Relationship By The Manager example essay topic

Part I. Case Development Working in Human resources can make it very difficult to meet friends at work. Many Human resources professionals avoid being too friendly with employees outside of the department and there are employees who keep their distance from being too friendly with Human resources personnel. I did break this rule several years ago when we hired a new employee. This employee and I hit it off immediately and we became very good friends and remain this way today. This friend was an excellent employee.

Everyone loved working with her and her assistance was in great demand. Several years after meeting this new employee the two of us decided to become roommates. We were both in the market to move and both of us were students working full-time, so we rented an apartment together. Soon after becoming roommates my friend broke-up with her boyfriend of several years and it wasn't long before that I noticed frequent phone calls to the apartment from a partner at our firm. The partner was her direct supervisor so I found it somewhat strange that he would call her at home so often and at such hours. At the time I chose not to say anything as I did not think it was any of my business.

As time went on the calls started to get more frequent and on several occasions my friend called the partner, in my presence, very late at night and left him what I believed to be a very personal message and not work-related. Even more interesting was the fact that the partner was married. After some consideration I decided to bring up the subject of the calls with my friend. I was merely inquiring as to what was going on between her and this partner. My friend brushed it off and implied that nothing was going on between them. I accepted this at the time and decided to drop the subject for the moment.

Sometime later I learned that my friend was traveling to London on business with this partner. My suspicions were raised at this point since I knew that employees in my friend's position did not typically travel on business. I started to get a little concerned at this point. I knew the potential risks involved when a manager is intimately involved with a subordinate. In addition, I knew that the firm had a very strict code of conduct for partners given the fact that the firm had lost a very public sexual harassment lawsuit several years ago. The lawsuit came from a former secretary who was harassed by her immediate supervisor, a partner.

I started to go over all the facts in my head and asked myself if I had some sort of obligation as the human resources manager to address my concerns with the employee. Part II. Alternative Courses of Action 1. The human resources manager could report the alleged relationship to the general counsel or another member of top management. Management would decide the course of action to take with the partner. 2.

The human resources manager could keep knowledge of the relationship confidential. The relationship was personal and not necessarily work-related. If a serious claim was filed, the human resources manager could deny she knew the employee and partner were involved romantically. Part. Case Research Office romance is inevitable. It is a fact of life.

In the last year alone workplace relationships increased to nearly ten million compared to eight million in 1998 (Spragins, 2004, p 62). We work long hours and spend most of our time at the office or conducting business outside of the office with our colleagues. With this much time being spent with co-workers, there is hardly time to meet a companion or develop relationships outside of the workplace. Nowadays, most people look to the workplace as another alternative to meet a partner. As a manager or human resource professional, office romances can be a very complicated personnel issue to deal with and a subject most would rather not touch. One might argue that personal affairs are not the business of the employer and doing so is invading an employee's privacy.

The subject itself can be difficult to bring up or speak about so it is awkward for managers to raise the subject with employees. Others might think differently, especially if the relationship is between a manager and a subordinate. The impact these relationships have had on the workplace has forced this issue. Office romances can create a wide variety of problems and personnel issues within an office. People are not typically use to seeing personal displays of affection between co-workers at the office. Office romances distract employees, negatively impact morale, reduce productivity and in some more serious cases lead to violence (Greenwald, 2000).

Although, the number of serious claims that develop after failed love affairs at work is relatively small. "Over a five-year period, only 4% of the people who had an office romance in 617 companies surveyed by the Society for Human resource Management saw it result in a formal complaint". (Spragins, 2004, p 62). Even with the relatively small number of potential serious claims, organizations need to address this in an effort to be prepared for the small amount of workplace romances that do not end on a good terms. The type of romance that can be most damaging to an organization is the manager / subordinate relationship. Even though many organizations discourage this type of relationship between a manager and a subordinate, the trend continues to grow (Quinn, 1984).

When the relationship involves a male supervisor and a female subordinate it can lead to not so positive office morale. Office romance is not easy to hide and people thrive on gossip, especially gossip involving romantic relationships between a manager and a subordinate. Many perceive manager / subordinate relationships as either a women taking the opportunity to advance her career or win over the boss for other reasons. These relationships also have the biggest impact on the workplace because they can lead to resentment among co-workers and employees may believe there is favoritism.

In addition, employees generally no longer trust management (Poe, 2000). This can lead to serious conflicts within a work group including claims of hostile work environment (Quinn, 1984). When relationships of this nature end badly legal issues can arise if the subordinate employee claims he or she was pressured into the relationship by the manager (Poe, 2000). Organizations need to face the fact that workplace romances are a fact of life and regardless of the rules or policies in place, people will be attracted to one another and they will act on these feelings. Many organizations have strong policies against intra-office relationships, while others embrace the idea of romantic relationships between employees.

Either way organizations need to bring attention to this issue. If tolerated, management needs to decide the level of disruption that will be put up with before there needs to be some sort of intervention (Spragins, 2004). Prohibiting this type of behavior is not the answer and typically does not work in the current times (Powers, 1999). Although the subject can be a difficult one to address, human resources needs to help managers understand how to deal with relationships between employees. It is important to have a clear policy so there is no confusion.

Deciding on the type of policy depends on the company size and the culture (Poe, 2000). Some organizations adopt no-fraternization polices that, if violated, will result in serious disciplinary action including termination of employment (Peikes, 2004). Other organizations choose to avoid this subject for fear of invading an employee's privacy (Greenwald, 2000). Taking severe action against employees or avoiding the issue altogether is not the answer. It is important for organizations to have policies in place to address these situations in ways that do not offend employees or interfere too far into their personal lives. Written guidelines not only help direct supervisors on how to handle situations when they come up, but also serve as legal protection for the organization (Poe, 2000).

