). This is especially true since American men and women tend to hold dramatically different views concerning what types of behaviors equate to sexual harassment, making the management of this issue even more challenging (Elkins et al.). There remains a lack of research, though, concerning what types of actions are most effective in reducing the number of sexual harassment claims in the workplace, as well as how employees actually feel about organizations that take actions against sexual harassers. In this environment, it is not surprising that the number of sexual harassment claims continues to grow and that the awards being assigned to victims of sexual harassment continue to increase. There is simply no room in the American workplace for behaviors that discriminate against individuals based on gender or race or religion, of course, but the fact that there are some important biological differences involved in sexual harassment cases indicates that this type of discrimination is one of the more difficult types to manage. Men and women are going to continue to have to work together, though, and it is important for managers at...

In fact, when such sexually harassing behaviors are allowed to continue, a costly lawsuit may be the only option available to a victim without this organizational support. In the final analysis, while there may be some gray areas involved in what types of behaviors can be reasonably termed sexual harassment, there is a lot of room for some common sense in managing this aspect of diversity in the workplace. Since employees tend to view organizations that take steps to prevent this type of behavior in the workplace more favorably, and because sexual harassment has been shown to negatively affect a company's profitability, it is in everyone's best interest to better manage this diversity issue now rather than allow it to become a problem in the future.
References

Elkins, T.J., Phillips, J.S. & Ward, S.G. (2008). Organizational sexual harassment investigations: Observers' perceptions of fairness. Journal of Managerial Issues, 20(1),