12.5: Boundaries at Work

Setting—and Crossing—Boundaries

Boundaries can be used as “gateways” into different domains of our lives (Matthews, et al., 2010) that create “physical, temporal, emotional, cognitive, and/or relational limits” (Ashforth, et al., 2000, p. 474). That is, we create boundaries to funnel behaviors and/or actions that we allow in or not, based on the person, location, context, and more in our relationships with others. Setting boundaries can be challenging, as boundaries are defined as “the never-ending, hands-on, largely visible process through which boundaries are negotiated, placed, maintained, and transformed by individuals over time” (Nippert-Eng, 1996, xiii). Trefalt (2013) argues that boundaries are a fundamentally relational process, and that you cannot neglect the relational context of boundaries, as the past, consequences, and experiences as those involved must be factored into the equation. In this section, we will briefly cover examples where boundaries were crossed in the workplace.

Interpersonal relationships at work sometimes cross boundaries. We want to acknowledge that building mutual interpersonal relationships at your workplace does not include taking part in harassment of any kind, stereotyping others, or otherwise violating the explicit boundaries of others. We also would like to provide some context as to how common some harmful interpersonal communication exchanges are in our workspaces, hoping to shed light on how to sight and identify and then, hopefully, eliminate them from your interpersonal exchanges (US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2021).

Harassment and Biases

As we discussed earlier in this chapter, mutual workplace relationships are common. However, there are instances when workplace relationships occur that are very much one-sided, unwelcome, and unwanted by the receiving party. Here, we will focus on interpersonal communication patterns of harassment and biases in the workplace.

How to Overcome Our Biases

To learn more about biases, check out diversity advocate Vernā Myers’ TED Talk: How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them. You may also read the transcript. According to Myers, we can learn how to examine our subconscious attitudes toward out-groups and then move toward, not away from, those that make us feel uncomfortable.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Brain Crying by Gaspar Uhas on Unsplash

It is helpful to understand the definitions of harassment and bias. For our purposes. harassment is defined by Cornell Law School as

offensive, unwelcome conduct based on the victim's protected characteristic, that is so severe or pervasive that it affects the terms and conditions of the victim's employment. Harassment may take the form of words, actions, gestures, demands, or visual displays, such as photographs or cartoons. (Legal Information Institute, 2021, para. 1)

This can be present across interpersonal relationships at work. According to the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission (2021) the harasser can be “the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, an agent of the employer, a co-worker, or a non-employee” and “the victim does not have to be the person harassed but can be anyone affected by the offensive conduct” (para. 6).

Bias has more nuanced definitions: explicit bases are understood as overt prejudices and attitudes about a group, like racism or misogyny, while unconscious and implicit biases are deeply held beliefs about others that may unconsciously drive attitudes and behavior (Rimnac, 2020). These exchanges can manifest in the form of verbal and nonverbal actions directed towards others (Bouckenooghe, et al. 2015).

Harassment and biases can take many forms; in this section we just scratch the surface of some of the most reported and researched facets of these areas.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

The US Equal Employment Opportunities Commission defines sexual harassment as

unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. (2021)

Given this definition, have you ever felt harassed at work? Did you say something? Did you ignore it? Did you make an official report?

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Women talking in a Boardroom by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

In 2020 the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received 6,587 sexual harassment claims. Of those claims, 16.8% were made by men (US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2021). Research finds that men are the most common perpetrators of sexual harassment. Although men do harass other men, women are the most common targets (Cortina & Berdahl, 2008). Further research reveals that Black women are particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment and sexual violence, over any other group (Barlow, 2020; Shaw, et al., 2018). Brassel (2020) found that this pattern may be caused by the masculine structures and hierarchy present in Western culture.

Sexual harassment causes problems within an organization by lowering the quality of the organizational lives of female employees and creating obstacles that prevent employees from fully engaging with their organization (McDonald et al., 2011). Additionally, studies argue that sexual harassment creates professional, psychological, and physical health problems for those involved (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). Statistics also suggest that “only a small number of those who experience harassment (one in ten) ever formally report”—and the most common reason for this silence is for fear of retaliation (Shaw, et al., 2018, p. 2).

Racial and Gender Biases

Although biases are not as obvious as harassment, we know that they are rampant across the workspace, from large to small organizations, from executives to entry-level employees, and in both private and public sectors (Bielby, 2000). Athough biases can target any facet of another’s identity, we will focus on racial and gender bias. Researchers have struggled to determine how harmful or costly biases are because they are hard to measure. Though some gender bias, like harassment, has been measured and studied, more subtle gender bias barriers, like the "glass cliff," when women are placed in positions of power while things are going poorly, other biases may not be recognized, obvious, or even called out (Stuart, 2018). We know from surveying the research that biases in the workplace impact the way we communicate with others.

In gender-bias research by Glass and Cook (2016) 97% of respondents said they worry about how they come off to others when exercising authority, 87% downplay their accomplishments to others, and 66% make less money than their male counterparts. Research has found that companies without women in top leadership roles can hurt their sales and profitability (Glass & Cook, 2016).

So how can we help combat interpersonal communication patterns of harassment and bias? First, we need to recognize them and acknowledge them in our place of work. Next, we can report them through the proper channels. Per most HR policy violations, sexual harassment can be reported by those who are not the victim of the harassment (EEOC, 2021). And lastly, we can help prevent or mitigate them from happening in the first place.

Note

Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): Student Biting a Pencil in Frustration Looking at Laptop by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

An individual can become more self-aware of our own implicit biases through tools like the Harvard IATs. We can also sign up for and engage in professional development opportunities that talk about such matters. Many HR Departments offer some regular training on sexual harassment. And with implicit and unconscious bias gaining some traction, many organizations are bringing in guest speakers, or even consultants, to address common issues in our workplace.