Introduction
This case deals with dating in the workplace. I believe probably more than any other topic I have heard more issues in my years in the Army that deal with relationships among service members. I do believe it is morally acceptable for an employer to make rules against dating in the workplace. The degree to which rules are designed though should reflect on how much the relationship may affect the workplace. There should be no invisible rules towards the topic. That is an organization must put such a policy in writing and not just accept that it is understood and everyone will see things for the good of the organization. Individual members must be held accountable for their actions at all levels. A supervisor that violates a policy is as guilty as a subordinate and must be treated the same to ensure the integrity of the policy as well as the organizations standard.
Human Nature
It’s 2 a.m. and the last touch has just been put on the project due by the team in 7 hours to the review panel. For the last 3 weeks, the team of 7 has been working until such hours of the morning to ensure they met the deadline set by the company they work and it would appear in this case live for. The company expects results and the employee’s seem to be motivated enough to meet the goals set by the company. This is a regular pattern of this fictitious organization. Personnel from different departments are brought together to work on a project for the company.
With such a degree of team work expected by the organization so to should the human nature of individuals placed in such situations to form bonds and relationships beyond work be expected. The days of 9 to 5 with plenty of time in the evening and on weekends to interact with others socially are not as prevalent in today’s U.S. workforce. The U.S. works longer hours than other countries and takes shorter vacations if any at all compared to other countries.
Strong recent growth in the number of working women, increasing management emphasis on close workplace teamwork, and longer hours being put in by managers and professionals are helping to fuel the dating trend, experts say (Arnett, 1998). When men were the primary workforce and had to make time to look for female companionship in areas not associated with work there were not significant issues for organizations to worry about dating ...
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Conclusion
An organization has a responsibility to itself before its employees. The employees have a duty to meet the expectations of the job they choose. The company has a duty to allow employees to be human and act as such when organization’s goals and practices are not in jeopardy. When members of the organization are expected to sacrifice a portion of their lives however to the good of the company then the company has a duty to take the possible outcomes of such extensive interaction into account when making fraternization policies. This will provide a balance between the rights and duties of the employer to the employee and vice versa.
REFERENCES
Murray, K. (1990). “Romancing at work, Firms learn to be flexible over issue,” Orange County Register, pg. h.01.
Arnett, E. (1998). “OFFICE ROMANCES BLOOMING; RULES BEING REVISED AS TRENDS SHOW RISE IN WORKPLACE DATING,” Daily News, pg N. 20.
Minarcek, A. (2004). “Survey says interoffice romances increasingly accepted by co- workers, bosses,” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, pg. 1.
Roeper, R. (2005). “Nothing is as inevitable, or tricky, as workplace dating,” Chicago Sun- Times, pg. 11.
Sex Discrimination in the American Workplace: Still a Fact of Life. (2000, July 01). Retrieved from National Women's Law Center : www.nwlc.org
The central point the author drives home is that at the turn of the twentieth century, cigarette smoking was not deemed an acceptable practice for middle or upper class men in the United States. The author states that there were numerous factors, each seemingly more extreme than the last, that lead to the acceptance
Borio, Gene, “Tobacco Timeline: The Twentieth Century 1900-1949—The Rise of the Cigarette.” Chapter 6. 1993-2003.
A young girl growing up in 21st century America has a much better chance of achieving a high-paying, high-prestige, management level job than most all of her predecessors in the early, middle and late 20th century. Despite this, however, women who have such a position, depending on the field of course, are likely to find themselves as the token woman among men, which puts her in a tricky position (Conley 311). A woman that asserts herself in a way seen as “masculine” would likely be negatively received by her male counterparts, making her job harder than it would be without such pressures (Conley 311). Should the woman fail at coping with this and fail at some aspect of her job, it becomes ammunition for her aggrieved male coworkers who see this as justification that women cannot handle such positions (Conley 311).
...enetration. The area and degree of information the parties shared paired with a cost-benefit motivational factor produced an intimate relationship not commonly seen in the work environment. Privacy coordination also played a role in Lewis’ relational closeness with her husband and colleague. Lewis and Bristler’s or any ‘work spouse’ relationship may be the result of social penetration.
Women are under constant scrutiny when it comes to the organizational world of work. Looking at the start, this type of wary behavior begins at the job interview. From experience, the moment an interviewer views a person’s application they have already begun their assessment of the person. The interviewee has less than a minute after introduction to give a good initial impression. However, the traits of two applicants who are male and female vary in expectation, “women are expected to be dependable, cooperative, intuitively perceptive, and exhibit ‘soft’ skills of management. Men, on the other hand, are required to be intelligent, ...
