13th April 2021, work, gender & wrongful behavior inquired at Australian Senate
Gender Balance, Reputational Risk Management
The 13th of April 2021, was a very important day for me and AdMeliorem. It was 18 years ago in Australia that I commenced applied research into gender and aggressive behaviour at work where I specifically explored the role of identity, emotion, prejudice, culture and climate on gender and wrongful behaviour and the impact of aggressive behaviour for both the individual and the business bottom line. Proudly, my research received awards in the USA and the UK. However, it is not until this day that the topic has received the important attention that it deserves at a national level through an inquiry held by the Australian Senate.
The case is about a woman who was unfairly removed from her CEO position at Australia Post as a result of wrongful aggressive behaviour by men including the Chairman of the Board, Board members, and some members of the Australian Government (who a couple of are Australia Post Board members). Wrongful aggressive behaviour consisted of (1) showering abuse on her; (2) blaming her unfairly; (3) judging her work in an unfair manner; (4) publicly questioning her judgment; (5) criticizing her work unfairly; (6) isolating her from her role; (7) spreading false rumours about her; (8) ignoring her; (9) do-not-speak-to-me-behaviour; and (10) insulting her private life. These expressions of wrongful behaviour resulted in her losing her job but also her mental health was severely affected, with related consequences.
From the consulting work I have done in Australia with consideration of the woman under discussion in this article, there are thousands of cases like hers in Australia. From my research I can confirm that this wrongful is a result of climate and cultures that reflect workplace structures that are dominated by male traits, yet those male traits (e.g., toughness) at work, are not safe for both males and females and they serve mainly to develop a negative emotional environment that includes intimidation and fear. Now from many years of corporate practice, I can confirm that a climate of intimidation and fear is very common and extremely bad for engagement, productivity and performance at a workplace of any size (small, medium and large) that considerably affects costs, and profit from liability as a result of high turnover, poor productivity, lack of ownership, and reputational damage.
In consequence, to minimize risks associated with financial liability and reputational damage as a result of a male dominated workforce, I strongly recommend considering not only balancing your corporate structure, climate and culture with male and female traits but also providing adequate gender balance and equality at all levels of the corporation. This can be done by working on your identity, minimizing gender objectification and attitudes (e.g., prejudice), working thoroughly with emotion at work, redesigning your governance framework (e.g., risk) and codes of conduct and ethics.
The above recommendations will help to create an environment of ownership, assertive communication, improved decision-making and improved understanding of risks influencing positively corporate savings, and improving productivity and performance. It will also allow for authentic compliance with ESG factors specifically those related to social and governance factors.
I can help, getintouch, let’s together re-imagine your corporation
Ad Meliorem.