Background of the Case
Human resource management is one of the most important departments in any business organisation. It is entrusted with the responsibility of recruitment of the employees of the concern and looking after their eventual growth and development. The department looks after the most important asset of the concern itself, which are the people, who eventually run the organisation. Therefore, looking after their needs and requirements is of paramount importance to the human resource department. In the concerned case, Oxfam, the largest British Charity organisation, has been accused of sexual misconduct by one of its employees (Forbes.com, 2018). At a time, when cases of sexual misconduct is very much prevalent in the humanitarian organisation, is at an all time high, the recent case of Aimee Santos is a new low, upon the hard earned reputation earned by the organisation over all these years. It is indeed a grave and a pretty serious allegation upon an organisation, which works for the welfare of people on humanitarian grounds. In this report, as the human resource personnel, the case of Aimee Santos has been closely studied and certain number of steps have been discussed and recommended in order to prevent any kind of cases of sexual assault on any person, be it a man or a women and in any kind of an organisation, be it a charitable one like Oxfam or any other profit making business organisation.
At the very crux of this paradox, there exists an ineffective human resource management, which is plagued by various kinds of problems, which has rendered it ineffective, over the years. This is not the first time; the company has been rocked by cases of sexual allegations. The company had also faced a similar kind of crises on a larger scale prior to the case of Aimee Santos. One of the most demeaning one, was the Haiti sexual scandal, which had happened during the restoration and aid providing process, back in the year 2011 (Npr.org, 2018). Thus, the company has been facing a mirage of sexual cases and similar kinds of allegations, which have practically destroyed the organisation’s long standing reputation in the international arena. After careful analysis of the case of Aimee Santos, the following two people management problems were being faced by Oxfam, which must be addressed by the human resource department of the organisation at the earliest. The two people management problems are as follows:
- The problem of effective communication: One of the most important aspects of an efficient organisation remains its communication pattern. The more open and effective the communication is the more reliable and transparent the reporting of incidents become. Oxfam‘s internal structure about the communication is not clear and precise. Aimee is not aware about person to approach in this regard. She suffers from the lack of faith upon the internal staffs of Oxfam. This compels her to resort to restorative justice.
People Management Issues
This problem could have been solved if the human resource department had been proactive with its sexual misconduct guidelines (BBC News, 2018). If they would have made her employees acquaint about the reporting and complaints guidelines, then she would have known whom to complain and the interference of the others could have been avoided.
- The ineffectiveness of the HR department: Another problem of man management is the fact that the human resource has been practically ineffective in its perusal of the case. As has been indicated by the findings of the labour commission, the company has not taken any initial action, because of perpetrator was a top performer and whose, services were required by the organisation. The Human resource department must be entrusted with the authority to report such matters to the CEO, who is at the helm of affairs. Every CEO knows that such perpetrators may not only humiliate their organisation but it could also destroy their own careers. As a result of which, it becomes futile on the part of the Human resource department or the senior management to protect such high performing perpetrators.
Oxfam has been in the public spotlight for a fairly long period of time. The organisation which caters to the requirements and needs of the poor and vulnerable has incessantly faced allegations of sexual misconduct about its previous employees. Apart from the cases of Aimee, the organisation has also seen itself embroiled in the sexual cases of Haiti and Chad, where Roland van Hauwermeiren and his associates had paid for sex in exchange for providing aid work, where some of the girls were of under age. Moreover, the sex scandal had further intensified after it has emerged that 123 cases of sexual aggravation were reported to have taken place in Oxfam charity shops over the past nine years. These kinds of cases have rocked the organisation’s image for a healthy amount of time (Spector, Zhou and Che, 2014). The Human resource department could come up with a number of measures, in order to prevent these kinds of cases of sexual misconducts in the future. Some of the measures that could be taken are as follows:
- An anonymous whistle blowing mechanism: A whistle blowing mechanism is a transparent mechanism system, which is aimed at voicing the concerns and the complaints of the people in an anonymous way. This mechanism was introduced by Oxfam and was even used by Miss Santos, for coming out in the open with her complain of sexual misconducts, which she was subjected to. This mechanism helps in voicing the concerns and the complaints of the victims in an anonymous way. It is best for voicing the employees of the concern.
