. </p>
<p>The #MeToo movement led many companies to reassess their policies surrounding workplace relationships, leading to an <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/love-contracts-go-mainstream-as-employers-track-office-romance">increase in “love contracts,” or relationship disclosures</a>. A June 2018 survey found that 78% of human resources executives said their employers didn’t allow <a href="http://www.challengergray.com/press/press-releases/metoo-survey-update-more-half-companies-reviewed-sexual-harassment-policies">relationships between managers and direct reports</a>. </p>
<p>And <a href="http://theuniversityfaculty.cornell.edu/dean/report-archive/consensual-relationships-policy-committee/q3-what-about-power-differentials/power-differntials/">academic institutions</a> – <a href="https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/05/president-endorses-consensual-relationship-policy">including my own, Cornell,</a> and the <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/u-of-michigan-just-expanded-its-ban-on-student-instructor-romance-heres-why/">University of Michigan</a> – are also increasingly prohibiting relationships between professors and students, deeming them inherently problematic. </p>
<p>In the past, some organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/05/sex-between-superiors-and-subordinates-what-are-the-rules/239141">have been much more permissive</a>. </p>
<p>Opponents of these sorts of bans and similar policies consider them to be paternalistic overreach, arguing that <a href="https://theconversation.com/banning-workplace-romances-wont-solve-the-problem-of-sexual-misconduct-in-the-office-91975">institutions ought not police</a> the private lives and relationships of mutually consenting adults. In other words, they believe two intelligent people with good intentions should be trusted to manage the power dynamics in their own relationship.</p>
<h2>An unbalanced relationship</h2>
<p>A key problem is that people in positions of power have a hard time recognizing the coercive nature of that power in an unbalanced relationship. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721415628011">one of my studies</a>, participants asked other people for various favors ranging from the innocuous, such as to donate money to charity, to the unethical – to lie for them. In each case, the people making the request underestimated how uncomfortable others would feel saying “no.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1948550618769880">Follow-up work</a> that my former graduate student Lauren DeVincent and I conducted found that similar dynamics play out in romantic relationships at work. Individuals who make romantic advances toward coworkers underestimate how uncomfortable the targets of their advances feel rejecting them. </p>
<p>[<em>More than 140,000 readers get one of The Conversation’s informative newsletters.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140K">Join the list today</a>.]</p>
<p>Notably, in a phenomenon dubbed the “<a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1948550618769880">power amplification effect</a>” by psychologist Adam Galinsky, these dynamics can be, as the name implies, amplified when there’s an uneven power dynamic. Even simple, polite requests can feel like directives when they come from your boss. </p>
<p>Yet people in positions of power tend to be oblivious to the influence they wield over others because <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01824.x">they are less likely to take the other party’s perspective</a>. This makes it difficult for powerful people to recognize when another person feels compelled to go along with their requests. </p>
<p>All of this means that people in positions of power can’t be trusted to recognize abuses of power they may commit when engaging in a romantic relationship with a subordinate.</p>
<h2>Subordinates have blind spots, too</h2>
<p>That ultimately leaves it up to the subordinate to recognize and highlight such abuses if and when they occur. </p>
<p>However, despite how emboldened someone might imagine they would feel to do so, research finds that we tend to overestimate how comfortable we would actually feel. For example, in research by psychologists Julie Woodzicka and Marianne LaFrance, the majority of women who read a hypothetical scenario about being sexually harassed during a job interview <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00199">said they would confront the interviewer</a>. Yet when these researchers staged an actual episode of sexual harassment during what participants thought was a real job interview, hardly any of the participants actually did so.</p>
<p>Bans on sexual relationships between supervisors and subordinates serve multiple purposes, such as protecting the involved parties from the risk of retaliation if a relationship ends and preventing concerns about favoritism. </p>
<p>And policies <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2022/02/02/zuckers-resignation-underscores-importance-of-full-disclosure-to-help-avoid-a-crisis/?sh=59baad064145">such as CNN’s</a> allow objective parties to determine whether there are potential conflicts of interest and help to resolve such conflicts if they do exist.</p>
<p>Importantly, these policies recognize that even intelligent, well-intentioned people can have blind spots when it comes to the power dynamics at play in their own relationships.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/mcdonalds-fired-its-ceo-for-sleeping-with-an-employee-research-shows-why-even-consensual-office-romances-can-be-a-problem-126231">article originally published</a> on Nov. 1, 2019.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176338/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vanessa Bohns receives funding from the National Science Foundation. She is affiliated with the Academy of Management.
</span></em></p>Research shows supervisors often fail to recognize the coercive nature of their power over a subordinate.Vanessa Bohns, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1688092021-09-28T13:09:34Z2021-09-28T13:09:34ZR. Kelly was aided by a network of complicity – common in workplace abuse – that enabled crimes to go on for decades<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423595/original/file-20210928-14-5zme6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=42%2C0%2C4722%2C3124&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A lengthy spell in prison awaits the convicted sexual predator.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/singer-r-kelly-goes-through-security-as-he-arrives-at-the-news-photo/1128860813?adppopup=true">Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images via AFP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>R. Kelly was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/29/us/r-kelly-sentencing-racketeering-sex-trafficking/index.html">sentenced to 30 years in prison on June 29, 2022 over racketeering and sex trafficking crimes</a>. It comes after a trial last year in which the R&B singer was exposed as the ringleader of a decades-long scheme to recruit girls, boys and women to have sex with.</p>
<p>During the six-week long trial, jurors heard <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2021/09/r-kelly-sex-trafficking-trial-what-to-know.html">harrowing testimony from a succession of survivors of Kelly’s abuse</a>. Witnesses also revealed how members of the 54-year-old’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/nyregion/r-kelly-trial-racketeering-enablers.html">entourage assisted, enabled and helped cover up</a> the singer’s crimes. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://advertising.utexas.edu/faculty/minette-drumwright">professors who have</a> <a href="https://www.dal.ca/faculty/management/rsb/faculty-and-staff/our-faculty/peggy-cunningham.html">researched unethical behavior</a> for many years, we found the patterns revealed in Kelly’s trial to be classic examples of how unethical, even criminal, conduct can persist in organizations for long periods of time, often as an open secret and often supported by others.</p>
<h2>Beyond the ‘bad apple’</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2020.1825114">studies of unethical</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-04-2019-0117">illegal behavior</a> – from fraud to sexual harassment – have looked at sectors including business, journalism, health care, sports and government. We found that despite policies and laws designed to prevent it, such behavior is rife in many organizations.</p>
<p>While there is a tendency to focus on the “bad apple” – the perpetrator and their despicable behavior – in cases of unethical behavior, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-04-2019-0117">our research</a> demonstrates the need to look beyond the individual to understand how and why unethical behavior thrives and persists.</p>
<p>Repeatedly, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-04-2019-0117">we have found that perpetrators</a>, such as Kelly, do not act alone. They tend to have active enablers – groups we call “networks of complicity” who support the abuse in various ways. They also have passive enablers – groups we label “networks of complacency” who turn a blind eye to what is happening.</p>
<p>In all workplaces, people are embedded in networks of social relationships that they value and want to maintain. However, we found that if someone falls prey to the charms of a predator – usually powerful men, such as Kelly – they gradually lose their perspective. Their desire to be “part of the team” comes to dominate other considerations, including norms of ethical behavior. </p>
<p>These enablers often do not intend to do bad things, but <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01102">bad behavior is contagious</a> and biases can blind them to their own increasingly bad conduct. They are also subject to situational and organizational pressures, like conforming with others or trying to please powerful figures.</p>
<h2>Running interference</h2>
<p>In Kelly’s trial, the prosecution produced 45 witnesses who provided evidence of managers, assistants, bodyguards and other members of Kelly’s entourage who not only <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/r-kelly-trial-explained.html">recruited and delivered underage girls and boys for Kelly to have sex with</a>, but also covered for him and fixed problems for the singer when they occurred.</p>
<p>We have heard stories such as Kelly’s time and time again: A charismatic leader <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/r-kelly-new-indictment-in-new-york-charges-singer-entourage-recruited-underage-girls-for-sex">uses their star power and rewards</a>, but also <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/kelly-testify-sex-trafficking-trial-80168526">fear and intimidation</a> to draw individuals from inside and outside their organization into a loyal network of supporters. The supporters <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/nyregion/r-kelly-trial-racketeering-enablers.html">do their leader’s bidding, run interference and deflect criticism</a>.</p>
<p>The perpetrators control and shape information and build myths to enhance their expertise and greatness. Members of the network of complicity <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/nyregion/r-kelly-trial-racketeering-enablers.html">fall victim to such storytelling and myth-building</a>.</p>
<p>Our research – like the evidence in Kelly’s trial – demonstrates that bad behavior <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-04-2019-0117">metastasizes and spreads through the network of complicity</a>. The prosecution provided evidence that <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-prosecution-closing-argument-enablers-helped-foster-sexual-abuse-2021-9">members of Kelly’s network also behaved illegally and unethically</a>. For example, a former tour manager, Demetrius Smith, testified <a href="https://kesq.com/news/national-world/cnn-national/2021/08/21/former-r-kelly-tour-manager-reluctantly-testifies-about-the-singers-marriage-to-aaliyah/">that he bribed an Illinois state employee</a> to get a fake ID for underage R&B Singer, Aaliyah, so that Kelly could marry her.</p>
<p>Typically, the bad behavior of the perpetrator and the network creates a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2020.1825114">toxic organizational culture</a> in which abuse and unethical acts become the norm and everyone in the organization suffers, not just victims. </p>
<p>Our research also shows that typically many people beyond the network of complicity <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-04-2019-0117">know about the bad behavior but act as bystanders</a> unwilling to report abuse or take action to stop it. They form a network of complacency that, through its passivity, also enables the perpetrator’s bad behavior to continue.</p>
<p>The prosecution in Kelly’s case provided evidence that Kelly was <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/do-no-harm-the-doctor-who-may-have-enabled-r-kelly">enabled by a silent network</a>. </p>
<h2>Lifting the veil on abuse</h2>
<p>The question that many people will have is how could people in Kelly’s networks have allowed themselves to go along with such blatantly unethical – and now we know, criminal – activities for so long?</p>
<p>Our research shows that network members often suffer from “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4189254">moral myopia</a>” – a condition in which ethical issues do not come clearly into focus at the time of the abuse – and “moral muteness” – in which people do not raise or talk about ethical issues even among other network members.</p>
<p>They can also be governed by self-interest bias. It was certainly in the self-interest of those surrounding Kelly to build his brand, contribute to his success, earn his favor and keep their jobs.</p>
<p>This self-interest bias can blur moral vision.</p>
<p>There is also a framing bias, in which events are portrayed and presented in a misleading light. In closing arguments, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/23/nyregion/r-kelly-trial.html">defense lawyer framed Kelly’s behavior</a> as that of “a playboy” and that he was only engaged in “kinky sex,” which is “not a crime.”</p>
<p>If Kelly’s inner circle framed the star’s behavior in this way, it would seem less horrific and abusive to them, and could be rationalized or dismissed.</p>
<p>If persistent unethical behavior is to be stopped, convicting perpetrators alone is not enough. Our research suggests that networks of complicity also need to be addressed and the behavior of enablers exposed and where appropriate punished. Organizational leaders can learn to identify not just perpetrators but also their networks of complicity. Meanwhile, network members themselves need to be shown that it is in their self-interest to expose perpetrators, like Kelly, and <a href="https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/EthicalDecisionMaking.pdf">lift the veil themselves on the great harm abusive behavior causes.</a></p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This article was updated on June 30, 2022.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168809/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The former R&B star faces the possibility of life in prison after being found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking. The trial exposed the role of enablers within his inner circle, too.Peggy Cunningham, Professor of Business, Dalhousie UniversityMinette Drumwright, Associate Professor of Advertising and Public Relations, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1302752020-01-27T10:56:16Z2020-01-27T10:56:16ZCompanies target toilet breaks to improve productivity – it’s wrong and it won’t work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311652/original/file-20200123-162190-1tpur7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Don't take too long.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/toilet-sign-direction-on-wood-wall-97036877">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Productivity growth in the UK has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49971853">stalled since 2008</a>. The puzzle has become so tricky that toilet makers are getting in on the act of suggesting solutions. The company StandardToilet has designed a tilted toilet, whose seat slopes downward at a 13 degree angle. Its goal is to stop users lingering too long on the lav. After about five minutes, sitting on a tilted toilet will put a strain on users’ legs, said to be similar to a “low level squat thrust”. </p>
<p>The idea is it would <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/battle-toilet-workplace">save employers money</a> because, according to <a href="http://www.btaloos.co.uk/?p=2134">the company’s press release</a>, “extended employee breaks cost industry and commerce an estimated £4 billion per annum” in the UK.</p>
<p>An uncharitable commentator might question where the company pulled this (unsubstantiated) figure from. But a steady stream of news articles suggests that employers around the world are indeed clamping down on toilet breaks in a bid to improve productivity. A <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2014/07/15/smallbusiness/bathroom-time-penalty/index.html">Chicago-based firm hit the news</a> when a union filed a complaint against it for “bathroom harassment”. The firm, which had introduced swipe cards to monitor toilet use, advised that employees should spend no more than six minutes on the loo per day and even gave gift cards to workers who didn’t use the toilet at all during work time. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, in Scotland, <a href="https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/peed-call-centre-workers-slam-13851914">call centre staff were asked to sign a new contract</a> limiting toilet breaks to 1% of their shift – just two minutes for those working a four-hour part-time day. In Norway one company required female employees to <a href="https://ic.steadyhealth.com/red-bracelet-for-menstruating-employees">wear red bracelets while menstruating</a>, to show they were allowed to visit the toilet more often.</p>
