Uber, Sexual Harassment, and the Stanford Prison Experiment

by Mar 23, 2017

In February Uber Engineer Susan Fowler wrote a blog post reflecting on her year at Uber – a year rife with sexual harassment and discrimination. Unfortunately, her year was also rife with ignored complaints made to HR because offenders were high performers. Her post took the world by storm, and Uber has responded with an investigation (currently being conducted).

No doubt, Uber will eventually release some sort of diversity and inclusion (D&I) plan to show the world they are taking Susan’s claims seriously, much like celebrities check themselves into rehab after a drunken debacle.

The first question is, how does something like what Susan described even happen?

The infamous Stanford Prison Experiment of 1971 provides a good answer. Researcher Philip Zimbardo sought to understand if the situation outside of us – the institution – controls our behavior, or if our values and morality allows us to rise above a negative environment. He turned the basement of Stanford’s Psychology Department into a mock prison, and randomly selected research participants (Stanford students) to serve as prisoners or prison guards.

According to the outcome of this particular study, the situation outside of us – the institution – controls our behavior. Some of the guards became unruly and even abusive. They truly lived up to the role they had been assigned inside this institution. And the non-abusive guards went along with it; they never spoke up against the abusive guards.

Even Zimbardo himself got caught up in the institution. As he played the role of prison warden his role of researcher seemed to fade away. It took a colleague having an emotional breakdown for him to take a step back and realize the damage he was causing his research participants. He shut the experiment down early.

In the same vein, we might guess that the HR folks at Uber, who Susan reported the sexual harassment and discrimination to, were in a situation where the institution controlled their behavior. Like the prison guards who never spoke up against the abusers, Uber’s HR team was caught up in their role as it existed inside the culture of Uber.

At this point we can only hope that Uber’s D&I plan will take reasonable steps to solve Uber’s harassment and discrimination issues. But I predict it will not be enough.

The D&I report will likely list actions Uber will take to hire in more women, and new procedures for reporting and resolving harassment complaints. It may even discuss plans for training programs on the topics of harassment and discrimination, as well as diversity and inclusion.

While those steps will be steps in the right direction, unless the D&I plan includes a strategic plan for changing Uber’s culture, it won’t make much of a difference. I say that because most D&I plans focus on the D – diversity. Many do not focus on the I – Inclusion, although inclusion is truly more important.

So here’s a vocabulary lesson for Uber:

Managing diversity – which is what I suspect Uber’s report will focus on – is a compliance thing. It means an organization is taking steps to successfully “manage” diversity.  If you “manage” diversity you probably claim to be an equal opportunity employer, your anti-harassment policies are up to date, you try to avoid biases in your interviews, and you have a plan to hire in more others (in Uber’s case others will refer to women).

Inclusion, however, is a choice. It means you seek to include others in everything you do. Inclusion is a choice to create a culture of respect, professionalism, and equality. To truly solve the problem of sexual harassment at Uber, a plan to create a culture of inclusion is in order.

Tolerance is another word we see a lot in reference to diversity. Why people use this word is beyond me. I tolerate the annoying lady behind me in line at the grocery store who keeps bumping into me with her shopping cart. This isn’t a good reference point when we’re talking about diversity and inclusion.

Let’s replace tolerate with celebrate, and in order for Uber to truly fix their culture, they’ll need initiatives in place that provide the opportunity to do just that. Instead of brushing up on their sexual harassment policies and providing sexual harassment training programs, as their D&I report will no doubt require, Uber would be wise to set up programs that will bring more women into the organization. They might consider creating a women leadership program, offering scholarships to women who want to major in engineering, and offering an employer resource group for women.

The culture has to change – it has to be about inclusion and celebration of differences. When a woman has a child, for example, instead of tolerating that she’s on leave for three months, Uber should celebrate with her and ask her what her needs are. When any employee needs a day off due to a religious holiday, instead of tolerating that he’ll be absent, celebrate with him and invite him to share insight about the holiday with the rest of the office. When one employee is celebrating Pride Week, instead of tolerating the pride flag taped to her cubicle wall, celebrate with her and find out how you and the rest of the office can participate too.

