Kenneth M. York

Defining Sexual Harassment in Workplaces: A Policy-Capturing Approach

In this study, college and university equal employment opportunity officers and university students judged 80 incidents of possible sexual harassment. They were asked if the incidents were cases of sexual harassment and if they would advise that EEOC charges be filed. The subjects were moderately consistent in their judgments and made similar decisions for both questions, weighting three aspects of the incidents most heavily: evidence of coercion, the victims reaction, and job consequences.

Preventing Sexual Harassment: The Effect of Multiple Training Methods

Subjects were presented with multiple training methods to determine their effect on sensitivity to possible sexual harassment situations. The training methods used were case analyses, commercially produced videotape episodes, and an open-ended questionnaire. Subjects were found to be more sensitive to incidents of possible sexual harassment when videotape episodes were combined with case analysis. The pattern of gender differences supported previous research showing perceptual differences in ambiguous cases. Research-based suggestions for sexual harassment training programs are offered.

An Exploratory Study of the Team Characteristics Model Using Organizational Teams

Research on teamwork in organizations has typically found positive outcomes for employees, such as high productivity, improved satisfaction, and a greater feeling of influence over their work. An important research question is, How does participating on teams lead to these positive work outcomes? In 1976, Hackman and Oldham developed their Job Characteristics Model to explain how effective job design can lead to positive work outcomes for individuals. A Team Characteristics Model was developed to explain how effective work group design can lead to positive work outcomes for teams, and it was tested on team members working on six organizational teams over a period of 4 months. The Team Characteristics Model was generally supported for the critical psychological states but generally not supported for work outcomes. Across all employees, higher levels of the critical psychological states were significantly correlated with higher levels of work outcomes. Suggestions are made for future research using the model.

Enablers of enterprise systems training success an exploratory investigation

Enterprise systems are critical to organisational success and training is a critical factor for their successful implementation. With over US

FACULTY SATISFACTION WITH UNIONS: THE IMPACT OF PERSONAL INSTRUMENTALITY AND ACTIVE COMMITMENT

84 billion invested in these systems, implementation failures can be disastrous for organisations. There is a growing realisation that, despite being touted as being critical to implementation, training is usually under-funded and scant attention is paid to designing training programmes. This exploratory study examines six training enablers that impact training success in the context of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation at a Fortune 500 organisation. We find evidence that the set of six training enablers are predictive of training success as measured by user satisfaction with training and training effectiveness. Implications of our study for researchers and the practitioner community as well as the limitations of our study and issues for future research are discussed.

Clear Logic and Fuzzy Guidance: A Policy Capturing Study of Merit Raise Decisions

This article reports the results of a survey of unionized faculty at a midsized public university. Participants (n = 137) responded to a questionnaire that examined satisfaction with union services and perceived personal instrumentality, as well as the number of union activities in which the faculty member participated. The results indicated that a relationship existed between satisfaction with union-provided services, active participation in the union, and personal instrumentality. In particular, individuals who felt that they could address work-related problems themselves were more likely to have lower union service satisfaction as well as participate in fewer union activities. Implications for unions are discussed. Contraction in the manufacturing sector has increased attention in service and public sector unionism [1]. One area of particular interest, perhaps because of the increasingly turbulent environment, has been faculty unionism in higher *Mary Van Sell died during the initial stages of this project. This article is dedicated to her memory. The remaining authors are listed alphabetically and contributed equally to this project.

A policy capturing analysis of federal district and appellate court sexual harassment cases

Policy capturing was used to determine cue weights when a merit raise committee implemented an imprecise directive. Evaluations by three raters of 36 faculty were regressed on actual raises. The committee was consistent in their evaluations, but the policy was similar to that obtained by counting activities in faculty annual reports. This study has implications for organizations that motivate employees through merit pay decisions in ways that are inconsistent with their mission and business objectives.

The legal history of work-related sexual harassment and implications for employers

A policy capturing analysis of 206 federal district and appellate sexual harassment cases showed that federal judges were moderately consistent in their judgments, with 29% of the variance in case outcomes accounted for by the regression model. Judges used Victims Reaction, Form of Harassment, and Coercion, to make their ruling, and these three cues accounted for 20% of the variance in judgments. Appellate judges were slightly less consistent than district judges, and there were differences in judgment policy between appellate and district level cases. These findings are consistent with key aspects of the EEOCs Guidelines on Sexual Harassment and suggest that federal judges use the Guidelines to make their judgments. The model could be used by potential plaintiffs or defendants in sexual harassment cases to generate a prediction of the likely outcome of their case, to decide whether to pursue the case in court or seek a settlement.

Space at Work: Exercises in the Art of Understanding Physical Indicators of Culture

Over the years, the courts have come to consider sexual harassment as a kind of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Employers are held liable for sexual harassment, and have an affirmative action obligation to eliminate sexual harassment from the workplace. The courts and the EEOC Guidelines have defined sexual harassment as tangible employment consequences or behavior that creates a hostile or offensive working environment. Employers can limit their liability by creating a system to detect sexual harassment and to remedy it promptly. Suggestions to wards developing a strong policy to eliminate sexual harassment from the workplace are given.

Experiential and Creative Management Exercises Using an Assessment Center

Few organizational behavior textbooks discuss the impact of physical space on employee behavior at work. Three out-of-class exercises that encourage students to actively investigate how work space is used are described. These exercises can be used to supplement lectures on organizational culture, job design, power, and politics. In addition, in-class discussion points for instructors to link space to behavior at work are provided.