IOHRM Alumnus Grant Buckner has recently published an article with Drs. Hugh Hindman, Tim Huelsman, and Jacqui Bergman, exploring the relationship between quantity, variety, and recency of training to a manager's ability to identify and respond to sexual harassment. The article, entitled "Managing Workplace Sexual Harassment: The Role of Manager Training," was based on Grant's thesis and will appear in Employee Responsibility and Rights Journal (2014, Issue 4, 257-278).
This study supports previous research findings, showing that sexual harassment training can increase sensitivity to sexual harassment claims. But, training programs increased the likelihood of false-positive identification of sexual harassment as participants became over-sensitized. The research also concluded that as the quantity and variety of training programs increase, accuracy in identifying sexual harassment decreases causing the number of errors made by managers to increase. This suggests that sexual harassment training can reduce expertise.
While the results show a negative aspect of training programs, the authors advocate against organizations viewing training as harmful but instead to evaluate their training programs rigorously and scientifically. This should be done by not examining employee perceptions of the training, but instead by systematically evaluating the amount of learning that occurs and tracking behavioral changes in overall organizational effectiveness.
The publication is based on Grant's thesis. We are proud of the research that our students and faculty do together and want to celebrate when students' theses are published. Congratulations Grant on your publication!
Buckner, G. E., Hindman, H. H., Huelsman, T. J., & Bergman, J. Z. (2014). Managing workplace sexual harassment: The role of manager training. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 26(4), 257-278.
- Written by Joey Hudson