<h2>Toilet talk</h2>
<p>Time away from the desk or production line may not be an employer’s only concern when it comes to toilet use. As studies on workplaces as diverse as <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-2338.1996.tb00763.x">Japanese-owned car firms in the UK</a> and <a href="https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/5464980">textile factories in Kenya</a> have found, toilets are also places where workers express anti-company sentiment, share advice and even covertly organise.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0023656X.2019.1624699">study of Italian factories in the post-war period</a> – an era of union suppression – found that toilets became a focal point for resistance. As one of the few places in a factory that wasn’t monitored, toilets were used as a meeting point as well as a place where anti-company feelings could be more freely expressed and union literature shared. </p>
<p>In one case, a female worker found graffiti accusing the factory boss of being an “idiot and a buffoon” inscribed on a toilet door. Perhaps scared that she would be accused of writing it, she reported the infraction to management. The door was removed and, to root out the culprit, all workers were forced to write out the phrase in front of a handwriting expert. The guilty party was found and relieved of their position – but, as researcher Ilaria Favretto points out, at least they got to see every worker in the factory repeat the insult.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311815/original/file-20200124-81357-1oiojj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311815/original/file-20200124-81357-1oiojj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311815/original/file-20200124-81357-1oiojj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311815/original/file-20200124-81357-1oiojj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311815/original/file-20200124-81357-1oiojj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311815/original/file-20200124-81357-1oiojj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311815/original/file-20200124-81357-1oiojj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toilets are one of the few places people aren’t monitored at work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cctv-system-security-warehouse-factory-chemical-310270736">By jtairat/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One thing stands out in all these examples: it’s lower paid, more precarious workers who are more likely to have their workplace activities – and toilet breaks – more tightly controlled and monitored. Writing about workplace surveillance technologies, economist Joelle Gamble points out that as employers collect more data on their workers, <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/worker-surveillance-big-data/">they increase their power over them</a>. In some cases, workers’ wages are directly affected. Companies using <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/8/just-in-time-schedulingshiftswalmartlowwage.html">just-in-time scheduling technologies</a> have been cancelling workers’ shifts at short notice when sales are down.</p>
<h2>Critically panned</h2>
<p>But is this drive for ever more rigid control of workers’ (bowel) movements actually good for productivity? A <a href="https://www.thersa.org/globalassets/reports/2020/can-good-work-solve-the-productivity-puzzle.pdf">new collection of essays published by Carnegie Trust and the RSA think tank</a> suggests not. Instead, it makes a strong case that good quality work is the key to improving productivity, especially at the bottom end of the labour market, where job quality is poorest. Instead of trying to optimise every minute of their workforce’s time, employers might be better off improving working life.</p>
<p>Rather than punitive measures, several of the essays argue that giving workers voice and agency is crucial in increasing productivity. New workplace technologies are more likely to be successful when workers feel involved in decision making. A report by the Living Wage Foundation makes similar points. Focusing on the retail sector, it argues that <a href="https://www.livingwage.org.uk/sites/default/files/Living%20Wage%20Foundation%20-%20Good%20Jobs%20ToolKit_1_0.pdf">standardising tasks while empowering staff to use their discretion</a> is important in improving productivity and profits. This helps improve staff retention and motivation, among other benefits. </p>
<p>As colleagues’ and my own work at Nesta argues, in a knowledge-driven economy, <a href="https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/imagination-unleashed/">the most successful firms are constantly innovating</a>. We need to spread the practices that these firms use – collaboration, decentralisation, autonomous teams – if we want a step-change in productivity.</p>
<p>So the next time someone tries to sell you a productivity-enhancing toilet, don’t just take it sitting down.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130275/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madeleine Gabriel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tilting toilets are the latest suggestion to limit time spent on the loo at work.Madeleine Gabriel, Head of Inclusive Innovation, NestaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1250212019-10-11T09:36:53Z2019-10-11T09:36:53ZHow remote working can increase stress and reduce well-being<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296634/original/file-20191011-96235-3h9dv6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/business-woman-working-on-laptop-inflatable-674364040?src=4RkgCvhN0rIvRSsdCG1j7Q-1-11">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Remote working is becoming more popular than ever. A <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/30/70-percent-of-people-globally-work-remotely-at-least-once-a-week-iwg-study.html">study</a> released by the Swiss office provider IWG found that 70% of professionals work remotely at least one day a week, while 53% work remotely for at least half of the week. Some multinationals have their entire staff working remotely, with no fixed office presence at all, which can result in having employees <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48879976">situated all over the world</a>. </p>
<p>New technology makes all this possible. While there are certainly benefits, there are also a number of pitfalls. As remote working becomes the new normal for many, it’s important companies adapt and put the right policies in place to ensure their employees feel part of the team and don’t burn out.</p>
<p>Nearly 70% of millennials would be more likely to choose an employer who offered remote working <a href="https://insights.learnlight.com/en/articles/end-working-remotely-why-yahoo-ibm-are-wrong/">according to one study</a>. The benefits are important. Employees <a href="https://www.ipse.co.uk/ipse-news/mymoneymag/mymoneymagazine-blog/how-remote-working-is-changing-lives.html">value the flexibility</a> it gives them, particularly if they have childcare commitments. People also appreciate escaping long commutes and avoiding office distractions.</p>
<p>But there are also growing concerns that people’s mental health and well-being can take a hit when working remotely. In the UK, businesses lose £100m every year due to <a href="https://www.hrreview.co.uk/analysis/analysis-wellbeing/can-remote-working-affect-your-employees-mental-health/111800">workplace stress, depression and anxiety</a>. Research shows that being “always on” and accessible by technology while working remotely leads to the blurring of work and non-work boundaries, particularly if you work from home. A 2017 <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_544138.pdf">United Nations report</a> found that 41% of remote workers reported high stress levels, compared to just 25% of office workers. </p>
<h2>Out of sight, out of mind?</h2>
<p>One of the reasons for this could be the “out of sight, out of mind” mentality that’s commonplace toward remote workers, which leads to a lack of trust, feelings of being an outsider and a tendency for people to think their colleagues are talking negatively about them behind their back. One <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/11/a-study-of-1100-employees-found-that-remote-workers-feel-shunned-and-left-out">study</a> of 1,100 workers found that the 52% who worked from home at least some of the time were more likely to feel left out and mistreated, as well as unable to deal with conflict between themselves and colleagues.</p>
<p>Navigating sensitive territory in a virtual team is an essential skill. If we’re not careful, issues can fester. Emails can be misinterpreted as being rude or too direct. And, with no visible body language it is tricky to convey our true meanings.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296639/original/file-20191011-96208-1d33sir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296639/original/file-20191011-96208-1d33sir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296639/original/file-20191011-96208-1d33sir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296639/original/file-20191011-96208-1d33sir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296639/original/file-20191011-96208-1d33sir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296639/original/file-20191011-96208-1d33sir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296639/original/file-20191011-96208-1d33sir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Remote working can bring a pressure to be always online.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a virtual environment there is a tendency to focus too much on tasks and too little on relationships. This kind of transactional leadership can be the route taken by leaders who want to get the job done but fail to recognise how important the people are who are completing these tasks. With more emphasis on deadlines and routine information, virtual workers can feel treated as a cog in a machine, rather than an essential part of the team. Such a leadership approach can worsen the sense of isolation that naturally comes with working remotely and can contribute to virtual workplace stress. </p>
<h2>Good stress, bad stress</h2>
<p>As part of my research, I’ve spoken to university colleagues and students who work virtually. Feelings of isolation, loneliness and being unable to “switch off”, as well as the lack of social support, were all mentioned. One of the more significant issues raised was that of how virtual working was managed. Interviewees said a lack of feedback from line managers and senior colleagues gave them no benchmark to judge progress, which led to increased feelings of anxiety and a concern as to whether they were “up to standard”.</p>
<p>When it comes to work, there are two kinds of stress – the good kind and the bad kind. The <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/04/are-you-too-stressed-to-be-productive-or-not-stressed-enough">Yerkes-Dodson Law</a> (drawn up by psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson) points out that stress can be productive up to a point and then it results in reduced productivity. Being unable to report being stressed (or being uncomfortable doing so), is detrimental as pressure will eventually outweigh an individual’s ability to cope over time. In contrast, one <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3036935/why-you-need-to-actually-talk-to-your-coworkers-face-to-face">recent study</a> found that colleagues who spend just 15 minutes socialising and sharing their feelings of stress had a 20% increase in performance. </p>
<p>The right kind of communication is key to overcoming the trials and tribulations of virtual working. Employers need to put the right structures in place such as scheduled video calls and regular team-building meetups to build rapport. Bosses need to lead by example and create a culture where those outside the office feel valued. </p>
<p>But it cuts both ways. Everyone needs to think about what makes them productive, happy and successful in everyday life, and try to replicate this in a remote setting – whether this ranges from taking a walk at lunch time, going to the gym, ringing a friend or reading your favourite book. </p>
<p>If the future of work is heading towards more virtual working, then it is not something we can avoid. Instead we should implement ways of managing the stress associated with it, while enjoying the benefits.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Russell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While there are certainly benefits, there are also a number of pitfalls to remote working.Stephanie Russell, Principal Lecturer, Corporate Education, Faculty of Business and Law. Anglia Ruskin University. Human Resource Management, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1204002019-07-16T22:01:10Z2019-07-16T22:01:10ZMansplaining: New solutions to a tiresome old problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284190/original/file-20190715-173370-onwft2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5607%2C3732&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most women have been mansplained at work. But rather than women figuring out ways to handle it, men should stop doing it and organizations should step in.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2008, author Rebecca Solnit’s <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175584/rebecca_solnit_the_archipelago_of_ignorance">now famous essay</a>, <em>Men Explain Things to Me</em>, set off a firestorm. </p>
<p>Though Solnit didn’t use the term “mansplaining,” the essay is credited with birthing the term that’s now part of regular parlance. Women (and other underrepresented groups such as people of colour and non-binary people) had finally found a way to articulate that phenomenon they routinely experienced, particularly at work. </p>
<p>Men feel the need to explain something to a woman, even if the woman hasn’t asked for an explanation and often pertaining to something that’s directly in the woman’s area of expertise and not at all in the man’s. Or when the topic is about a woman’s own experience and the man wants to explain her experience to her.</p>
<p>Even women who are famous for their mastery of a domain find themselves being mansplained. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284189/original/file-20190715-173376-tckg97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284189/original/file-20190715-173376-tckg97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284189/original/file-20190715-173376-tckg97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284189/original/file-20190715-173376-tckg97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284189/original/file-20190715-173376-tckg97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284189/original/file-20190715-173376-tckg97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284189/original/file-20190715-173376-tckg97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284189/original/file-20190715-173376-tckg97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Krawcheck is seen in November 2011 speaking at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association annual meeting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sallie Krawcheck, a former CEO of wealth management at Citibank and before that the CEO of Smith Barney investment advisers, says that venture capitalists interested in her new financial investment venture Ellevest <a href="https://www.inc.com/kimberly-weisul/wall-street-veteran-turned-entrepreneur-sallie-krawcheck-on-raising-money-female.html">mansplained financial advising to her</a>. </p>
<p>We all have our own stories. Most women I know just roll their eyes knowingly when asked about mansplaining. Most of us experience it so often that we aren’t always even conscious it is happening. </p>
<h2>‘Cluelessness’</h2>
<p>Note, <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175584/rebecca_solnit_the_archipelago_of_ignorance">as Solnit does</a>, that “mansplaining is not a universal flaw of the male gender, just the intersection between overconfidence and cluelessness where some portion of that gender gets stuck.” </p>
<p>But the <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/a19057864/mansplain-10-years-old-internet/">mansplaining term has stuck</a>. And research demonstrates that the feeling of being mansplained is, in fact, not just a feeling.</p>
