Employment Discrimination Course Research: Anti-Discrimination Training Efficacy Literature Review

"Created in January 2015, the Select Task Force was comprised of 16 members from around the country, including representatives of academia from various social science disciplines; legal practitioners on both the plaintiff and defense side; employers and employee advocacy groups; and organized labor."

"The intent of this study was threefold. First, to determine the rate of bullying within the workplace. Second, to determine if anti-harassment programs are effective. Third, impact of anti-harassment training programs on the organizational culture Using action research with multiple approaches to gather overarching meta-methodology gathering meta- and micro- data incorporating qualitative and quantitative approaches.

"Do corporate sexual harassment programs reduce harassment? Those that do should boost the share of women in management, because harassment causes women to quit. Sexual harassment grievance procedures incite retaliation, according to surveys, and our analyses show that they are followed by reductions in women managers. Sexual harassment training for managers, which treats managers as victims’ allies and gives them tools to intervene, are followed by increases in women managers. Training for employees, which treats trainees as suspects, can backfire. Programs work better in workplaces with more women managers, who are less likely than men to respond negatively to harassment complaints and training. Employers should select managers—men and women—committed to eradicating harassment."

"The current surge in media attention surrounding workplace sexual harassment cases has created a hypersensitivity among coworkers and left employers scrambling to tighten HR policies and training procedures in an effort to mitigate a company’s exposure to liability. But, why now? Are workplace sexual harassment cases on the rise? Is harassment occurring in industries uncommon from those typically known in the past? "

"After Wall Street firms repeatedly had to shell out millions to settle discrimination lawsuits, businesses started to get serious about their efforts to increase diversity. But unfortunately, they don’t seem to be getting results: Women and minorities have not gained much ground in management over the past 20 years."