This article draws upon structuration theory to analyze male organizational members’ responses to workplace sexual harassment. In this language production experiment, 462 men with an average of 15.56 years of full-time work experience read a sexual harassment scenario in which they were the target of sexual harassment from a boss, a coworker, or a supervisee, and then formed a response to that individual about the behavior. A variety of response themes emerged in the data. Male supervisors’ responses to supervisee harassers most frequently involved directives to stop now, and in the future. Directives to stop were also the most frequently used response strategy by male coworkers, but with the addition of profanity in many of the responses. Male supervisees most frequently responded to harassment from a boss with reference to the inappropriateness of the behavior for a boss and/or workplace; these responses were often qualified with politeness, apologetic preludes, and questions. All response themes and nuances thereof are explored in detail. The data support structuration theory’s assertion (Giddens, 1979; 1981; 1984) that the rules and resources that exist in organizations both enable and constrain the ways in which men respond to workplace sexual harassment.
Key words: response to workplace sexual harassment; structuration theory; male organizational members; hierarchical relationships; organizational power
|
