Harold Reynolds Fired: Is Sexual Harassment Situational or Dispositional?

Neil Best of Newsday writes about Harold Reynolds' surprising firing from ESPN--allegedly because of a sexual harassment complaint filed against him--and in the process, suggests that sexual harassment is a significant problem at the network:

Harold Reynolds, one of ESPN's most visible analysts and a longtime panelist on "Baseball Tonight," has left the network in the wake of one or more incidents of sexual harassment.

Three people who work at ESPN and were familiar with the case said the cause was a pattern of sexual harassment, apparently culminating in a recent incident involving one of the network's young production assistants . . .

Harassment charges are nothing new at ESPN, which operates out of a sprawling "campus" in relatively isolated Bristol, Conn., and employs many production assistants in their early 20s. The network has an extensive program of education and sensitivity regarding gender issues and an elaborate system for pursuing claims of sexual harassment.

Keith Olbermann of MSNBC, a former ESPN host, told The New York Observer in 2004 he had testified in "three or four major cases at ESPN."

Among the prominent ESPN personalities accused of improper behavior in the past is Mike Tirico, who will debut as the play-by-play man for "Monday Night Football" in the coming season. He was suspended by ESPN in 1992 for what were reported at the time to be allegations of sexual harassment. Another host, Jason Jackson, was fired in 2002, reportedly for harassment.

If these accusations are a true--a big "if" since we've seen no evidence in a court of law--what do they suggest about the power of workplace "situation" on the behavior of employees? In other words, to what extent do the workplace circumstances in which ESPN anchors find themselves--being famous ex-jocks or sports guys around young women in a college campus-style setting--cause or encourage some of them to do really stupid things? Has ESPN created a workplace enviroment akin to a male locker room, or is this really about the individual wrongdoers and not about their workplace?

Note: please see update from 10/31/2006: Harold Reynolds Sues ESPN for Wrongful Termination

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