Was That Harassment

Coltra is a global beverage company manufacturing and selling a variety of beverages.

Peter Mackenzie is at the helm of this company as he is the CEO. A meeting has been
called of all the high performing salesmen that the company believes have a potential to
lead the firm in the long run. The objective of the meeting is to induct them into the
program that will help prepare them for future leadership roles.
While the attendees are waiting for all the members to arrive some informal and friendly
conversations start going on between those present. 2 men are joking around when one of
them makes a comment on a female colleague while extending a joke that may be
considered as harassment. Since the firm proudly promotes its zero-tolerance policy, the
second guy present there felt the need to report it to the human resources department.
The human resources department was forced to follow procedure and contacted the victim
to get clarity on how to proceed. The victim now faces a dilemma- whether to go forward
with the report of a minor incident and potentially ruin an innocent man’s career or to not
report the incident and allow a potential predator to go unnoticed.

Some Points to be Noted

• The context of the conversation was informal and casual.
• The 2 men were already joking on a similar topic before the victim arrived.
• The accused has been known to be outspoken and a “funny guy”
• Even the head of the HR department herself feels that accused was probably
joking
• The accused did try to apologize albeit in an awkward and defensive manner
• The #MeToo movement is peaking leading to a tense atmosphere and increase in
the number of frivolous and malicious reports of fake harassment

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE COMPANY

• Revise the no tolerance policy to be accommodating of the nature of offense as an
absolute policy may discourage the filing of a complaint as the victim may
hesitate out of concern of ruining a colleague’s career.
• Conduct regular prevention of sexual harassment workshops to ensure the
employees are appropriately sensitized
• Establish proper promotion criteria for all salesmen and mention it explicitly so
that the question of office politics/unfair means cannot even surface.
• Make and float circulars about what are inappropriate things to say to fellow co
workers

Section B | WCS Assignment | Report | Group 9 | Govindam Rastogi | PGP13087

CASE SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE COMPANY
• Talk to the victim regarding whether she wants to file a complaint or not.
• Get a moderated conversation going between the accused and the victim so that
they can talk about the problems.
• If the matter still does not resolve make the accused issue a public apology in
writing to the victim

Section B | WCS Assignment | Report | Group 9 | Govindam Rastogi | PGP13087