Personal Standards in Professional Relationships: Limiting Interpersonal Harassment

✍ Scribed by B. A. THOMAS-PETER

• Book ID: 101283820
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 115 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1052-9284
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1298(199706)7:3<233::aid-casp422>3.0.co;2-k

✦ Synopsis

An attempt is made to define abusive actions by offering criteria against which the behaviour of individuals can be considered. These criteria are based on whether the behaviour is avoidable, the appraisal of an objective observer and the impact of the behaviour on the psychological contract' between employer and employee. Particular abusive actions, identified by these criteria, are described and are contrasted with what are termed reasonable expectations' of one person's behaviour towards another. It is argued that only by translating these expectations into personal commitments, against which one's own behaviour can be compared, will interpersonal harassment be limited. It is also proposed that the size of consensus about what constitutes abusive actions measures the integrity of an organization's culture.