Organisational responses to workplace harassment

TLDR

The study investigates how personnel managers in Finnish municipalities intervene in workplace harassment and how organisational and manager characteristics influence the choice of response strategies, while highlighting gaps such as the need to consider perpetrator traits and harassment severity. An exploratory survey design was employed, with a web-based questionnaire sent to all municipal personnel managers to collect data on organisational responses and characteristics. Results show that organisations predominantly use reconciliatory measures, rarely punitive ones, and that manager gender, municipality size, sophisticated HR practices, and training affect response choices, raising questions about the effectiveness of written policies and the role of gendered perceptions. The analysis was limited to organisational and manager characteristics, excluding perpetrator factors and harassment severity.

Abstract

Abstract Purpose – The aim of this paper is to explore what kind of measures personnel managers have taken to intervene in workplace harassment and to explore how organisational characteristics and the characteristics of the personnel manager affect the choice of response strategies. Design/methodology/approach – The study was exploratory and used a survey design. A web‐based questionnaire was sent to the personnel managers of all Finnish municipalities and data on organisational responses and organisational characteristics were collected. Findings – The study showed that the organisations surveyed relied heavily on reconciliatory measures for responding to workplace harassment and that punitive measures were seldom used. Findings indicated that personnel manager gender, size of municipality, use of "sophisticated" human resource management practices and having provided information and training to increase awareness about harassment all influence the organisational responses chosen. Research limitations/implications – Only the effects of organisational and personnel manager characteristics on organisational responses were analysed. Future studies need to include perpetrator characteristics and harassment severity. Practical implications – The study informs both practitioners and policy makers about the measures that have been taken and that can be taken in order to stop harassment. It also questions the effectiveness of written anti‐harassment policies for influencing organisational responses to harassment and draws attention to the role of gendered perceptions of harassment for choice of response strategy. Originality/value – This paper fills a gap in harassment research by reporting on the use of different response strategies and by providing initial insights into factors affecting choice of responses.