Puff, puff, puff . . . ummm the cool fresh taste of smoke in your lungs. Doesn’t that taste good??? Well, depending to whom you talk to, a variety of answers are possible. It is interesting though, that we, as a society, actually are still deceived into believing the false promises of happiness and bliss from smoking cigarettes. In our society people still deny and forget the fact that smoking causes lung cancer and directly kills over a million people every year, and that is just what tobacco advertisement departments would like to have you forget. Nowadays, advertising has become a major part of American society today. Everywhere you go there is advertising to be seen and absorbed by the consumer population. Nowadays, every company has a specific company inside the big business that’s sole purpose it to come up with interesting and new ways to promote its product. One industry that has been under fire for the types of advertising done during the last ten years is the tobacco industry. Major tobacco companies, specifically the R.J. Reynolds and Laramie corporations, spend millions of dollars each and every year, selectively advertising to older audiences in the Camel ad and to people who are socially active like the ones in the Newport ad, by intentionally using popular icons like Joe Camel and American ideals like the red, white, and blue coloring in the Camel ad, and by using human emotions like desire and popularity that everyone can relate to as found in the Newport ad, all in an attempt to sell a specific idea . . . cigarettes are pleasurable and enjoying to smoke.
Stewart, G., Manz, C., & Sims, H., (1999). Teamwork and Group Dynamics. New York: Wiley. pp. 70- 125.
Beyond inhalable tobacco and safety matches, cigarettes needed another mechanized invention before they could flourish in domestic and international markets. The mechanization of the cigarette came about when James Bonsack, son of a textile manufacturer, transformed one of his father’s carding machines to mass-produce cigarettes. In 1880 Bonsack submitted a patent to the U.S. Patent Office for his new Bonsack machine, which could produce 100,000 cigarettes in 10 hours. In the 1880’s, most journey level cigarette rollers could only produce about 1000 cigarettes per day. The mass production of the modern cigarette was set to launch(1). In 2008, the Hauni PROTOS-M8 cigarette machine was producing 19,480 cigarettes per minute(14)! By 1900, Big Tobacco in the United States mass-produced cigarettes at a staggeringly low cost(1).
When we think of the word team, individually many different ideas may come to mind about what a team really is. Some may think of an NFL team (Tennessee Titans), an NBA team (Sacramento Kings), or a NASA astronaut team with such pioneers as Edwin Aldrin, Jr. and Neil Armstrong as members. You might even think of the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, or Marines as teams. In fact they all are, and they have a great deal in common as teams. However, for the purposes of this paper I will examine the characteristics of work teams, as they apply to organizations and I will supply answers to the following questions: What is a team? Where did the team concept come from? What are the types of teams? What are the advantages and disadvantages of having teams in organizations? What does it take to make a team effective?
Lynn, Regina. "The New Communication Technology: A Challenge to Modern Relationships?" Wired, 21 Sept. 2007. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.
A majority of employees in today’s workforce work more than forty hours per week which leaves them little time to date or to meet new people. Employees often spend more time with their coworkers than their own families The increase in the amount of hours worked per work has caused some employees to pursue romantic relationships in the workplace. In a recent survey conducted by Workplace Options, nearly 85% of 18-29 years old would have a romantic relationship with a co-worker. () The increase in hours worked per week and acceptance of workplace dating among younger employees have forced employers to adopt policies that ban or limit workplace dating.
Glazer, S. (1996, July 19). Crackdown on sexual harassment. CQ Researcher, 6, 625-648. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/
Relationships among workplace peers are the most common type of organizational relationships. At times, these platonic relationships turn romantic which are often regarded as an organizational issue. A workplace romance (WR) is defined as a no-platonic bond between two members of an organization in which both sexual attraction and affection is present (Cowan & Horan, 2014). WRs are common in organizations. According to a poll by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), found that 40% of employees had been involved in a WR at some point in their careers (Cowan & Horan, 2014). The SHRM also found that over 70% of organizations do not have policies that prohibit WR. One of the most concerning questions that arises regarding workplace
In the late 1900’s a massive trend took over America. Smoking became a huge hit especially among teenagers. It was cool, and those that smoked sat at the top of the social ladder in high schools across America. The success of smoking and its popularity among teenagers was due to the public perception about smoking. At the time of its success, the public perception was wildly positive. There were claims that smoking had great effects on individual health and that there were no negative side effects. There is nothing more telling about the American perception of smoking than the movie Grease, where the nice girl becomes queen of the school after a lifestyle change that includes the addition of smoking. However, America has changed. Americans