Relationships need to be addressed individually in a sensitive manner and not an opportunity to punish or reprimand employees (Powers, 1999). Having an open-friendly policy can benefit an organization by showing trust and empathy towards real life circumstances. Circumstances that will continue to be a topic for human resources professionals. Some organizations have turned to using so-called "love contracts" or "consensual relationship agreements", requiring employees to disclose relationships with co-workers and sign agreements governing there conduct at work. These contracts or agreements basically state that the relationship is consensual and if the relationship ends on bad terms the employer will not be liable for any claim of sexual harassment.

These contracts are intended to protect a company when they are aware of a relationship. (Peikes, 2004) Signing contracts or agreements seems too extreme. These situations are adult situations and should be addressed in a mature manner. Organizations should adopt a policy that recognizes these types of relationships and simple recommends some guidelines for managers to follow. Management training on sexual harassment prevention should include the topic of workplace romantic relationships. Managers need to be educated on the potential risks involved with manager / subordinate relationships and the possible problems associated with workplace romances among staff.

Someone in the organization should be designated to whom relationship problems can be reported confidentially. Having someone in the organization available to discuss a difficult subject such as this could help in situations when the relationship is unwanted or has turned bad. It may even prevent further more serious claims coming to light. These workplace romance problems should be treated as relationship problems and not as sexual harassment claims (Powers, 1999). It is important for Human resource professionals and managers to be able to distinguish between a romance conflict and a sexual harassment claim. The purpose of the policy should not be to forbid or put a stop to workplace relationships.

It should be a way to educate managers on how to deal with real life situations in a humanistic way. Attraction, love and relationships will continue to be part of the workplace. With the growing number of workplace romances blooming it is important for human resource professionals and mangers to start talking about the issues. Having a policy with simple guidelines is the first step. The policy should not be a threat or a reprimand. It should simple set of guidelines / expectations to assist managers and to hopefully reduce the exposure to claims of sexual harassment or hostile work environment.

Management training should also include this topic as a way to introduce the subject to new managers or supervisors. Part IV. Case Analysis Workplace romances are a subject many find difficult to discuss. It is quite normal for relationships between co-workers to develop at work. Personal relationships are private matters for most people and are not typically the business of the an employer. When relationships develop between a manager and a subordinate it is no longer a private matter due to the potential risks that can develop if the relationship falls apart.

How far should an organization go with their policies? Forbidding intra-office relationships seems insensitive and terminating an employees for engaging in such an affair seems too severe. Applying non-consequential ism, the human resources manager should report the alleged relationship to the general counsel or another member of top management. The partner should be terminated for his behavior.

Aside from the fact that he is married and that alone is immoral, this partner put the entire firm at risk and he should be punished. Taking this approach would show how serious the firm takes the code of conduct. It would also possibly prevent other partners from engaging in such activities. This approach is extreme and the firm would be losing a good partner and the firm could be sending the wrong message to other partners and employees. If the relationship was consensual the firm may also lose the employee due to her hard feelings. The human resources manager could also take a more utilitarian approach.

The human resources manager could report the relationship and recommend that both the partner and the employee are talked to separately. The meetings could be an opportunity to ensure the relationship is consensual and it could be an opportunity to remind the employee that she could talk to anyone in management if she needed. This way the firm would not lose two valuable employees. Although this approach may send the wrong message and there may still be some risk involved, the approach is more friendly and supportive to both the partner and the employee. Applying non-consequential ism to the second alternative would not be an option. If the human resources manager did not report the relationship she would not be following the firm's code of conduct.

If a serious claim was filed at a later date and the human resources manager denied she knew the employee and partner were involved romantically she would be lying. Denying knowledge of the relationship at a later date would be morally wrong. From a utilitarian perspective, if the human resources manager kept the information confidential this would benefit the employee and the partner. By keeping the confidence, the relationship would not become common knowledge. The benefit would be to a small group, the three people involved, but the ones most likely to be hurt if the relationship was exposed. However, taking this course could lead to harming a greater number of people if there was a serious claim filed.

As a human resources manager the right thing to do would be to report the relationship to the general counsel or another member of management. Taking severe disciplinary action at this point seems senseless. If the relationship is already in progress, some of the damage has already been done. The best approach would be to talk to each party individually and confirm that the relationship is consensual. The employee should also be reminded of the firm's sexual harassment policy.

The topic should be addressed in a sensitive professional manner in a way that would not offend her or make her feel uncomfortable. It is not the firm's place to judge her on the decisions she makes in regard to her personal life. By taking this approach the firm has some protection against a potential future claim and both employees are left to continue doing what they are paid to do for the firm, work. Workplace romances are nothing new so they should be formally addressed. Organizations should embrace the idea of relationships between employees but discourage relationships between managers and direct subordinates.

These relationships can be consensual and lead to very positive outcomes but the risk will always be there. Discouragement does not prevent them from happening. Having a simple policy outlining some guidelines and incorporating the topic into management and sensitivity training is a good approach.

Bibliography

Greenwald, J. (2000).
Office Romances May Court Trouble. Business Insurance. Vol. 34, Issue 7, p 20. Peikes, L. and Burns, M. (2004).
No-Fraternization Policies Under the Judicial Microscope. SHRM Legal Report. Retrieved February 4, 2004, web A.
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Office Romance: HR's Role. SHRM White Paper. Retreived February 4, 2004, web D.
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Consensual Workplace Relationships: The Stereotypes, policies and Challenges. Compensation and Benefits Management. Vol. 15, Issue 3, p 35. Quinn, R.E. and Lees, P (1984).
Attraction and Harassment: Dynamics of Sexual Politics in the Workplace. Organizational Dynamics. Vol. 13, Issue 2. Spragins, E., Over felt, M. and Sloane, J. (2004).