likely to see Melet “as a place where they simply arrive, park their brains at the door
and do what they’re told.”^35
Four US researchers investigated whether empowerment works similarly in differ-
ent countries.^36 Their findings showed that employees in India gave their supervisors low
ratings when empowerment was high, while employees in the United States, Mexico, and
Poland rated their supervisors favourably when empowerment was high. In both the
United States and Mexico, empowerment had no effect on satisfaction with co-workers.
However, satisfaction with co-workers was higher when employees were empowered
in Poland. In India, empowerment led to lower satisfaction with co-workers.
Similar findings in a study comparing empowerment in the United States, Brazil,
and Argentina indicate that in hierarchical societies, empowerment may need to be
introduced with care.^37 Employees in such societies may be more used to working in
teams, but they also expect their managers to be the people with all the answers.
Our discussion of empowerment suggests that a number of problems can arise when
organizations decide they want to empower employees. First, some managers do not want
empowered employees, because this can take away some of their own base of power.
Second, some employees have little or no interest in being empowered, and therefore
resist any attempts to be empowered. And finally, empowerment is not something that
works well in every workplace throughout the world.THEABUSE OF POWER:
HARASSMENT IN THEWORKPLACE
People who engage in harassment in the workplace are typically abusing their power posi-
tions. The manager-employee relationship best characterizes an unequal power rela-
tionship, where position power gives the managers the capacity to reward and coerce.
Managers give employees their assignments, evaluate their performance, make recom-
mendations for salary adjustments and promotions, and even decide whether employ-
ees retain their jobs. These decisions give managers power. Since employees want
favourable performance reviews, salary increases, and the like, it is clear that managers
control the resources that most employees consider important and scarce. It is also
worth noting that individuals who occupy high-status roles (such as management posi-
tions) sometimes believe that harassing employees is merely an extension of their right
to make demands on lower-status individuals.
Although co-workers do not have position power, they can have influence and use it
to harass peers. In fact, although co-workers appear to engage in somewhat less severe
forms of harassment than do managers, co-workers are the most frequent perpetrators
of harassment, particularly sexual harassment, in organizations. How do co-workers
exercise power? Most often they provide or withhold information, cooperation, and
support. For example, the effective performance of most jobs requires interaction and sup-
port from co-workers. This is especially true these days as work is assigned to teams.
By threatening to withhold or delay providing information that is necessary for the suc-
cessful achievement of your work goals, co-workers can exert power over you.
Some categories of harassment have long been illegal in Canada, including those based
on race, religion, and national origin, as well as sexual harassment. Unfortunately, some types
of harassment that occur in the workplace are not deemed illegal, even if they create prob-
lems for employees and managers. We focus here on two types of harassment that have
received considerable attention in the press: workplace bullying and sexual harassment.Workplace Bullying
Many of us are aware, anecdotally if not personally, of managers who harass employ-
ees, demanding overtime without pay or excessive work performance. Further, some of232 Part 3Interacting Effectively
6 How are power and
harassment related?