- Setting up of an independent commission: Setting up of an independent commission for specifically looking into the cases of the sexual misconduct of the employees and the other refugees and aid workers, who might be a victim of sexual misconduct. In order to bolster the impartial procedure of conducting a thorough enquiry into such matters, the creation of this commission has become a matter of paramount importance. Moreover, not only the Human resource department but all the other departments of the organisation would be accountable to this commission and would provide any kind of documents or other kinds of information as required by the commission. The proposal of such a commission was brought about by Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam’s executive director, in her special address, regarding such issues.
- One on one sessions: One of the most important steps to be taken in the direction of ensuring zero tolerance towards any kind of sexual misconduct in the work place, the human resource department must conduct one on one sessions with the victim or the harasses person. Speaking to the victim, hearing his or her pleas and concerns is one of the most vital aspects of addressing cases of sexual misconduct. Without being heard, the necessary course of action cannot be decided and in these kinds of cases, without conducting the one on one session, further course of action cannot be decided. These session help in understanding the problems of the victims, their ordeal and their point of view. These sessions helps in understanding the kind of problems which are being faced by these victims. Perhaps it is the responsibility of the human resource department of ensuring equality and a safe working environment for all of its employees, without any kinds of discrimination and biasness. Moreover, it has been prescribed by , Gillian Thomas, who is a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Women’s Rights Project, that it’s always better to speak with the person affected by the incident first, before further reporting an incident of sexual harassment to a higher authority.
The developmental activity of the human resource department plays a cognitive role in ensuring the overall success of any business organisation. These developmental activities serve as the crux of the future of the new trainees, which would be subsequently employed as well as the development of the present employees of the organisation. The human resource department must ensure the well being of any harasses employee from further cases of harassment and bullying not only while the ongoing investigation takes place but also in the future( Charmaraman et al.,2013). One of the most important developmental activities, which can be provided by the human resource department, is the provision of psychological support to the victims. In the case of sexual harassment, in all of the cases, the victim, be it a man or a women, suffers from emotional and psychological trauma, in the aftermath of the assault. This aggravates, if the victim is not looked after properly. In most of the adverse cases, the victim suffers from various kinds of traumas, which affects their day to day lives. It might even compel them to leave their jobs as well. They also face the problem of looking for another job, as many companies refrain from hiring employees because of the perceived influence he or she can have on their working environment. In the adverse circumstances, it could often lead to depression and subsequently suicidal attempts.
Implementation of Proactive Sexual Misconduct Guidelines
Therefore in such kind of circumstances, it becomes the responsibility of the human resource department for providing adequate mental and psychological support to the victims of sexual harassment. This can be done with by providing them one on one therapy sessions with psychologists. This would help her in keeping her mental sanity intact. At this point of time, the mental strength is the most important asset of the harassed employee. It thus becomes the responsibility of the Human resource department for ensuring all round protection and mental peace of the employee unless and until, she gets out of the trauma (Mainiero and Jones, 2013). Moreover, the human resource department must be equipped with proper resources to conduct such kind of training. The department can also conduct some special kind of sexual assault training. These kinds of training would help the employees to understand how to tackle such kinds of scenarios, whom to report and how to go about with such kind of incidences. The training can range from giving the employees thorough real life scenarios, where such kind of incidents could take place, and enact in front of them about the ways to overcome such unfortunate incidents. Moreover, it is the responsibility of each and every human resource department of any organisation be it Oxfam or any other organisation to look into the interests of each and every employee. Hence, providing moral support through psychology experts or providing training for sexual misconducts, remains the most important developmental activity, which can possibly be provided by the human resource department.
Employee legislation refers to the all kinds of employment protection measures and steps, aimed at providing just and fair employment opportunity to all the employees around the world. It was brought to the limelight for the purpose of protecting the interests of the employees from different kinds of discrimination, harassment and other kinds of violence, exposed to the employees in their working environment. In today’s world, employee legislation has become the need of the hour, as large number of cases is increasingly being taking place, which are choking the working environment of the people all around the world. There are number of cases, which are hampering the working environment of the employees all around the world, some of these are racial discrimination, sexual harassment, health and safety and disciplinary cases (Diekmann,et al., 2013). It becomes the duty of the human resource departments of each and every organisation around the world, to protect the interests of its employees, from such kind of malpractices, by following all the relevant provisions of the employee legislation.
Effective HR Planning Process for International Staff
Here two specific cases have been discussed about, one is the case of sexual harassment and the other is the case of racial discrimination.
