How to Stop Harassment: Professional Construction of Legal Compliance in Organizations

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Abstract
Most employers installed sexual harassment grievance procedures and sensitivity training by the late 1990s. It was personnel experts, not courts, legislatures, or lawyers, who promoted these antihar- assment strategies, drawn from the profession's tool kit. Personnel succeeded because it was executives, not public officials, who defined professional jurisdiction, and executives proved susceptible to per- sonnel's argument that bureaucratic routines could reduce legal risk. With each landmark in harassment law, more employers adopted the grievance procedures personnel advocated despite negative re- views from lawyers. Employers who consulted personnel experts were more likely to join the bandwagon; those who consulted law- yers were less likely. The case holds lessons for the evolution of professions, because executives play an increasing role in defining professional jurisdiction.