Employees’ Perceptions of Anti-Harassment Training Program Design: Whole Person Pedagogical Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore reasons why workplace harassment continues to increase despite the widespread implementation of compulsory anti-harassment training programs in the workplace. The primary objective of the research was to explore trainees’ perceptions of attending the mandatory, anti-harassment training in one specific mid-western Canadian locale through the lens of a transformative learning approach to workplace education. The secondary objective was to determine whether a transformative learning approach, specifically a whole person learning approach to anti-harassment training design might provide a more effective pedagogical approach for anti-harassment training. A qualitative, hermeneutic/interpretative study was developed using purposive sampling to interview six participants with direct experience in attending a one-time, in person, 3-hour mandatory, company sponsored anti-harassment training. Two research questions guided the study: What were the perceptions of employees who attended an anti-harassment training workshop regarding the training program design? and, What can the notion of embodiment offer to anti- harassment training design? A thematic analysis of the patterns and themes within the data evidenced the closed and mechanical process of the anti-harassment training experienced by the employees. The data analysis also supported the idea that training is not simply a mechanical process but one that, to be effective, engages the whole person including body, mind and spirit. Based on findings from the study, anti-harassment training curriculum that engages the whole person learning approach involving experiential, emotive, spiritual, and embodied learning; potentially moving the information from the head to the heart may offer a more effective pedagogical approach to work- based anti-harassment training and education for transformation.