Racial discrimination can rear its head in a very subtle form as well as in a very blatant form as well. Whichever form it takes, racial discrimination is strictly prohibited by a number of federal as well as state laws, in the form of increased employee legislation. Failure to hire on the basis of race, colour, creed, firing an employee because of his or her race, providing lesser number of employee benefits to the coloured employees, deliberately segregating employees on the basis of colour or creed, all of such incidents tantamount to the case of racial discrimination. All of the above mentioned activities are punishable by law under the various provisions of employee legislation.
Oxfam has taken such legislations very seriously, after the recent crackdown, following the cases of Haiti and Chad. The organisation has come up with new laws, which applies to all its board members, employees as well. The organisation has implemented workplace discrimination and harassment policy in order to attract talents from all over the world, irrespective of their caste, colour, creed or religion. Whether it is bullying of any kind or any kind of discrimination during gossiping, or even any kind of victimisation would not be tolerated, as has been reiterated by the international executive director of Oxfam, Winnie Byanyima.
Sexual harassment is one of the most important as well as one of the most overlooked aspects of any kind of discrimination in today’s working environment. Oxfam has been all over the news for the past couple of years, for all the wrong reasons, sexual harassment is one of the foremost reason for it. Due to the recent crackdown by the government warning them about the stoppage of funds, the organisation has come up with a series of stringent steps in order to take care of any kind of sexual harassment at the workplace or any kind of operations at abroad. Making any kinds of comments regarding a individuals private life or the way they look or dress up outside office premises, sexually reminiscent behaviour, such staring at an uneasy manner, deliberately rubbing up against someone, deliberately touching, fondling or hugging without the concerned person’s permission or consent, making sexually evocative comments , incessant number of unwanted requests for going out for sex, making any kind of sexually overt posts on social networking sites insults particularly directing any particular person, employee of Oxfam is strictly punishable(Oxfam.org.au, 2018). or making scoffs of a sexual character, making deliberate invasive questions in relation to a fellow employee or colleague’s private life and intentionally sending of any kind of explicit sexual emails or text messages has been regarded as clear violation of the sexual harassment provisions of Oxfam. Stringent action would be taken, if found violated of any of these norms.
Conclusion
Conclusion and Recommendation:
Sexual harassment is one of the gravest problems, which is being faced by employees today. The case of Oxfam, is no exception to all this. Oxfam being one of the most trusted and well known charitable institutes in the world must set exemplary behaviour in this regard. On the contrary, the organisation has seen itself engulfed in a series of sexual cases of gross misconduct by its employees and heads of state, specifically in the cases of Haiti and Chad, perhaps the case of Aimee Santos, is a just a tip of the iceberg. It is indeed shameful, that the organisation entrusted with the responsibility of protecting the interest of all the under privileged, poor and vulnerable women are themselves waging such kind of degrading behaviour. In this regard, the organisation has come up with a series of steps of punishing any minute kind of sexual harassment case. The organisation must come up with solutions at the very ground level, in order to implement any kind of large scale crackdown on incidents of sexual harassment and racial discrimination cases. The executives of the organisation must seriously look into such allegations and must steer the organisation forward, in accordance with its values and aims. Unless, top brass of the organisation accept the gravity of the problem, no amount of change can take place,
References:
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Charmaraman, L., Jones, A.E., Stein, N. and Espelage, D.L., 2013. Is it bullying or sexual harassment? Knowledge, attitudes, and professional development experiences of middle school staff. Journal of school health, 83(6), pp.438-444.
Diekmann, K.A., Walker, S.D.S., Galinsky, A.D. and Tenbrunsel, A.E., 2013. Double victimization in the workplace: Why observers condemn passive victims of sexual harassment. Organization Science, 24(2), pp.614-628.
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Mainiero, L.A. and Jones, K.J., 2013. Sexual harassment versus workplace romance: Social media spillover and textual harassment in the workplace. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 27(3), pp.187-203.
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Spector, P.E., Zhou, Z.E. and Che, X.X., 2014. Nurse exposure to physical and nonphysical violence, bullying, and sexual harassment: a quantitative review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 51(1), pp.72-84.
whimn. (2018). 5 Things You Need To Know About The Oxfam Sex Scandal. [online] Available at: https://www.whimn.com.au/talk/news/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-oxfam-sex-scandal/news-story/870cf25c0fa21ee10f20476eb59fa822 [Accessed 30 Jun. 2018].
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