#0107 The importance of organizational climate for psychosocial safety in the prevention of sexual harassment at work
Organizational Environment that Promotes Psychosocial Safety Plays a Critical Role in Preventing Sexual Harassment
In recent years, the issue of workplace sexual harassment has become the subject of mounting concern in many countries, including Malaysia, where a diverse range of organizations are beginning to give the matter the attention it deserves. Malaysia does have legislation and legal guidelines that address the issue of workplace sexual harassment, but the relevant legislation and guidelines have limitations that make it difficult for a victim to obtain justice. These shortcomings of Malaysian law make it all the more important that Malaysian employers provide a healthy organizational climate that helps to prevent sexual harassment and provide victims with recourse when sexual harassment does occur.
Given the key role of such organizational climates, we decided to investigate whether organizational climates that promote psychosocial safety are effective at preventing workplace sexual harassment in the Malaysian context. For our research, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 employees of various Malaysian organizations, with 17 of those employees having been victims of sexual harassment or witnesses to it or both. We used a conceptual framework called “Grounded Theory” to identify the coping strategies that the interviewees used to deal with workplace sexual harassment.
The interview responses highlighted several trends. Because many Malaysian organizations do not implement strategies to prevent workplace sexual harassment, most of the victims and witnesses adopted passive self-coping approaches, such as ignoring the harassment. Although the organizational guidelines encouraged employees to voice concerns, the decisions to use active coping strategies, such as reporting harassment or going on strike, depended more on organizational roles than on guidelines. Interestingly, even interviewees whose organizations had no sexual harassment policies used active coping strategies when the sexual harassment became intolerable. A detailed description of our results appears in an article recently published in the Journal of Occupational Health.
In conclusion, these findings reinforce the critical role that organizations play in helping and supporting both victims and witnesses as they deal with workplace sexual harassment. Organizational climates that promote psychosocial safety are therefore crucial for preventing workplace sexual harassment.
Link to the original journal article:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1348-9585.12192
Title of the paper:
The importance of organizational climate for psychosocial safety in the prevention of sexual harassment at work
Authors:
Malvin Ping Chieng Tan, Sharon Sam Mee Kwan, Azizi Yahaya, Ismail Maakip, and Peter Voo
