Hostile Work Environment When People

¶ … Hostile Work Environment

When people choose to wear inappropriate clothing to work, the conditions are ripe for sexual harassment cases. While some outfits are clearly inappropriate, however, who is the judge? Is it possible that forcing workers to dress too conservatively can cause a hostile work environment? I think that the answer to this question is, "yes."

Companies that are too formal with their dress codes may decrease creativity and increase tension among employees. Just as Gross argues that revealing clothing encourages sexual harassment, conservative clothing may cause employees to be more reserved when interacting with each other, even become inappropriately intimidated.

And suits are intimidating, especially for workers in certain professions. For instance, Mac technicians, members of a design firm, and magazine writers may feel that their creativity is stifled by staunch dress codes. In the end, it is up to employers to decide what is best for their companies. Many variables should be considered when making this decision -- the history of the company and any problems with hostile work environments, the type of work that is done, and the general attitude of the workers. Based on these variables, employers can decide what is the best course for their workers regarding dress code.

For an employee, on the other hand, dressing too conservatively, at least at first, can never be a mistake. When an employee first comes into an organization, he or she can significantly improve his or her odds of fitting in by dressing professionally. This way, other employees will learn that this employee is serious about achieving professional success and contributing to the company. The dress might also help the employee hide the shyness or nervousness that so often comes with a new job. As the employee builds a history with the company, however, he or she will most likely be able to get away with changing his or her dress.

Performance and Personality Testing

Taking a personality test before getting a job or even after hired can be an extremely stressful situation. The way that the tests are created encourages people to feel stress. Although most of the tests advise those taking them that there are no right or wrong answers, potential employees know that the boss is looking for something specific. For this reason, test takers may intentionally or unintentionally try to answer the questions based on the best answer or the answer that makes the potential employee look best. In addition, many of the questions on these tests look very similar. Test takers may feel overwhelming pressure to make sure that they answer all similar questions in similar manners. Also, the tests cannot be a good measure of personality because they do not allow potential employees to elaborate on their answers, meaning that the answers given could be incorrect.

For this reason, it seems strange that employers still use personality tests to gauge the effectiveness of potential employees. A better method that has gained popularity lately is the audition method. In this method, potential employees work at a job for no pay for a certain amount of time, after which employers decide whether or not they are a good fit. While some may not be willing to work in such a situation, it is a good way to see how a worker will actually play out in the workplace. Still another way to test potential employees' skills in job related tasks, performance testing, can be an affective alternative to the audition method. Thus, while employers obviously have to evaluate job candidates, and personality is an important part of work environment, personality tests seem like they would not give the employer the picture of the candidate that will help him or her make a decision.

Culture Shock

In the future, business will only keep expanding oversees. In most cases, it is nearly impossible for a manager to never have to travel abroad, hire a worker from a different culture, or have business dealings with a company in another country. To be able to negotiate this, managers need to understand culture shock and the reasons behind it, in addition to how to prevent it.