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To characterize U.S. politics today as polarized is to state the obvious. Nevertheless, Barack Obama's election as the forty-fourth and first African American president of the United States in 2008 had an air of inevitability to it. The presidency of George W. Bush was at that point widely regarded as a profound failure. His administration had mishandled two on-going wars, brought us the nationally humbling debacle of hurricane Katrina, and took us to the brink of economic collapse. And thus the Democratic party nominee for president, who happened to be Black, was handily elected with 53% of the popular vote, carrying twenty-eight states and with some 365 electoral college votes.

What factors influence the likelihood that a federal worker will receive unwanted sexual attention? Who is most likely to be accused of sexual harassment? What factors influence federal workers' perceptions of the effectiveness of agency sexual harassment training? Using the raw data file of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board's most recent survey on sexual harassment, the authors find that worker characteristics are the principal influence on the likelihood that a worker will receive unwanted sexual attention and whether an agency's sexual harassment training is perceived favorably. Contextual factors demonstrate lesser influence. Their conclusions lead the authors to believe that a reevaluation of training programs is in order. A one‐size‐fits‐all training approach may no longer be tenable, if it ever was.

PurposeThis paper seeks to describe bystander behaviour including bystander decisions, actions and outcomes, in the context of workplace bullying.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on a study rooted in van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenology conducted with agents who witnessed workplace bullying in international‐facing call centres in Mumbai and Bangalore, India. Conversational interviews and sententious and selective thematic analyses were undertaken to explore participants' lived experiences.FindingsParticipants' experiences were captured by the core theme of "helpless helpfulness" which subsumes the major themes of "the primacy of friendship" and "the ascendance of the self". Friendship prompted participants to completely protect targets and to fully resolve the bullying situation. Yet, participants, whose initial behaviour was in the desired direction, greatly curbed their efforts in response to supervisory reactions and organizational positions. Inclusivist and exclusivist HR strategies adopted by the employer organization constrained participants in their endeavours to support targets.Research limitations/implicationsThe study achieves theoretical generalisability but further research is needed to establish statistical generalisability.Practical implicationsBystander intervention is an important solution to workplace bullying. The study findings help in developing more effective bystander intervention training programmes, apart from advocating the engagement of HRM as a truly unitarist ideology, the development of effective employee redressal mechanisms and the relevance of pluralist approaches and collectivisation endeavours.Originality/valueBystander behaviour in the context of workplace bullying has received limited empirical attention. The study breaks new ground in uncovering the contribution of workplace friendship and organizational inclusivist and exclusivist HR strategies to bystander experiences. Further, workplace bullying remains largely unexplored in India.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present research findings on how the threat of terrorism to Australia affects managers and employees in workplaces in a large city. It investigates the various workplace impacts of the terrorist threat and examines how this affects organizational efficiency and effectiveness and employee wellbeing.Design/methodology/approachA literature review of the impact of the terrorist threat to workplaces is presented using academic research and journalistic commentary. This review informs research collected in seven organizations via in‐depth interviews of 40 minutes length conducted with staff and management in the administrative, legal, retail, sporting and services sectors. In total, 55 interviews were conducted with an additional 50 respondents who were unavailable for interviews completing surveys.FindingsA number of significant negative impacts of the threat of terrorism on Melbourne workplaces are identified. The most significant were workplace discrimination and diversity management, cultural change to be security oriented, and increased occupational stress.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample population for the research is quite small so the conclusions cannot be considered generalizable. Rather, the research represents specific cases where the impacts are felt and, as such, may exist in other sectors and cities. The results are highly concerning and suggest that terrorism has a detrimental effect at work and on life.Practical implicationsThe findings can assist organizations in preparing management responses and actions in preventing the negative impacts of the threat of terrorism.Originality/valueResearch of this kind is extremely limited yet of the highest importance to organizations in large cities.