<p>Studies show that in meetings, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0001839212439994">men speak more</a>, and more powerful men speak even more. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/089858989290018R">Men interrupt more</a>, and are less likely than women to cede the floor when they are interrupted. Women worry (correctly) that if they fight to get their voices heard, they will <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0001839212439994">experience backlash</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284178/original/file-20190715-173334-kh8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284178/original/file-20190715-173334-kh8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284178/original/file-20190715-173334-kh8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284178/original/file-20190715-173334-kh8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284178/original/file-20190715-173334-kh8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284178/original/file-20190715-173334-kh8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284178/original/file-20190715-173334-kh8s3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Hi! Let me tell you all about something you know more about than me!’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pixabay</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The blogosphere is filled with recommendations for how women should handle mansplaining when it happens: “<a href="https://www.bustle.com/p/7-ways-to-respond-to-mansplaining-43514">7 Ways to Handle Mansplaining</a>,” “<a href="https://shyatt.com/podcast-post/how-to-deal-with-a-mansplainer/">How To Deal with a Mansplainer</a>” and “<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/29/twitter-vp-explains-how-to-handle-mansplaining-at-work.html">How to Handle Mansplaining at Work</a>.” </p>
<p>The recommendations are good — ignore the mansplainer, stand your ground, ask the mansplainer questions about their expertise and what they hope to accomplish by “explaining” the topic, explain mansplaining to the mansplainers, use other women as allies to stand up for you, and use as much humour as you can.</p>
<p>As with #MeToo and other efforts to point out the inequalities that women experience, many men feel attacked, even when women try to respond with humour, as feminist blogger Elle Armageddon did with her 2015 flow chart “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/woman-creates-genius-flowchart-to-shut-down-mansplainers_us_55f86d61e4b0e333e54b77dd">Should You Explain Thing to a Lady?</a>” </p>
<p>“Not all men” is the regular refrain. But, honestly, such protestations smack of an unwillingness to listen to the legitimate experiences of women in the workplace. And it’s unfair that while mansplaining is done by men to women, the solutions all seem to be about how women can address it — rather than how and why men should stop doing it.</p>
<p>It’s a further demand placed on women to solve the problems imposed on them by others. I’d like to take another tack.</p>
<h2>Mansplaining eradication tactics</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284182/original/file-20190715-173338-bf07fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284182/original/file-20190715-173338-bf07fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284182/original/file-20190715-173338-bf07fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284182/original/file-20190715-173338-bf07fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284182/original/file-20190715-173338-bf07fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284182/original/file-20190715-173338-bf07fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284182/original/file-20190715-173338-bf07fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284182/original/file-20190715-173338-bf07fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A mansplaining hotline would be great, but apparently it’s only available in Sweden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Sweden, a major union has set up a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/sweden-mansplaining-hotline-woman-get-to-report-patronising-male-colleagues-a7418491.html">mansplainer hotline</a> you can call to report offenders and receive advice and commiseration. But that’s not a resource available to all of us.</p>
<p>So what can potential mansplainers do? <a href="https://twitter.com/OaklandElle/status/643317399047925760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">Armageddon’s advice is pretty good</a>: If you aren’t an expert on a topic, maybe you don’t need to talk. </p>
<p>For those of you who fear you might be mansplainers, keep in mind — even if you are an expert, but the woman is an expert too and hasn’t asked for your advice — maybe you still just stay silent. What’s the harm in listening? You might learn something. Even if you speak a lot less than you do now, the research I cited above suggests that you still might be speaking more than the women in the room. </p>
<p>The point is, you can dial it back a lot and still speak your fair share about issues on which you are an expert and have something unique to contribute.</p>
<p>But mansplainers almost by definition can’t help themselves. The advice on self-restraint is bound to be ignored. So maybe we need to think about more structural solutions. In other words, what can organizations do to even the playing field?</p>
<h2>‘High-testosterone settings’</h2>
<p>As a professor of strategic management, I’ve thought about this a lot in my own teaching to MBA students. MBA programs have historically been pretty high-testosterone settings. I have an explicit practice to call on those students who are quiet, find out who the true experts are and shut down interrupters. </p>
<p>I also evaluate students on their contributions to the classroom learning experience, and those evaluations reward listening and building on the ideas of others (not just rehearsing their own lines in their minds while they are waiting to talk).</p>
<p>Organizations could replicate these practices. They could develop guidelines for meetings that require each person to share their point of view or instructions to the meeting leader to shut down mansplaining and support women who are speaking. </p>
<p>It is not enough, by the way, to simply extend the amount of time for questions or discussion with the hopes that women will speak up more or men will run out of things to say. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202743">Research experiments show that doesn’t work</a>. </p>
<p>Further, performance evaluations could be adapted to sanction mansplaining and to reward listening and building on the ideas of other team members.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284188/original/file-20190715-173366-xbssgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=194%2C225%2C4982%2C2366&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284188/original/file-20190715-173366-xbssgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284188/original/file-20190715-173366-xbssgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284188/original/file-20190715-173366-xbssgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284188/original/file-20190715-173366-xbssgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284188/original/file-20190715-173366-xbssgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284188/original/file-20190715-173366-xbssgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Business meetings are often particularly rife with mansplainers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In short, we need to stop giving women advice on how to fix the inequalities and discrimination they face and instead look to the perpetrators to change their behaviour and to organizations to change workplace dynamics.</p>
<p>“Fixing the women” is a costly solution for women, and could result in companies losing valuable female employees. It will ultimately be ineffective without organizational change. Women shouldn’t be asked to “handle” mansplaining. Organizations should handle it for them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120400/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Kaplan receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and The Institute for Gender and the Economy at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. </span></em></p>Women shouldn’t be asked to handle mansplaining in the workplace. Organizations should handle it for them, or the men responsible should stop doing it.Sarah Kaplan, Professor, Strategic Management, Rotman School of Management; Director, Institute for Gender and the Economy, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1051042018-11-26T22:42:25Z2018-11-26T22:42:25ZWomen feel better when they work with other women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247895/original/file-20181129-170247-1iz02uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New research indicates women are much happier when they work with other women, as opposed to men. Here a scene from the set of 'Ocean's Eight' with Cate Blanchett and Rihanna looking happy working together.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The #metoo movement has brought the widespread <a href="http://msmagazine.com/blog/2018/08/07/women-report-sexual-harassment-men-even-male-dominated-workplaces/">sexual harassment experienced by women in the workplace to the fore</a>. <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/07/women-in-majority-male-workplaces-report-higher-rates-of-gender-discrimination/">Women in traditionally male jobs and workplaces are even more likely to experience gender discrimination and sexual harassment</a>. This has been described as “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/sunday-review/sexual-harassment-masculine-jobs.html">the ‘manly’ jobs problem</a>.”</p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10902-018-0039-3">A recent study</a> I worked on with my colleague <a href="https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/mcas/departments/sociology/people/faculty-directory/wen-fan.html">Wen Fan</a> from Boston College looks closely at this question of how gender equality is unfolding in the labour force. Most adults spend almost half their waking hours at work, so it is a hugely important part of our lives. </p>
<p>One of the issues we explored was: how are women doing at work? We discovered that women are much happier when they work with other women, as opposed to men.</p>
<p>Women now make up <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/31/women-may-never-make-up-half-of-the-u-s-workforce/">almost half of the workforce in the United States</a> but occupations continue to be <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13524-012-0151-7">segregated along gender lines</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246557/original/file-20181120-161633-dkk7fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246557/original/file-20181120-161633-dkk7fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246557/original/file-20181120-161633-dkk7fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246557/original/file-20181120-161633-dkk7fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246557/original/file-20181120-161633-dkk7fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246557/original/file-20181120-161633-dkk7fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246557/original/file-20181120-161633-dkk7fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Here a scene from the set of ‘Ocean’s Eight’ with Cate Blanchett and Rihanna looking happy working together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warner Bros.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 1970s and 1980s, some progress was made and gender segregation declined, but progress toward more integrated workplaces has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243210361475">stalled since the mid-1990s</a>. </p>
<p>As of 2016, about half of women or half of men would have to move into a new occupation to <a href="https://inequality.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/Pathways_SOTU_2018_occupational-segregation.pdf">eliminate the gender segregation of occupations</a>. Jobs that are dominated by either sex are often viewed as <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520087873/still-a-mans-world">“manly” or “womanly”</a> and form core definitions of masculinity or femininity.</p>
<h2>Scorn and ridicule</h2>
<p>Throughout <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483326559">American history</a>, men have defended gender segregation by treating women who enter into male-dominated occupations with scorn and ridicule. Women who cross over into predominantly male jobs are seen as “<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891243213510781">role deviates</a>;” they report feeling <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243209359912">lower levels of workplace support</a> and experiencing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122412451728">hostile work environments</a>.</p>
<p>In contrast, <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520087873/still-a-mans-world">the few men who enter female-dominated occupations have been generally accepted by their female co-workers</a>.</p>
<p>Women’s presence in male-dominated occupations seems to threaten prevailing ideas of masculinity. Men have been observed trying to neutralize this threat by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243298012003004">sexually harassing</a> their female co-workers or <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891243213510781">labeling them as lesbians</a> — not fully women. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246520/original/file-20181120-161633-qt09gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246520/original/file-20181120-161633-qt09gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246520/original/file-20181120-161633-qt09gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246520/original/file-20181120-161633-qt09gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246520/original/file-20181120-161633-qt09gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246520/original/file-20181120-161633-qt09gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246520/original/file-20181120-161633-qt09gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women report feeling harassed, marginalized and unsupported in their untraditional job roles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arthur Lambillotte / Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Also, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/226425">due to their high visibility</a>, women in male-dominated occupations often hear doubts from their male co-workers about their competence to perform “men’s jobs.” They encounter negative stereotypes, are subject to higher performance standards and face <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/si.1991.14.3.279">various forms of marginalization</a>. </p>
<p>To add to this, these women are deeply <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520087873/still-a-mans-world">constrained in how they can respond to gender prejudices</a> and unfair treatment. </p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10902-018-0039-3">Our study</a> found that when women are the minority in the workplace, they experience higher levels of unpleasant feelings at work. To put it into perspective, our statistics indicate that working in occupations with over 90 per cent male workers is associated with a 52 per cent increase in unpleasant feelings for women, compared to working in occupations with less than 10 per cent male workers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246602/original/file-20181121-161612-nxuglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246602/original/file-20181121-161612-nxuglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246602/original/file-20181121-161612-nxuglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246602/original/file-20181121-161612-nxuglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246602/original/file-20181121-161612-nxuglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246602/original/file-20181121-161612-nxuglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246602/original/file-20181121-161612-nxuglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246602/original/file-20181121-161612-nxuglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The U-index is a measure of unpleasantness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Provided by the author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The men are generally fine</h2>
<p>How about men? Does the the gender ratio at work effect their affective well-being? </p>
<p>The answer is no. As indicated in the chart above, men’s feelings of unpleasantness at work barely change with the gender composition of their occupation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246554/original/file-20181120-161618-1gzbssc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246554/original/file-20181120-161618-1gzbssc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246554/original/file-20181120-161618-1gzbssc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246554/original/file-20181120-161618-1gzbssc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246554/original/file-20181120-161618-1gzbssc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246554/original/file-20181120-161618-1gzbssc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246554/original/file-20181120-161618-1gzbssc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some trailblazers enter into nontraditional roles like politics. Here Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American Congresswoman announces her candidacy for the U.S. presidency in 1972.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://blackwomeninpolitics.com">Black Women in Politics</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although men in female-dominated occupations may be subject to suspicions that they are not “real men,” their masculinity and male privilege are maintained through various ways, such as being channeled into male-identified — and typically higher-status — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2008.55.2.271">specialties</a>, job tasks or <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520087873/still-a-mans-world">leadership positions</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-is-metoo-coming-to-my-workplace-eight-things-you-can-do-now-99661">When is #MeToo coming to my workplace? Eight things you can do now</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In addition, men in female-dominated occupations do not necessarily experience marginalization, because they tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243209359912">receive support</a> from their supervisors who are typically men and they are generally <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520087873/still-a-mans-world">welcomed by their female coworkers</a> who often view male colleagues as bringing status to female-dominated occupations.</p>