Inclusion means you invite people to be themselves and that self is celebrated.

Check out my course on Diversity & Inclusion at Lynda.com (though, admittedly, it is entitled, “Managing Diversity”). If you don’t already have an account, you can get a free 10-day trial there from my webpage (and view my other Lynda.com courses).
Sincerely,
Catherine

Do you know how much money chronically bad behavior costs your company? Spoiler alert – it’s a LOT higher than you want it to be. Download our data and worksheet to see how it’s costing your organization and what you can do to fix it.

 

About Catherine Mattice

Catherine Mattice, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is President of consulting and training firm, Civility Partners, and has been successfully providing programs in workplace bullying and building positive workplaces since 2007. Her clients include Fortune 500’s, the military, several universities and hospitals, government agencies, small businesses and nonprofits. She has published in a variety of trade magazines and has appeared several times on NPR, FOX, NBC, and ABC as an expert, as well as in USA Today, Inc Magazine, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur Magazine, and more. Catherine is Past-President of the Association for Talent Development (ATD), San Diego Chapter and teaches at National University. In his book foreword, Ken Blanchard called her book, BACK OFF! Your Kick-Ass Guide to Ending Bullying at Work, “the most comprehensive and valuable handbook on the topic.” She recently released a second book entitled, SEEKING CIVILITY: How Leaders, Managers and HR Can Create a Workplace Free of Bullying.

How the Lack of Training Affects your Organization

The workforce is the heart of any thriving company. However, without proper training, employees may find themselves ill-equipped to meet the demands of their roles effectively.  Millennials think learning and growing are important reasons for joining a new company....

Why it’s Getting Harder for Some Women to Report Harassment

The United Nations Women found that about 1 in every 3 women has been sexually harassed at work. 3 out of 4 of them never report it to a manager, HR or anyone else. Imagine a world where every woman is treated with the respect and dignity she deserves. Unfortunately,...

How Companies Can Support Single Parents

Single parents face increased pressure as they balance full-time employment with the responsibility of caring for their children. This heightened pressure comes from various factors, such as economic challenges, limited support systems, and the need to provide for...

Why Your Reward System For Employees Can Fail Badly

Last week marked the celebration of Employee Appreciation Day! During this special time, many companies express their gratitude to their workforce, and one common way they do it is by giving out rewards.  Reward systems are a crucial aspect of employee motivation and...

Can a Wage Increase Make Employees More Productive?

In California, the upcoming minimum wage boost for fast food workers to $20 starting April 1st has ignited discussions about its potential influence on worker productivity.  Currently, the median hourly wage for fast-food workers in the U.S. is $13.43, while in...

Why Every Leader Needs to Worry About Toxic Work Culture

Employees quit their jobs for different reasons, and a major one is because of a toxic workplace environment. In fact, researchers discovered that between April and September 2021, toxic culture was the main reason why employees decided to leave their jobs. A toxic...

Civility Partners at 15 Years!

2024 marks an incredible milestone for us—our 15th-anniversary celebration! Yes, you read that right—15 years of making a positive impact on over 270 organizations served, thousands of employees, and millions of people worldwide! Thanks to the vision of our founder...

Driving Organizational Success Through Behavior Change

How can you make your workplace more exciting and successful?  Organizational success is not solely dependent on strategies or cutting-edge technologies. Instead, the key driver of success lies within the organization itself—specifically, within the collective...

How Much is Your Culture Costing You?

Creating a positive workplace culture isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a key player in the success of any business. It goes beyond token gestures like wellness days and promotions; it's fundamentally about how you treat your people, the support you extend to your team,...

Are you bamboozled by your company’s culture?

Your first day at a new job is a lot like embarking on an adventure. You step through the doors, eager and optimistic, your mind filled with expectations set by the promises of the company’s values and mission. For some, these principles are more than just words on a...