Abstract

“Sexual Harassment Incident at Zenvra Technologies”, a fictional graphic case study, explores the concepts, issues, and dilemmas around sexual harassment at the workplace. The case describes the sexual harassment incident involving Emma Carlisle (Emma), a software engineer at Zenvra Technologies, a fictional company. Emma alleged that she was sexually harassed by her project manager, Ryan Marshall. She complained about the incident to Lisa Rodriguez (Lisa), HR manager of the company. The case covers the discussion between Emma and Lisa, followed by an interview session with Sarah Patel, Emma’s team member who validated the complaint. The case concludes with a discussion between Lisa and the company leadership where Mark Donnelly, COO at Zenvra, is at a crossroads, trying to decide between values and goals.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Analyze how preventive discipline helps in avoiding employee misconduct in workplaces
• Evaluate the role of an HR manager in handling non-disciplinary incidents at the workplace
• Discuss and debate the decision leaders should take when faced with an ethical dilemma at the workplace

Keywords

Sexual harassment; preventive discipline; disciplinary action procedure; harassment at workplace; ethics; ethical dilemma