<p>Our results clearly show that the unpleasant feelings during work are not merely a by-product of being a numerical minority. Because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/089124390004002002">work organizations</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243208330313">the wider society</a> value men and qualities associated with masculinity more than they value women and femininity, women’s affective well-being suffers from being a minority, whereas men’s affective well-being is not affected. </p>
<p>The segregation of men and women in the labour market thus perpetuates gender inequality partly through its impact on the quality of one’s daily working life.</p>
<h2>Unpleasant feelings lead to bad health</h2>
<p>Although unpleasant feelings seem subjective, they are found to <a href="http://chicago.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.7208/chicago/9780226454573.001.0001/upso-9780226454566-chapter-2">predict health, longevity, immune function and “stress hormone” levels such as cortisol</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246555/original/file-20181120-161624-14myvvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246555/original/file-20181120-161624-14myvvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246555/original/file-20181120-161624-14myvvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246555/original/file-20181120-161624-14myvvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246555/original/file-20181120-161624-14myvvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246555/original/file-20181120-161624-14myvvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246555/original/file-20181120-161624-14myvvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unpleasant feelings are subjective but yield negative physical results such as higher levels of stress and lower well-being.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jose Martin Ramirez /Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In fact, workers’ unpleasant feelings at work are a key <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135156">predictor of their withdrawal behaviours</a> such as absenteeism and turnover. Therefore, the negative feelings that are experienced by women working in male-dominated occupations may discourage many of these women from retaining their jobs.</p>
<p>Thus, by linking women’s affective well-being with occupational gender composition, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10902-018-0039-3">our study</a> provides important clues as to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243210361475">stalling of the progress towards gender equality</a> at work.</p>
<h2>Education and policies needed</h2>
<p>In order to revitalize the stalled progress towards gender integration in the workforce, policies need to be developed to improve the experience of female workers in gender-atypical occupations. </p>
<p>For example, organizations and workplaces could implement effective programs that monitor and prevent sexual harassment and bullying at work. There is also a need to promote an organizational culture that ensures people are evaluated based on their performance rather than any gender-related stereotype. </p>
<p>As well, efforts could be devoted to education — reducing the cultural devaluation of women and femininity and, at the same time, promoting a redefinition of masculinity and femininity that breaks the link between gender and innate interests or abilities. </p>
<p>New equity initiatives would continue to positively increase female workers’ affective well-being and, in the long run, would serve to build a solid foundation to create gender-friendly work environments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105104/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yue Qian does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Men have defended gender segregation by treating women who cross over into male-dominated occupations with scorn and ridicule.Yue Qian, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1072212018-11-22T11:20:42Z2018-11-22T11:20:42ZMicrochip implants are threatening workers’ rights<p>It’s not often trades unions and employers are equally worried about an issue threatening workers’ rights. But recently, the UK’s Trades Union Congress and the main body that represents British businesses, the CBI, have both <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/nov/11/alarm-over-talks-to-implant-uk-employees-with-microchips">voiced concerns</a> about the budding practice of implanting employees with microchips.</p>
<p>Initially, the chips are being used in place of ID cards as a way of opening secure doors. But there’s good reason to think the use of implants could expand to more sinister purposes, giving employers much greater control over their workers and raising serious concerns over issues related to human dignity, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-006-9124-0">ethics</a> and health.</p>
<p>Businesses often do need some way to monitor employees to be sure they are completing their work and how much they should be paid. But in recent years, we’ve seen some more extreme monitoring methods that push at the boundaries of personal privacy. These include <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/02/18/firms-step-monitoring-employee-activities-work/2l5hoCjsEZWA0bp10BzPrN/story.html">surveillance of employee emails</a>, wearable technology that can <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/tesco-accused-of-using-electronic-armbands-to-monitor-its-staff-8493952.html">track employee movements</a>, and <a href="https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/working-papers/every-stitch-you-make-divergent-effects-monitoring-technology">radio tags</a> on factory products that allow bosses to monitor how fast workers on an assembly line are operating. But implanting microchips in employees creates a new level of monitoring and control simply because workers can’t easily remove them or turn them off. </p>
<p>Microchip implants are typically the size of a <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/07/25/technology-company-microchips-staff-can-clock-without-ids/">grain of rice</a> inserted under the skin between the thumb and the forefinger. They can allow people to enter buildings or use vending machines with just the swipe of their hand. Proponents say this makes life <a href="https://theconversation.com/thousands-of-swedes-are-inserting-microchips-into-themselves-heres-why-97741">more convenient</a> as employees don’t have to carry ID badges or key fobs. Organisations that deal with sensitive information also say that such chips allow them to <a href="https://medium.com/cxo-magazine/microchipping-workers-is-a-thing-should-it-be-e74ea1de7cb9">set restrictions</a> on who can access this information.</p>
<h2>Not so innocuous</h2>
<p>Most companies using these chips present them in this fairly innocuous way and think the fear surrounding their use arises from <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/09/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-microchip/570946/">misplaced suspicions</a>. But too much monitoring can make employees feel spied on, damaging their <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00236561003654776">productivity, creativity and motivation</a> as well as their personal well-being.</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-technology-assessment-in-health-care/article/implanting-inequality-empirical-evidence-of-social-and-ethical-risks-of-implantable-radiofrequency-identification-rfid-devices/49E51218E1788D79B5F209C045FE56CB">research also suggests</a> that implanted chips are susceptible to security risks and increase the potential for identity theft given that it is relatively easy to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/microchips-privacy-implants-biohacking/">hack a microchip implant</a>. So employees could be subjected to something that actually threatens their personal security.</p>
<p>What’s more, employers’ motivations for introducing chip implants are unlikely to be entirely altruistic. There is nothing to stop them from using the technology to track employees’ whereabouts or activities outside work. The chips can be reprogrammed <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/614209/IPOL_STU(2018)614209_EN.pdf">while inside the body</a>, modifying their use and purpose from what might have initially been agreed between the employer and the employee. And this ability to track an employee’s location without their knowledge raises serious ethical concerns regarding their right to privacy. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246831/original/file-20181122-182071-hcoxgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246831/original/file-20181122-182071-hcoxgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246831/original/file-20181122-182071-hcoxgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246831/original/file-20181122-182071-hcoxgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246831/original/file-20181122-182071-hcoxgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246831/original/file-20181122-182071-hcoxgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246831/original/file-20181122-182071-hcoxgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers are increasingly monitored, tracked and surveilled.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cctv-surveillance-operating-office-building-214426324?src=PnL3Uzb7Ys4R7Wbu5t6N1w-1-1">Vasin Lee/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We’ve already seen how employers can use data ostensibly gathered for benign purposes to discriminate against workers. For example, personality tests designed to assess what job someone is most suited to have come under scrutiny for discriminating against people with <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/are-workplace-personality-tests-fair-1412044257">mental health issues</a>. Microchip implant data recording where employees go outside of work could be used to discriminate in similar ways.</p>
<p>Even if implants are technically voluntary, it’s not hard to imagine situations where employees might feel pressured to accept the chips by their managers or warned of unfavourable consequences if they don’t agree. Other increasingly intrusive forms of monitoring are already seen as an inescapable reality within many workplaces. For example, remote access to emails means some workers are expected to be on call at any time. This increases pressure on employees to work longer hours at the expense of their private lives, as well as creating another way for employers to track their activities.</p>
<p>Employees who choose to opt-out of company monitoring programs can also suffer real financial costs. In 2013, a pharmacy company launched a controversial health-screening program that <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/cvs-workers-insurance_n_2915006">allegedly required employees</a> to disclose personal information to their insurance provider and threatened to charge them US$600 a year if they refused. This kind of pressure can mentally condition workers to think that constant monitoring is the way forward.</p>
<h2>Health risks</h2>
<p>There is also limited information about the safety and health risks associated with the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18802863">use of chip implants</a>. As well as potential physical health risks, it is equally important for employers to understand the risks that microchip implants might pose to mental health. Employees receiving an implant might feel coerced to modify their usual behaviours because they know they are always being monitored and so experience high levels of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/000368709290005G">stress and anxiety</a>. Plus we don’t know very much about what kind of surgical intervention might be required to safely remove a chip, especially if it moves away from its initial implant site. </p>
<p>The good news is that in many developed countries, companies are expected to afford employees some level of privacy. In the EU, <a href="https://theconversation.com/gdpr-ground-zero-for-a-more-trusted-secure-internet-95951">new data protection legislation (GDPR)</a> means employers are expected to conduct privacy impact assessments when they engage in processes that represent a high risk to the rights of data subjects. Covert monitoring should only be carried out in exceptional cases when there is no other reasonable way to monitor employees. </p>
<p>This means that due to the concerns about the risks to privacy as well as health and security posed by chip implants any attempt to introduce them on a larger scale would likely face strong legal challenges. But that probably won’t stop some employers seeing what they can get away with at a time when it’s increasingly common to let private companies know almost everything about us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shainaz Firfiray does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Seemingly innocuous security chips could enable companies to monitor employees in more sinister ways.Shainaz Firfiray, Associate Professor of Organisation and Human Resource Management, Warwick Business School, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/847292017-11-08T09:51:40Z2017-11-08T09:51:40Z‘Someone will find me out’ – Impostor Phenomenon and the toll it takes on working women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193428/original/file-20171106-1014-1h3vx0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rawpixel.com via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>Logically, I know I’m good at what I do. But I’m still constantly afraid someone is going to find me out for being a fraud. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Millions <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_ladder/2016/04/is_impostor_syndrome_real_and_does_it_affect_women_more_than_men.html">of people</a> – <a href="http://bsris.swu.ac.th/journal/i6/6-6_Jaruwan_73-92.pdf">one researcher estimated</a> 70% of people at one time in their lives – get up each day and face the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36082469">fear of being found out as a phoney</a> in the face of evidence to contrary. </p>
<p>The nagging feeling that the role they have should have gone to someone more capable can be a constant and unwelcome companion for many. The sense that at any point someone is going to tap him or her on the shoulder and say they’d been appointed to a project by mistake drives many to overwork to assuage their fear of failure and engage in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10211285">rampant perfectionism</a>. </p>
<p>Despite being clearly and evidently capable, many still believe themselves to be simply not good enough.</p>
<p><a href="http://paulineroseclance.com/pdf/ip_high_achieving_women.pdf">Impostor Phenomenon (IP)</a>, the feeling of intellectual phoniness first theorised by American psychologists <a href="http://paulineroseclance.com/impostor_phenomenon.html">Pauline Rose Clance</a> and <a href="https://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/name/Suzanne_Imes_PhD_Atlanta_Georgia_69147">Suzanne Imes</a>, is something that is often thought of as an individual concern and something that exists only in the heads of those who experience it. And in one sense this is true.</p>
<p>We may unknowingly look at someone experiencing IP and think that they are <a href="http://paulineroseclance.com/pdf/-Langford.pdf">successful, confident and outwardly comfortable</a> with their own achievements. Inwardly, though, they’re often a mess of fearful, self-critical and <a href="http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/jscp.1990.9.4.401">blunder-loathing anxiety</a>.</p>
<p>However, when talking to people – <a href="http://www.paulineroseclance.com/pdf/ip_high_achieving_women.pdf">and women in particular</a> – about their experiences of IP, one gets a sense that the workplace is unknowingly perpetuating the feeling of being less than capable. Traditional processes, systems and behaviours are inadvertently confirming employees’ narratives of being bogus.</p>
<h2>Impostors in the workplace</h2>
<p>A simple example plays out every day in most workplaces. Managers may allow people to blame themselves for the mistakes of others and disavow themselves of creditworthy work. We hear it all the time. “Oh, no. Don’t praise me, it was ‘so and so’ who made the difference!” Despite knowing this to be untrue, how many of us have allowed our colleagues to diminish their own achievements in this way or batted it away as humility? Externalisation of achievement to others where success is clearly of one’s own making is a classic IP characteristic.</p>
<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="1421" data-image="" data-title="The Why Factor - Imposter Syndrome" data-size="22902309" data-source="BBC" data-source-url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csvtbs" data-license="" data-license-url="">
<source src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/963/thewhyfactor-20171030-impostersyndrome.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
</audio>
<div class="audio-player-caption">
The Why Factor - Imposter Syndrome.
