Kindness or harassment: conflicts of gender and race in work relationships

Abstract

With the chief of the department on-leave due to medical reasons, Carla, who had occasionally led the team, became the acting chief. She was just not counting on harassment from Ricardo, an employee cherished by everyone. His advances gradually became more aggressive and Carla did not know how to handle the situation. She started having problems with her team and suffered a defamation of her character from Ricardo. When the head of the sector came back to work, he found a destabilized team. The case addresses the theme of moral harassment, combined with racial and gender issues, and raises debate on how a leader should act to prevent the practice of moral and sexual harassment in the team he/she manages, as well as how to remedy situations already consolidated. It can be applied to courses about leadership, people management, ethics and public service.