New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow has a thoughtful piece in this morning's paper about the fall from grace of former Congressman Eric Massa and the larger context of male-to-male workplace harassment.  Here's an excerpt: 

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the percentage of its sexual harassment filings that are made by men has doubled over the last two decades. And, although the agency does not compile data on the gender of those being accused, anecdotal evidence suggests that most of those filings are for male-to-male harassment.

While it is heartening to realize that more men seem to be comfortable speaking up, the Massa case illustrates to what degree their attempts at disclosure can be squeezed between two seemingly oppositional pillars of American masculinity: homoerotic ritualizing and homophobic trivializing.

Blow's conclusion:

If brotherly bonds must be forged in mostly male work environments (and it is not at all clear to me that they must), then everyone involved must recognize and respect limits far short of where they currently stand. And when someone claims that the lines have been crossed, we as a society, must take ...

Over the last few weeks I've noticed several articles that focused on the concept of design thinking (which I'll call DT for short). Usually they were categorized under "innovation," which is another term in heavy rotation these days. Like many people I appreciate well designed products and services so I looked into it. I have to say that DT has great potential, both for Human Resource professionals and the organizations they serve. But before I go into the "why" I will first attempt to explain the "what."

WHAT IS DESIGN THINKING?

Like many concepts, different people have different interpretations of what design thinking is. Some of the common themes surrounding DT are:

• Constraints-much like project management, DT works from the assumption that there are limited resources available. It's through accurate identification of the problem or challenge being faced that will allow DT practitioners to meet their objectives. This is expressed in a way (usually through a short, concise statement) that, when done right, helps to focus, frame, and guide the work that needs to be done.


• Empathy-put simply, empathy means putting oneself in the end user's place as ...

I traveled to Buffalo, New York (yes, on purpose) last Friday to speak at the ASTD Niagara Chapter meeting about learning in the workplace through the social web.

There was a lot of energy and knowledge in the group. Instead of getting hung up on “what is Twitter?” type of  conversations (which I often get), we had conversations about bigger issues like control, privacy, standards, the role of L&D, knowing, and “why” (addressing what problem?).

I came away with this:

• A business can not control the social web because employees are already using the very tools their employer wants to control. And, they’re using them to get work done, not to play Farmville.
• The social web is not private. Once you create any type of content – a rating on Amazon, a blog, a comment – you’re privacy ceases to exist. However, the amount of privacy you want is somewhat within your control.
• Fear (of loss of control and privacy) is best addressed by establishing standards for engagement and working with internal groups.
• Understanding new roles is critical. Where can you be the most effective? Is it helping people find the right person or the right content? Is it ...

Some of the things I learned on Twitter this past week.

@oscarberg “Most enterprise social software platforms actually separate internal communication from external communication while email & phone doesn’t.”

via @timkastelle Good #km post – Informal Information Management and Knowledge Management Are Not the Same Thing by @johnt

My thinking is that just the sharing aspect of informal stuff is “know-what”, this is what KM has been about, but we need to go further to the “know-how” ie. to learn and to be able to have the skills to come up with your own “know-what”. We can do this via conversations. We can now converse with people who shared their informal information, and not only know “what” but also “how”…the ultimate example is apprenticeship and mentoring.

via @VenessaMiemis  A fairly good source on Social Capital

In general, there is no one model for social capital formation or the creation or strengthening of local groups. Albee & Boyd (1997) argue that there is no single answer or model to promoting participation … there are only frameworks and guiding principles. Pantoja (1999) argues that instead of one particular model of . ...

Although my usual standard for jury verdict reports is a million dollars (MDV's), this headline caught my attention, Court awards bullied student $800,000.

It has long been my view that the most likely path for a bullying cause of action recognized in the workplace (other than the continuous efforts of Professor David Yamada) is the widespread acceptance of anti-bullying legislation applicable to the schools. Anti-bullying Legislation for Schools, An Inevitable Tie.


Based on local reporting in the Austin area, I know that a similar suit has been filed against a local area school district and when juries start returning these kinds of awards, no matter whether they ultimately stick, the fact is, more suits will follow.

It may be yet awhile before the first state enacts anti-bullying legislation in the workplace, but having been following it for more than seven years, (see Newest Workplace Problem? Bullying?, January, 2003), I am beginning to think of it in terms of likely, if not inevitable.

On the other hand, what seems to me to be the path to workplace legislation, anti-bullying laws in the schools, and the resulting litigation and cost to ...