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csvtbs">BBC</a><span class="download"><span>21.8 MB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/963/thewhyfactor-20171030-impostersyndrome.mp3">(download)</a></span></span>
</div></p>
<p>While this seems innocuous, it allows people to confirm to themselves that they are not good enough. It plays to a script that allows them to constantly prove themselves correct in their assumptions of being a fake.</p>
<p>It’s a complex narrative that pushes the impostor to be right all the time and being right means they need to confirm their estimation of their incompetence. When “impostors” achieve some form of success (often through overwork, perfectionism and a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886998000658">fear of failure</a>) they push their achievements on to others. Thus, they create and maintain a plausible narrative of them being an impostor.</p>
<p>What’s even more distressing is that when “impostors” logically and unemotionally appraise their endeavours, achievements and successes, they can clearly (if begrudgingly) see the accomplishments as their own. But they just can’t bring themselves to accept it. “Accept praise? Oh no! My toes are curling with discomfort just thinking about it,” said one self-confessed “impostor” – a respondent to <a href="http://www.womeninstem.co.uk/support/why-women-in-stem-suffer-from-the-impostor-phenomenon">research into the phenomenon</a> in women in STEM (science, tech, engineering and maths).</p>
<p>This is the hideous dichotomy of the phenomenon. The intellectual and emotional dissonance this creates is robbing “impostors” of the opportunity to celebrate or even accept their own achievements.</p>
<h2>So why is this important?</h2>
<p>The early work of <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Imposter-Phenomenon-Overcoming-Haunts-Success/dp/0931948770">Pauline R Clance</a> focused on high-achieving women and, while research has been extended more broadly, it is generally believed to be a <a href="http://www.paulineroseclance.com/pdf/ip_high_achieving_women.pdf">gender-based phenomenon</a> more commonly affecting women. One suggested reason is that women may experience the “double whammy” of being both disadvantaged in the workplace and held back by their own involuntary sense of being not good enough.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193437/original/file-20171106-1068-tylhx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193437/original/file-20171106-1068-tylhx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193437/original/file-20171106-1068-tylhx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193437/original/file-20171106-1068-tylhx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193437/original/file-20171106-1068-tylhx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193437/original/file-20171106-1068-tylhx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193437/original/file-20171106-1068-tylhx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Research suggests that Imposter Phenomenon disproportionately affects women.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">BarakBlueSky via Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41379125">Gender gaps in pay</a>, a lack of representation at <a href="https://www.2020wob.com/sites/default/files/2020GDI-2015Report.pdf">senior levels of management and on boards</a>, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/25/uk-women-lower-paid-work-figures">over-representation of women in low-pay occupations</a> and the intention to leave <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/12/female-engineers_n_5668504.html">occupations such as engineering</a> by women in mid-career feed a plausible story that women should earn less, are unsuited to leadership and are “naturally suited” to certain occupations. While the story is pervasive, it’s a sham. The narrative is fuelling incorrect assumptions and perpetuating a gender divide.</p>
<p>This might mean that they negotiate a <a href="https://hbr.org/2014/06/why-women-dont-negotiate-their-job-offers">poorer remuneration package</a>, fail to apply for promotional opportunities and get passed over for roles. </p>
<p>While diversity and inclusion initiatives are common in organisations, there are misgivings about how effective these are as they often still rely on a <a href="http://www.managers.org.uk/insights/news/2017/august/stephanie-russell-and-theresa-simpkin-on-whether-women-need-fixing?sc_trk=follow%20hit,%7B86CB756B-AB02-44E6-995A-305C69252B29%7D,simpkin">traditional notion</a> of people identifying their own worth accurately.</p>
<p>While one might suggest that women and others who experience IP should just stop being so self-defeating and do themselves a favour, the reality is more complex and difficult. Illogical but deeply held beliefs are often <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361476X85710193">laid down in childhood</a> and become embedded into adulthood. As such, they are rarely easily modified without disquiet or angst.</p>
<p>It’s not uncommon that, rather than try to shift a lifetime of confirming the “impostor” narrative, people will just <a href="https://hbr.org/2005/09/the-dangers-of-feeling-like-a-fake">choose to leave</a> or remain in a current position where they may be unfulfilled, but at least won’t be exposed as the phoney they believe themselves to be.</p>
<p>In short, while individuals may struggle with the Impostor Phenomenon and the dissonance and angst it can bring, traditional notions of how we identify and apportion success and achievement, how we manage performance and how managerial behaviours perpetuate the phenomenon should be examined. Modifying these structures will go a long way towards realising the potential of women and others who could otherwise continue to hide their light – and valuable contributions – under a bushel.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84729/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Theresa Simpkin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Do you ever feel that you’re just not good enough for your job?Theresa Simpkin, Senior Lecturer, Leadership and Corporate Education, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/855112017-10-23T00:42:03Z2017-10-23T00:42:03ZOur laws don’t do enough to protect our health data<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190638/original/file-20171017-30410-1p1q8cr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You might be surprised to find what your data says about your past – and future – health.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/healthcare-medicine-cardiology-tool-concept-laptop-248574760?src=qk8kMIc0HU0rWX_v-Reidg-1-26">Scanrail1/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you ever wondered why your computer often shows you ads that seem tailor-made for your interests? The answer is <a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/big_data">big data</a>. By combing through extremely large datasets, analysts can reveal patterns in your behavior. </p>
<p>A particularly sensitive type of big data is medical big data. Medical big data can consist of electronic health records, insurance claims, information entered by patients into websites such as <a href="https://www.patientslikeme.com/">PatientsLikeMe</a> and more. Health information can even be gleaned from web searches, Facebook and your recent purchases.</p>
<p>Such data can be used for <a href="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/3-ways-big-data-improving-healthcare-analytics">beneficial</a> purposes by medical researchers, public health authorities, and healthcare administrators. For example, they can use it to study medical treatments, combat epidemics and reduce costs. But others who can obtain medical big data may have more selfish agendas. </p>
<p>I am a professor of law and bioethics who has researched big data extensively. Last year, I published a book entitled <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/law/medico-legal-bioethics-and-health-law/electronic-health-records-and-medical-big-data-law-and-policy?format=HB&isbn=9781107166547">Electronic Health Records and Medical Big Data: Law and Policy</a>. </p>
<p>I have become increasingly concerned about how medical big data might be used and who could use it. Our laws currently don’t do enough to prevent harm associated with big data. </p>
<h1>What your data says about you</h1>
<p>Personal health information could be of interest to many, including employers, financial institutions, marketers and educational institutions. Such entities may wish to exploit it for decision-making purposes. </p>
<p>For example, employers presumably prefer healthy employees who are productive, take few sick days and have low medical costs. However, there are laws that prohibit employers from discriminating against workers because of their health conditions. These laws are the <a href="https://adata.org/learn-about-ada">Americans with Disabilities Act</a> (ADA) and the <a href="http://ginahelp.org/">Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act</a>. So, employers are not permitted to reject qualified applicants simply because they have diabetes, depression or a genetic abnormality.</p>
<p>However, the same is not true for most predictive information regarding possible future ailments. Nothing prevents employers from rejecting or firing healthy workers out of the concern that they will later develop an impairment or disability, unless that concern is based on genetic information.</p>
<p>What non-genetic data can provide evidence regarding future health problems? Smoking status, eating preferences, exercise habits, weight and exposure to toxins are all <a href="http://www.hastingslawjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/Hoffman-68.4.pdf">informative</a>. Scientists believe that <a href="http://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms?cdrid=45618">biomarkers</a> in your blood and other health details can <a href="http://www.hastingslawjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/Hoffman-68.4.pdf">predict cognitive decline, depression and diabetes</a>. </p>
<p>Even bicycle purchases, credit scores and voting in midterm elections can be <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/bosses-harness-big-data-to-predict-which-workers-might-get-sick-1455664940">indicators</a> of your health status. </p>
<h1>Gathering data</h1>
<p>How might employers obtain predictive data? An easy source is social media, where many individuals publicly post very private information. Through social media, your employer might learn that you smoke, hate to exercise or have high cholesterol.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190487/original/file-20171016-31016-1vy6n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190487/original/file-20171016-31016-1vy6n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190487/original/file-20171016-31016-1vy6n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190487/original/file-20171016-31016-1vy6n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190487/original/file-20171016-31016-1vy6n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190487/original/file-20171016-31016-1vy6n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190487/original/file-20171016-31016-1vy6n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190487/original/file-20171016-31016-1vy6n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Your data can reveal a lot about your health. So who’s looking?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/interested-curious-corporate-spy-looking-colleagues-688688818?src=gBvLQaDEpB05wG3Wch01WA-1-0">fizkes/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another potential source is <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/wellness-programs/">wellness programs</a>. These programs seek to improve workers’ health through incentives to exercise, stop smoking, manage diabetes, obtain health screenings and so on. While many wellness programs are run by third party vendors that promise confidentiality, that is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2016/05/29/new-rules-on-wellness-programs-spark-privacy-worries/#4bcba4815ad5">not always the case</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, employers may be able to purchase information from <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/07/11/485571291/firms-are-buying-sharing-your-online-info-what-can-you-do-about-it">data brokers</a> that collect, compile and sell personal information. Data brokers mine sources such as social media, personal websites, U.S. Census records, state hospital records, retailers’ purchasing records, real property records, insurance claims and more. Two well-known data brokers are <a href="https://www.spokeo.com/about">Spokeo</a> and <a href="https://www.acxiom.com/">Acxiom</a>.</p>
<p>Some of the data employers can obtain identify individuals by name. But even information that does not provide obvious identifying details can be valuable. Wellness program vendors, for example, might provide employers with <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/28/health/workplace-wellness-privacy-risk-exclusive/">summary data</a> about their workforce but strip away particulars such as names and birthdates. Nevertheless, de-identified information can sometimes be <a href="http://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1172&context=smulr">re-identified by experts</a>. Data miners can match information to data that is publicly available. </p>
<p>For instance, in 1997, Latanya Sweeney, now a Harvard professor, famously <a href="https://techscience.org/a/2015092903/">identified</a> Massachusetts Governor William Weld’s hospital records. She spent $20 to purchase anonymized state employee hospital records, then matched them to voter registration records for the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts.</p>
<p>Much more sophisticated techniques now exist. It’s conceivable that interested parties, including employers, will pay experts to re-identify anonymized records.</p>
<p>Moreover, de-identified data itself can be useful to employers. They may use it to learn about disease risks or to develop profiles of undesirable employees. For example, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://wonder.cdc.gov/cancer-v2010.HTML">website</a> allows users to search for cancer incidence by age, sex, race, ethnicity and region. Assume employers discover that some cancers are most common among women over 50 of a particular ethnicity. They may be very tempted to avoid hiring women that fit this description.</p>
<p>Already, some employers refuse to hire applicants who are <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3061210/the-hidden-discrimination-against-being-fat-at-work">obese</a> or <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/ccf/media/files/Urology/Non-Smoking_Hiring_Statement.pdf">smoke</a>. They do so at least partly because they worry these workers will develop health problems.</p>
<h1>What’s stopping them?</h1>
<p>So what can be done to prevent employers from rejecting individuals based on concern about future illnesses? Currently, nothing. Our laws, including the ADA, simply do not address this scenario.</p>
<p>In this big data era, I would urge that the law be revised and extended. The ADA protects only those with existing health problems. It’s now time to begin protecting those with future health risks as well. More specifically, the ADA should include “individuals who are perceived as likely to develop physical or mental impairments in the future.”</p>
<p>It will take time for Congress to revisit the ADA. In the meantime, be careful about what you post on the internet and to whom you reveal health-related information. You never know who will see your data and what they will do with it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85511/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharona Hoffman received financial support from Case Western Reserve University for publication of her book "Electronic Health Records and Medical Big Data: Law and Policy (Cambridge University Press 2016). </span></em></p>What can be done to prevent employers from rejecting individuals based on concern about future illnesses? Currently, nothing.Sharona Hoffman, Professor of health law and bioethics, Case Western Reserve UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/807542017-09-05T01:35:50Z2017-09-05T01:35:50ZDoes being religious or spiritual make you more ethical at work?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182941/original/file-20170822-31963-1tc4iyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">India's multifaith society is a perfect example of how various beliefs are integrated into work ethics.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/noii/3716993627/">Ben Dalton/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Can religion and spirituality promote ethical behaviour in the workplace?
It’s a <a href="http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/orsc.1120.0797">contentious issue</a>, but <a href="https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/Db1pB2hZDLqnTE?domain=link.springer.com">our research</a> comprising interviews with forty Indian top level executives suggests it might. </p>
<p>We found that virtues embedded within the various traditions of religion and spirituality (Hinduism, Jainism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism) play a role in ethical decision-making in the workplace. </p>
<p>Thirty three executives explained that these traditions promoted virtues such as integrity, flexibility, moral excellence, tolerance and responsibility. An executive in the automobiles sector reflected on the virtue of flexibility:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…our Islamic religion teaches us to not shut the door on others’ viewpoints. I employ this philosophy or value or whatever you want to call it in my job. I listen to my teammates. We work out our differences of opinion and come to some acceptable middle ground at all times trying to value our core beliefs.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some executives even felt it was better to resign from their position when faced with an ethical dilemma.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182939/original/file-20170822-31963-29cbqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182939/original/file-20170822-31963-29cbqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182939/original/file-20170822-31963-29cbqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182939/original/file-20170822-31963-29cbqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182939/original/file-20170822-31963-29cbqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182939/original/file-20170822-31963-29cbqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182939/original/file-20170822-31963-29cbqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Faravahar, a main symbol of Zoroastrianism where ‘Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds’ are the basic tenets of the religion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Faravahar.svg">Kevin McCormick/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They attributed this to the embedded ethical virtues in their religious and spiritual convictions while making this tough decision. An executive from the IT sector mentioned he had left his previous organisation because his religious background conflicted with the organisation’s continuous copyright violations. He stuck by his integrity:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I could not sleep at night for several nights and approached my Zoroastrian religious advisor who advised me to seek employment elsewhere. I left the firm for the current firm and feel I dodged a bullet.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, seven executives who did not subscribe to a religious or spiritual group suggested that non-religious based virtues with a focus on humanistic ethics and professional pragmatism should be encouraged. </p>
<p>India is a multi-faith society, so it was suggested that such a view would help workers remain neutral. An executive from the media sector suggested workplaces should encourage non-religious and non-spiritual individuals to rely on their own humanistic belief system: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ethics have to be practised at a human level. Once we open it up to religious interpretation, there is scope for endless debate and confusion. Ethics to me is a secular topic. You need to be sensitive and weigh the consequences of business actions to set a code of ethical practices. Religion can provide some kind of model, but to me it is a hindrance.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167213510951">religious-based spirituality</a>, certain inspirations from one or more religious traditions may be drawn upon as a means to an end. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254735631_Separating_Spirituality_From_Religiosity_A_Hylomorphic_Attitudinal_Perspective?enrichId=rgreq-481e281fc3525bc9858ee4e3ca6c106e-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI1NDczNTYzMTtBUzoxNzIwOTQ5MTAzNzc5ODVAMTQxODA0MjAzMjExNw%3D%3D&el=1_x_2&_esc=publicationCoverPdf">non-religious spirituality</a> there is normally an absence of religious belief. Instead, such spirituality is based on secular or humanistic values, such as interconnectedness with others at work or in a society and serving a higher purpose in life without necessarily referring to God or a Creator. </p>
<p>Recent studies have linked religiosity and spirituality to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-013-1847-3">corporate social responsibility</a>, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-ethics-quarterly/article/virtue-ethics-as-a-resource-in-business/9DD70917398EF47CCF0A93D5113E29B9">altruistic behavior</a>; and <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0146167213510951">pro-social and ethical behaviors</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-011-1009-4?no-access=true">Other studies</a> have challenged these conclusions however, with evidence of contradictory findings. Some have <a href="http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/full/10.1287/orsc.1120.0797">argued</a> that religiosity and religious-based spirituality could promote unethical behaviour. For example, discriminating against another person who does not share one’s belief system. It might even flow into hiring practices and how one treats another colleague at work. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182944/original/file-20170822-30500-162uca7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182944/original/file-20170822-30500-162uca7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182944/original/file-20170822-30500-162uca7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182944/original/file-20170822-30500-162uca7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182944/original/file-20170822-30500-162uca7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182944/original/file-20170822-30500-162uca7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182944/original/file-20170822-30500-162uca7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many religious practices emphasise empathy as a core belief.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21817381@N04/32530457033/">juggadery/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Nurturing ethical decisions</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/87W8BmtA3YxzcQ?domain=link.springer.com">paper</a> published in May 2017 isolated the role of religiosity in the development of ethical virtues in India. These virtues included empathy, justice, temperance, transparency, conscientiousness, wisdom and moral fortitude. </p>
<p>The virtues translate into competencies that help foster ethical actions. For example, empathy relates to the variety of ways to connect with employees and foster quality working relationships. Actions include “nurturing a particular individual”, “building friendly relations” and “not using seniority to get subordinates to do something unethical”. </p>
<p>Moreover, temperance focuses on personal integrity and and assists in “avoiding contact with someone of dubious character” and “not wavering from one’s ethical principles”. </p>
<p>Conscientiousness embodies the ability to behave ethically in the face of temptation. An executive in the engineering sector stated that when his peer advised him to manipulate the price of products to include unreasonable markups, he refused to do so and advised: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>With my customers I will always try not to cheat them. I will see to it that they will get good quality.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Ethical dilemmas and paradoxes</h2>
<p>Despite the rich tapestry of religions and spiritualities, unethical behaviours such as corruption, bribery, cronyism and nepotism appear to be <a href="https://www.transparency.org/country/IND">rampant</a> in India. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182943/original/file-20170822-30552-lgcyjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182943/original/file-20170822-30552-lgcyjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182943/original/file-20170822-30552-lgcyjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182943/original/file-20170822-30552-lgcyjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182943/original/file-20170822-30552-lgcyjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182943/original/file-20170822-30552-lgcyjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182943/original/file-20170822-30552-lgcyjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters during an anti-graft march, Pune, 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IAC-Protesters-in-Pune.jpg">Nizardp/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One conclusion might be that certain individuals rationalise their unethical behaviours as a result of external pressure to conform. Such pressure coupled with personal greed arguably override any intention to remain ethical.</p>
<p>Ongoing education in the form of seminars, workshops, training and case studies related to ethical virtues is important. For example, an executive with a consultancy service business explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Our company has got workshops which we attend regularly and we read lot of books and journals. We come across a lot of practice related issues and what all things are happening in the world. That’s how we try to update ourselves and try to have a positive mindset towards ethical practices.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These initiatives consequently promote ethical decision making in the workplace when the religious bases for those virtues are removed.</p>
<p>Several Indian multinational firms do business in multiple overseas countries and ethical standards and expectations may vary across <a href="https://hbr.org/1996/09/values-in-tension-ethics-away-from-home">countries and cultures</a>. </p>
<p>An executive from the IT sector suggested emotional intelligence could be useful for those faced with an ethical dilemma in a cross-cultural context. That includes being aware, being in tune with others and having the foresight of how one’s actions affect others. Indeed <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230116719_4">emotional intelligence</a> could provide the clarity needed to discern whether the decision is ethical or not. It is also a skill that is sorely needed for leadership development. </p>
<p>Demonstrable consistency in ethical decision-making and leading by example are necessary to ensure ethics are reinforced. An inconsistent decision-making style with a high regard for ethics by leadership one day and disregard the next only conveys that compromises are acceptable.</p>
<p>Globalisation and the movement of labour are rendering workplaces in both developed (Australia, Singapore) and developing (Brazil, Malaysia) economies diverse. In such multi-faith workplaces, having an ethical approach that is inclusive and relying on the core virtues embedded in religiosity, spirituality and humanity might provide consistency in ethical decision-making.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80754/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What is the impact of religiosity and spirituality on ethical decision-making at work? India has a rich experience of such behaviours.Subramaniam Ananthram, Senior Lecturer, International Business, Curtin UniversityChristopher Chan, Associate Professor of Human Resource Management, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/791022017-06-20T21:06:20Z2017-06-20T21:06:20ZFixing a toxic culture like Uber’s requires more than just a new CEO<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174811/original/file-20170620-2627-fpxpjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A toxic corporate culture may begin at the top, but it doesn't end there. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Eric Risberg</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In times of organizational crisis, some companies are able to right the ship, while others sink under the pressure. </p>
<p>Recently, Uber has been under fire for a <a href="https://theconversation.com/ubers-dismissive-treatment-of-employees-sexism-claims-is-all-too-typical-73418?sr=6">bad corporate culture</a>, which promoted, among other things, sexism and other forms of toxic behavior. This led to a <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/6/13/15793732/uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-leave">four-month investigation</a> and pressure from the board for founder and CEO Travis Kalanick to <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/13/technology/business/uber-harassment-report/index.html">take an indefinite leave of absence</a>. He <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/technology/uber-ceo-travis-kalanick.html">suddenly resigned</a> as CEO on June 20 after several major investors demanded he step down. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, Uber is not the only company to come under public scrutiny in recent months for its toxic culture. <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/lawyers-allege-toxic-culture-racism-sexism-fox-news-beyond-oreilly-ailes">Fox News</a> and <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/02/28/kay-jewelers-sexual-harassment/">Sterling Jewelers</a> have also been accused of widespread sexual harassment. And other companies, such as <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772">Volkswagen</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-wells-fargo-encouraged-employees-to-commit-fraud-66615">Wells Fargo</a>, have been in the media spotlight for unethical behavior. </p>
<p><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/uber-chief-business-officer-leave-company-amid-turmoil-47987925">Many</a> have focused on the role of leaders in allowing toxic cultures to fester, which is what led to the ousting of Fox founder Roger Ailes and Kalanick’s departure. While this is certainly a necessary step, it’s not enough. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Samuel_Hunter4/publication/257467301_The_susceptible_circle_A_taxonomy_of_followers_associated_with_destructive_leadership/links/53f61b4c0cf22be01c406aab.pdf">Our research shows</a> that companies need also to root out a bad leader’s followers among the rank and file and make other important internal changes. Otherwise, a moral meltdown like Uber’s is likely to happen again. </p>
<h2>Harassment in the workplace</h2>
<p>Sexual harassment is a widespread problem in U.S. workplaces, and its effects are pervasive and corrosive.</p>
<p>It is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Remus_Ilies/publication/227604263_Reported_incidence_rates_of_work-related_sexual_harassment_in_the_United_States_Using_meta-analysis_to_explain_reported_rate_disparities/links/09e41513cb1365a57e000000/Reported-incidence-rates-of-work-related-sexual-harassment-in-the-United-States-Using-meta-analysis-to-explain-reported-rate-disparities.pdf">estimated that 58 percent of women in the U.S.</a> have encountered potentially harassing behaviors at work, while 24 percent have experienced sexual harassment. </p>
<p>Victims <a href="http://www.vodppl.upm.edu.my/uploads/docs/dce5634_1299071187.pdf">tend to suffer</a> in many ways, including through lower job satisfaction, damaged physical and mental health and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Employees who witness sexual harassment at work are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fritz_Drasgow/publication/4819556_Ambient_Sexual_%20Harassment_An_Integrated_Model_of_Antecedents_and_Consequences/links/545bb1310cf249070a7a7b30.pdf">likely to experience</a> the same negative outcomes. </p>
<p>Harassment <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Remus_Ilies/publication/227604263_Reported_incidence_rates_of_work-related_sexual_harassment_in_the_United_States_Using_meta-analysis_to_explain_reported_rate_disparities/links/09e41513cb1365a57e000000/Reported-incidence-rates-of-work-related-sexual-harassment-in-the-United-States-Using-meta-analysis-to-explain-reported-rate-disparities.pdf">is more likely to occur</a> in organizations in which managers have a lot of unchecked power over lower-level employees, as seems to be the case at Uber and Fox, with their powerful and charismatic founders.</p>
<p>Importantly, these toxic behaviors do not start and stop with those at the top. They may become embedded in the organization’s underlying culture, which begs the question: Once a toxic culture takes hold, what can a company do to reverse it? </p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laura_Lunsford/publication/304991962_Destructive_Leadership_A_Critique_of_Leader-Centric_Perspectives_and_Toward_a_More_Holistic_Definition/links/579532d208ae33e89f9e77d8.pdf">Our work on toxic leadership</a> demonstrates how toxic, unethical, flawed or otherwise ineffective leaders can do a lot of damage in organizations.</p>
<p>But the damage can also run both ways. Susceptible followers, a lack of checks and balances and other cultural elements can help create or reinforce bad leadership. </p>
<p>Thus, while it is easy to fire leaders when a culture becomes toxic, there are many other factors that must be addressed for true organizational transformation to occur. Our research suggests some best practices for addressing these factors and reversing a culture gone wrong. </p>
<h2>Conformers and colluders</h2>
<p>With respect to followers, there are certain types of individuals who are likely to remain obedient to toxic leaders, turn a blind eye to their behavior and even participate in the leader’s destructive activities. </p>
<p>Based on established theory and research across a wide range of scientific disciplines, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Samuel_Hunter4/publication/257467301_The_susceptible_circle_A_taxonomy_of_followers_associated_with_destructive_leadership/links/53f61b4c0cf22be01c406aab.pdf">our recent work</a> proposes five types of followers who are particularly susceptible to the influence of toxic leaders. </p>
<p>We break these groups into two overarching categories: “conformers” (individuals who are prone to obedience) and “colluders” (those who actively align themselves with toxic leaders). </p>
<p>In terms of conformers, “lost souls” are insecure individuals who lack a clear sense of self and who find a sense of identity, purpose and belonging through their affiliation with strong, powerful leaders and their groups. “Authoritarians” are those who rigidly adhere to social hierarchies and tend to simply follow orders, whether ethical or unethical, from senior leaders. </p>
<p>Finally, “bystanders” are fearful individuals who remain silent and turn a blind eye to a leader’s toxic behavior to prevent any negative consequences to themselves. </p>
<p>In terms of colluders, “opportunists” are those who ingratiate themselves with toxic leaders for personal gain, while “acolytes” share the same values, beliefs and goals as the leader. </p>
<h2>What to do with followers</h2>
<p>Importantly, when toxic leaders are replaced, these followers remain. How should organizations deal with each of these follower types? </p>
<p>First, in terms of colluders, it should be obvious that acolytes and opportunists need to be rooted out and let go. Opportunists are sure to put their own self-interests ahead of any ethical concerns and the greater good of the organization, while acolytes are likely to possess the very same values and beliefs that got their leaders into trouble to begin with. </p>
<p>For example, at Uber, those managers who were identified as active promoters of the culture of harassment that was passed down from the top <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/07/uber-work-culture-travis-kalanick-susan-fowler-controversy">should be let go</a>. For the same reason, ex-Fox host Bill O'Reilly had to be fired, given the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/apr/19/bill-oreilly-fox-news-sexual-harassment-board-meeting">many sexual harassment allegations</a> against him. </p>
<p>But companies obviously can’t fire everyone. And so with conformers, employees who are lost souls or authoritarians are at greater risk of blind obedience to those in power – and being co-opted by another bad manager, thereby making it harder to fix the culture. As such, targeted interventions that seek to retrain these individuals must be a primary goal. Because cultures are sticky, these followers will need to be taught to behave in ways consistent with the new culture. </p>
<p>In particular, it is important that they understand the importance of constructively challenging and holding leaders accountable and that these behaviors are rewarded and expected within the new culture. At Uber, employees who were closely aligned with the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-sexual-harassment-idUSKBN18X2GZ">staffers it fired after the investigation</a> will need retraining to learn the company’s new value structure. </p>
<p>Finally, bystanders need to be empowered to act when they observe malfeasance, given their fears and natural tendency to turn a blind eye to toxic behavior. This means creating clear, nonpunitive methods for reporting bad behavior and training individuals on all issues surrounding effective whistle-blowing. Fox News, for example, had an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/business/media/fox-sexual-harassment-hotline-bill-oreilly.html?mcubz=1&_r=0">anonymous hotline for reporting abuse</a>, but few employees felt comfortable using it. The company will need to empower employees like <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2017/01/11/fox-news-whistleblower-gretchen-carlson-plans-her-next-move/#1ec4392d27f3">Gretchen Carlson</a> – the first to publicly raise the issue of sexual harassment. </p>
<h2>The road to redemption</h2>
<p>Overall, the road to redemption after a scandal or crisis is long and hard. But this may be because most companies think that simply firing the old leader(s) will address the issue. Dealing with their followers throughout the organization is also essential, as is reasserting checks and balances by strengthening board independence. </p>
<p>Past CEOs, such as <a href="https://qz.com/431078/how-ford-ceo-alan-mullaly-turned-a-broken-company-into-the-industrys-comeback-kid/">Alan Mulally of Ford,</a> have demonstrated that you can fix a broken culture. Essential to his success was that he spent a lot of time aligning employees with the automaker’s new values.</p>
<p>We, as the general public, are also important in holding companies accountable. The actions taken in the aftermath of the Uber allegations, for example, may not have occurred if the public shrugged its proverbial shoulders instead of <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/02/24/uber-users-deleting-app-hurting/">deleting the app</a> from their phones.</p>
<p>So although toxic companies need to do the bulk of the legwork in terms of regulating themselves, we can all play a role in driving more inclusive workplaces worldwide.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to reflect the resignation of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79102/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katina Sawyer owns and operates K. Sawyer Solutions, LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in selection, assessment, leadership development and diversity in organizations. Katina Sawyer receives funding from National Science Foundation and Society for Human Resource Management. She is affiliated with Dawn's Place, The Philadelphia Society for People and Strategy, Women of Tomorrow, Women's Way, and Women's Resource Center. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christian Thoroughgood does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ethical scandals at Uber and Fox have focused attention on the leaders of the organizations, but the problems of a toxic culture often embed deep within an organization.Katina Sawyer, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Villanova UniversityChristian Thoroughgood, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Human Resource Development, Villanova UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/707192017-01-03T12:06:10Z2017-01-03T12:06:10ZWhy the rise of wearable tech to monitor employees is worrying<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151565/original/image-20170103-18656-1p8otmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>An increasing number of companies are beginning to digitally monitor their employees. While employers have always scrutinised their workers’ performance, the rise of wearable technology to keep tabs has more of a dystopian edge to it. Monitoring has become easier, more intrusive and is not just limited to the workplace – it’s 24/7. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/paullamkin/2016/02/17/wearable-tech-market-to-be-worth-34-billion-by-2020/#bde31e73fe38">Devices</a> such as Fitbit, Nike+ FuelBand and Jawbone UP, which can record information related to health, fitness, sleep quality, fatigue levels and location, are now being used by employers who integrate wearable devices into employee wellness programmes.</p>
<p>One of the first was BP America, which introduced Fitbit bracelets in 2013. In 2015 at least 24,500 BP’s employees <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33261116">were using them</a> and more and more US employers have followed suit. For instance, the same year, Vista Staffing Solutions, a healthcare recruitment agency, started a weight-loss programme using Fitbits and wifi-enabled bathroom scales. Appirio, a consulting company, started handing out Fitbits to employees in 2014. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151567/original/image-20170103-18668-yxqrtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151567/original/image-20170103-18668-yxqrtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151567/original/image-20170103-18668-yxqrtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151567/original/image-20170103-18668-yxqrtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151567/original/image-20170103-18668-yxqrtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151567/original/image-20170103-18668-yxqrtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151567/original/image-20170103-18668-yxqrtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Always on the clock.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the UK similar projects are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/sep/30/wearables-companies-smart-devices-health-wellbeing-privacy">under consideration by major employers</a>. And this trend will only intensify in the years to come. By 2018, <a href="https://www.abiresearch.com/press/corporate-wellness-is-a-13-million-unit-wearable-w/">estimates suggest</a> that more than 13m of these devices will be part of worker wellness schemes. Some <a href="http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3143718">analysts say</a> that by the same year, at least 2m employees worldwide will be required to wear health-and-fitness trackers as a condition of employment.</p>
<p>According to some, this is a positive development. Chris Brauer, an academic at Goldsmiths, University of London, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/wearablesatwork/videos/383034568560288/">argues</a> that corporate managers will now be comparable to football managers. They will be equipped with a dashboard of employee performance trajectories, as well as their fatigue and sleep levels. They will be able to pick only the fittest employees for important business meetings, presentations, or negotiations. </p>
<p>It seems, however, that such optimism overlooks important negative and potentially dangerous social consequences of using this kind of technology. History here offers a word of warning.</p>
<h2>Historical precedent</h2>
<p>The monitoring of workers’ health outside the workplace was once attempted by the <a href="https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-resources/popular-topics/sociological-department">Ford Motor Company</a>. When Ford introduced a moving assembly line in 1913 – a revolutionary innovation that enabled complete control over the pace of work – the increase in productivity was dramatic. But so was the rise in worker turnover. In 1913, every time the company wanted to add 100 men to its factory personnel, it was necessary to hire 963, as workers struggled to keep up with the pace and left shortly after being recruited.</p>
<p>Ford’s solution to this problem was to double wages. In 1914, the introduction of a US$5 a day wage was announced, which immediately led to a decline in worker turnover. But high wages <a href="http://www.uniforlocal200.org/OLDER%2520DOCUMENTS/HELPFUL%2520HINTS%2520FOR%2520FORD%2520EMPLOYES%2520-%2520HANDBOOK.pdf">came with a condition</a>: the adoption of healthy and moral lifestyles. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151569/original/image-20170103-18659-17fhxec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151569/original/image-20170103-18659-17fhxec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151569/original/image-20170103-18659-17fhxec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151569/original/image-20170103-18659-17fhxec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151569/original/image-20170103-18659-17fhxec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151569/original/image-20170103-18659-17fhxec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151569/original/image-20170103-18659-17fhxec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ford’s assembly line revolutionised work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">OVKNHR / Shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The company set up a sociology department to monitor workers’ – and their families’ – compliance with its standards. Investigators would make unannounced calls upon employees and their neighbours to gather information on living conditions and lifestyles. Those that were deemed insufficiently healthy or morally right were immediately disqualified from the US$5 wage level.</p>
<p>Analysing Ford’s policies, Italian political philosopher and revolutionary <a href="https://archive.org/stream/AntonioGramsciSelectionsFromThePrisonNotebooks/Antonio-Gramsci-Selections-from-the-Prison-Notebooks_djvu.txt">Antonio Gramsci</a> coined the term “Fordism” for this social phenomenon. It signalled fundamental changes to labour, which became much more intense after automation. Monitoring workers’ private lives to control their health, Gramsci argued, was necessary to preserve “a certain psycho-physical equilibrium which prevents the physiological collapse of the worker, exhausted by the new method of production”.</p>
<h2>Parallels today</h2>
<p>Today, we are faced with another great change to how work is done. To begin with, the “<a href="http://eml.berkeley.edu/%7Ewebfac/eichengreen/e183_sp07/great_doub.pdf">great doubling</a>” of the global labour force has led to the increase in competition between workers around the world. This has resulted in a deterioration of working and employment conditions, the growth of informal and precarious labour, and the intensification of exploitation in the West. </p>
<p>So there has been a significant increase in the average number of hours worked and an increase in the intensity of labour. For example, <a href="https://www.tuc.org.uk/international-issues/europe/workplace-issues/work-life-balance/15-cent-increase-people-working-more">research</a> carried out by the Trade Union Congress in 2015 discovered that the number of people working more than 48 hours in a week in the UK was rising and it warned of a risk of “burnout Britain”. </p>
<p>Indeed, employee burnouts have become a major concern of employers. A UK <a href="https://www.roberthalf.co.uk/press/employee-burnout-common-nearly-third-uk-companies-say-hr-directors">survey</a> of human resources directors carried out in 2015 established that 80% were afraid of losing top employees to burnout.</p>
<p>Ford’s sociology department was shut down in the early 1920s for two reasons. It became too costly to maintain it in the context of increasing competition from other car manufacturers. And also because of growing employee resistance to home visits by inspectors, increasingly seen as too intrusive into their private lives. </p>
<p>Wearable technology, however, does not suffer from these inconveniences. It is not costly and it is much less obviously intrusive than surprise home visits by company inspectors. Employee resistance appears to be low, though there have been a few attempts to fake the results of the tracking (for example, workers strapping their employer-provided Fitbits <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/8c52aff6-bdda-11e5-9fdb-87b8d15baec2">onto their dogs</a> to boost their “activity levels”). The idea of being tracked has mostly gone unchallenged.</p>
<h2>Labour commodified to the extreme</h2>
<p>But the use of wearable technology by employers raises a range of concerns. The most obvious is the right to privacy. The use of wearable technology goes significantly further than computer systems where emails are already logged and accessible to employers. </p>
<p>Surveillance becomes continuous and all-encompassing, increasingly unconfined to the workplace, and also constitutes a form of surveillance which penetrates the human body. The right to equal employment opportunities and promotion may also be compromised if employers reserve promotion for those who are in a better physical shape or suffer less from fatigue or stress. </p>
<p>It may also be argued that the use of wearable technology takes what the Hungarian historian Karl Polanyi called the “<a href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/features/polanyi/">commodification</a>” of human labour to an extreme. Monitoring worker health both inside and outside the workplace involves the treatment of people as machines whose performance is to be maximised at all costs. However, as Polanyi warned, human labour is a “fictitious commodity” – it is not “produced” for sale to capital as a mere tool. To treat it as such risks ultimately leading to a “demolition of society”.</p>
<p>To protect individual rights, systems have been introduced to regulate how data that is gathered on employees is stored and used. So one possible solution is to render the data collected by trackers compulsorily anonymous. For example, one company that collects and monitors employee data for companies, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociometric_Solutions">Sociometric Solutions</a> only charts broader patterns and connections to productivity, rather than individual performance. </p>
<p>This, however, does not address concerns about the increasing commodification of human labour that comes with the use of wearable technology and any potential threats to society. To prevent this, it is perhaps necessary to consider imposing an outright ban on its use by employers altogether.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70719/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ivan Manokha does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ford Motor Company’s attempts (and failure) to monitor its employees offers some lessons in why we should question the use of wearable tech by companies today.Ivan Manokha, Departmental Lecturer in International Political Economy, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/691282016-11-22T04:53:54Z2016-11-22T04:53:54ZLess secrecy could help astronomy stop the bullying and harassment within its ranks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146927/original/image-20161122-24543-16ta23r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More needs to be done to protect people in astronomy from those who seek to abuse or harass others.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Allexxandar</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Shocking allegations of bullying, harassment and sexual assault at CSIRO’s Astronomy and Space Sciences (CASS) division were revealed on Sunday by the ABC’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/why-is-csiro-losing-its-brightest-stars/8031440">Background Briefing program</a>.</p>
<p>In CASS alone, the Radio National broadcast said there have been <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-18/sexual-harassment-and-bullying-covered-up-at-csiro-astronomers/8036582">16 investigations into professional misconduct</a> since 2008, including a sexual assault allegation that was referred to police. </p>
<p>Many Australian astronomers, myself included, have been reeling between grief and anger since hearing the broadcast. The Astronomical Society of Australia Council (of which I am a member), <a href="https://twitter.com/AstroSocAus/status/800612096199127041">has condemned what has taken place at CASS</a> and called for safe workplaces for scientists. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146902/original/image-20161122-24550-388b9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146902/original/image-20161122-24550-388b9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146902/original/image-20161122-24550-388b9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146902/original/image-20161122-24550-388b9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146902/original/image-20161122-24550-388b9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146902/original/image-20161122-24550-388b9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146902/original/image-20161122-24550-388b9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146902/original/image-20161122-24550-388b9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ASA’s statement following the Background Briefing report.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/AstroSocAus/status/800612096199127041">Astronomical Society of Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The lives and careers of many superb astronomers have been damaged by what happened at CASS. And yet much of this has been hidden from view, including from friends and colleagues.</p>
<h2>Damage and consequences</h2>
<p>With the benefit of hindsight, one can see something was amiss at CASS. Several prominent female astronomers have left CASS during the past five years, including astronomers with coveted tenured positions.</p>
<p>Several were <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/why-is-csiro-losing-its-brightest-stars/8031440">interviewed by Background Briefing</a>, and their pain was evident. </p>
<p>What has happened to the perpetrators of bullying and harassment? That is less clear. </p>
<p>In one instance the perpetrator was counselled and had an “adverse finding” placed on their file, but until Sunday’s program even this limited information had not been disclosed. The person remains on staff at CASS.</p>
<p>When Background Briefing’s Hagar Cohen asked CSIRO executive director <a href="http://people.csiro.au/W/D/Dave-Williams">David Williams</a> about the consequences of this case, he responded: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m not prepared or not allowed to talk about those issues […] They’re confidential staff issues, and that’s the way it remains, and that’s the way all organisations work in these areas.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This lack of clarity is all too common when it comes to bullying and harassment in academia. Indeed, a legitimate concern is perpetrators face no real consequences at all.</p>
<p>Former UC Berkeley astronomer Geoff Marcy has been accused of <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/azeenghorayshi/geoff-marcy-at-sfsu">sexual harassment stretching back decades</a>. In 2015, UC Berkeley found he violated campus sexual harassment policies, and <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/leading-astronomer-violated-sexual-harassment-policies-investigation-finds/">in a statement the university said</a> his initial punishment was “zero tolerance policy regarding future behaviour and by stripping him of the procedural protections that all other faculty members enjoy”. In other words, don’t do it again.</p>
<p>It was only after public outcry, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/science/geoffrey-marcy-berkeley-astronomy-faculty-letter.html">including from colleagues</a>, that Marcy <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/geoff-marcy-intends-leave-uc-berkeley-astronomy-sexual-harassment-383491">stepped down from his position</a>.</p>
<p>While no longer welcome at UC Berkeley, Marcy’s retirement entitles him to be an emeritus professor, a (usually) prestigious title.</p>
<h2>Who’s at risk?</h2>
<p>How does one protect oneself, junior staff and students from harassment and bullying?</p>
<p>Many institutions have policies or management that refuse to disclose the occurrence of misconduct, let alone reveal who perpetrators are. </p>
<p>There are real risks to individuals and institutions who break with the secrecy surrounding harassment. </p>
<p>Astronomer Tim Slater, who was found to have <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/01/12/astronomy-professor-sexual-harassment-university-of-arizona/#1nOEZvcRGkqm">harassed students and staff</a>, is currently <a href="http://www2.courthousenews.com/astronomer-claims-ua-leak-defamed-him/">suing the University of Arizona for defamation</a> because <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2655517-U-AZ-EOAAO-Investigative-Report-Timothy-Slater.html">documents relevant to his case were leaked</a>. </p>
<p>In the UK, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3860834/Astrophysics-professor-sees-libel-case-against-branding-colleague-sex-predator-accusing-boss-helping-new-job.html">astronomer Carole Mundell was unsuccessfully sued</a> when she revealed a colleague was the alleged perpetrator of sexual harassment at Liverpool John Moores University. </p>
<p>A consequence of all this is the development of “whisper networks”, where names of harassers are passed between trusted individuals. Scientists keep lists of names (often memorised), steering junior staff and students away from danger.</p>
<p>This was something raised by Cohen when she interviewed Australian astronomer <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bryan-gaensler-598">Bryan Gaensler</a> for the Background Briefing report.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Hagar Cohen: How many people are on your black list?</p>
<p>Bryan Gaensler: I personally know of about 20 senior tenured male astronomers who’ve had some accusations against them. Whether the accusations are substantiated or not, I can’t say, because I haven’t participated in the investigations, but I know of about 20 people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By definition, such “whisper networks” are <a href="http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com.au/2015/11/its-not-just-marcy-and-grapevine-wont.html">patchy at best</a>.</p>
<p>Prior to Background Briefing’s revelations, many Australian astronomers were completely unaware that a CASS staff member had been accused of sexual assault, which was referred to police.</p>
<p>Many (perhaps most) Australian astronomers remain unaware of his identity, and may be sending junior staff and students to work with him at CASS.</p>
<p>Removing the absolute secrecy surrounding harassment cases could provide pressure for change. </p>
<p>Yale University provides <a href="http://provost.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/August-2016-Report.pdf">anonymised summaries of harassment cases</a>, including consequences for perpetrators. It provides the Yale community with a measure of the extent of the harassment and the consequences for it, while protecting the identity of victims.</p>
<p>Unfortunately few (if any) Australian universities and institutes <a href="http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/full-list-of-universities-exposed-by-sexual-assault-investigation/news-story/f7c39dcacce8a9c839bc8b881172173b">have adopted such an open approach</a>.</p>
<h2>Why now?</h2>
<p>International astronomy has been rocked by these harassment scandals, including the cases at <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/azeenghorayshi/famous-astronomer-allegedly-sexually-harassed-students">UC Berkeley</a>, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/azeenghorayshi/ott-harassment-investigation">Caltech</a>, the <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/01/12/astronomy-professor-sexual-harassment-university-of-arizona/#0789fsEQ8kq1">University of Arizona</a>, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3860834/Astrophysics-professor-sees-libel-case-against-branding-colleague-sex-predator-accusing-boss-helping-new-job.html">Liverpool John Moores University</a> and now <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/why-is-csiro-losing-its-brightest-stars/8031440">CSIRO</a>.</p>
<p>What is going on? Is astronomy particularly prone to sexual harassment and bullying? I hope not.</p>
<p>But the reliance of students and junior staff on the benevolence of senior scientists and academics may suppress reporting of harassment. </p>
<p>Senior scientists provide expert knowledge, access to facilities, introductions to potential collaborators and (critically) write reference letters for job applications. This concentration of power <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/10/qa-shining-light-sexual-harassment-astronomy">may lead to abuses</a> going unreported. </p>
<p>I sincerely hope these recent scandals reflect a new intolerance for workplace bullying and harassment. Victims, their colleagues and professional organisations are less willing to accept misconduct and the destruction it causes.</p>
<p>Astronomers, familiar with collaboration and outreach, are working together to put public pressure on institutions that fail to provide safe workplaces their colleagues and students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69128/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. I. Brown receives research funding from the Australian Research Council and Monash University, and has developed space-related titles for Monash University's MWorld educational app.</span></em></p>Allegations of abuse within CSIRO’s astronomy division reveal how it can damage lives and careers. Much of this was hidden from view, including from friends and colleagues.Michael J. I. Brown, Associate professor, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/605202016-06-08T20:09:22Z2016-06-08T20:09:22Z‘Character’ and ‘behaviour’ off the field should not be selection criteria for the Olympics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125630/original/image-20160608-15034-bpfgr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C86%2C3409%2C2046&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tennis star Nick Krygios has withdrawn himself from possible selection for the Rio Olympics, citing 'unfair' treatment by the AOC.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Ian Langsdon</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Having already courted considerable controversy in a relatively short career, tennis player Nick Kyrgios last week withdrew from probable selection for the Rio Olympics. Kyrgios said he made this decision because of the Australian Olympic Committee’s (AOC) “unfair and unjust treatment” of him and because “the AOC has chosen to publicly and privately disparage me”. </p>
<p>Kyrgios claimed that Kitty Chiller, the chef de mission of the Australian Olympic team, had unfairly targeted him as being “on watch” due to his <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/olympics/rio-2016/nick-kyrgios-pulls-out-of-rio-olympics-20160602-gpajov.html#ixzz4AlAQ7ygR">perceived behavioural issues</a>. </p>
<p>Chiller responded that there were “<a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/sport/olympics/rio-2016/olympics-australia/rio-2016-kitty-chiller-continues-hard-line-on-nick-kyrgios-after-bernard-tomic-pulls-out-20160513-goues0.html">a couple of athletes on notice</a>”. She revealed that other potential Australian Olympians, including shooter Michael Diamond and hockey player Anna Flanagan, received similar correspondence from the AOC. The letters requested an explanation of charges that have been <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/olympics-2016/olympic-games-michael-diamond-and-anna-flanagan-wait-to-hear-if-theyve-dashed-own-rio-dreams/news-story/e6c86ef7adfd76046fd8e127c96d510f">laid against each of them</a>. </p>
<p>All three athletes – Diamond, Flanagan and Kyrgios – were asked:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… to respond to where it could be perceived that they have bought themselves, their sport or the Olympic movement into disrepute. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It appears the AOC has not singled out Kyrgios for harsher treatment than others, so claims of unfairness could be dismissed. But the case for the AOC would be even stronger if similar letters had been handed out to the troublemakers from previous games, such as certain members of the London swim team. </p>
<p>Many prominent journalists have supported the AOC’s position. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/sport/offsiders/content/2016/s4475974.htm">Caroline Wilson</a>, <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/subscribe/news/1/index.html?sourceCode=HSWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&mode=premium&dest=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/olympics-2016/nick-kyrgios-ditching-the-olympics-is-no-great-loss-to-australia--but-just-might-be-to-him/news-story/80f529182d9005820ba291bbb08ad9ef&memtype=registered">Robert Craddock</a> and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/the-fitz-files/rio-olympics-2016-aoc-chef-de-mission-kitty-chiller-is-right-nick-kyrgios-is-wrong-20160603-gpb7e1.html">Peter FitzSimons</a> have all applauded the strong stance taken by Chiller and the AOC.</p>
<p>So, what to make of it? There is both integrity and courage in the AOC’s stand, especially at a time of budgetary tightness. Chiller and the AOC have demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice potential medals in tennis, shooting and hockey to protect the reputation of the AOC and the Olympic ideal. Chiller <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/sport/offsiders/content/2016/s4475974.htm">has said</a> she is “very comfortable” with that possibility. </p>
<p>Kyrgios’ claims of injustice are probably a more difficult matter to determine, and tie directly both into the process that was followed and the justification for it. </p>
<p>TV host Waleed Aly <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/sport/offsiders/content/2016/s4475974.htm">explained the problem excellently</a>: the issue was the process was carried out in the public arena and specific athletes were named as “on watch”. </p>
<p>This problem, described by Kyrgios as the AOC’s public disparagement of him, would be solved by a more diplomatic handling of questions from the press, and the AOC’s determination to keep the specific athlete names private. After all, the financial livelihoods of athletes in the contemporary age rely heavily on their reputations. </p>
<p>The latter issue of justification of the process is more troublesome. It is difficult to justify the AOC putting athletes on watch for either their behaviour in their professional workplace or because of their out-of-sport behaviour. This is normally justified by pointing to organisational reputation or integrity. </p>
<p>Integrity is one of the favourite buzzwords of sports management. It is a powerful word. It goes beyond mere compliance with rules or practices. It evokes the image of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird; of a person defiantly sticking to worthy principles in the face of personal danger. </p>
<p>However, in practice, integrity has been used <a href="http://www.theroar.com.au/2012/01/28/public-interest-invasions-of-athlete-privacy-cause-for-concern/">to justify any number of intrusions</a> into the private lives of athletes. Consider that Flanagan was asked to “please explain” why she kept her drink-driving charge secret from Hockey Australia. My response would be “because they don’t need to know”.</p>
<p>While the signing of AOC team agreements <a href="http://thenewdaily.com.au/sport/2016/06/01/anna-flanagan-drink-driving/">includes clauses regarding disclosure</a>, I would question the justification for these clauses. Arguing that athletes can choose not to represent their country if they don’t want to sign a contract ignores the constraint that this places on athletes. </p>
<p>Privacy should matter here, and athletes should not be forced to reveal things that do not affect their ability to carry out the demands of their athletic work. </p>
<p>I certainly believe that employment behavioural standards matter, and that the behaviours of Olympians <em>at the Olympics</em> should be monitored and evaluated. But I’m not convinced that athletes should be judged and selected on the basis of some broader behavioural matrix, which has a whiff of the old days of the Olympics when professional athletes were banned. </p>
<p>Ethicists often test claims by applying them to broader categories. Consider whether the journalists who ardently support the actions of the AOC would agree to the same employment standards being applied to their own profession. </p>
<p>Would these journalists support pre-emptive strikes against colleagues in the press office who had previously exhibited bad behaviour, including bad behaviour outside of their professional world, such as drink driving? If so, it might be a lonely pressbox at Rio.</p>
<p>The issue here is not that journalists are not representing their country in the way that athletes are. The issue is that the employment rights of certain athletes have the potential to be curtailed on the basis of things that occurred outside their work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60520/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Burke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Three potential Olympians have been sent “please explain” letters from the Australian Olympic Committee, but there is little ethical justification for this.Michael Burke, Senior Lecturer, College of Sport and Exercise Science, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.