How you run and promote teams and professional pride is important.
I think that Seasink was near the mark, I have worked and been in charge of different teams that are very competitive, and often for different operational reasons you would have male team and a female team of investigators. In my experience the women really get right into the challenge of running their own "team" and as a boss you do get to pick up some of the argy bargy that goes on in each team and I can tell you that a female team operating in what was traditionally a man's world can be very crude and to the point in their nick names for each others teams.
As a Boss you are acutely conscious of the fine line that must be maintained lest professional banter cross that fine line with adverse effects. You need to be prepared to step in, sometimes it is just a gentle reminder that we should not travel further in that direction, :nownow: and appropriate for both males and females to restate where that line should be in the workplace.
The minute that fines or penalties or punishment, or even threats to impose, you lose the goodwill of teams and the issue polarizes and can be a poisonous problem that dogs the professional pride and friendly competition between teams, the issue is pushed underground, but it is still there! and resentment building, so even if you combine teams, you get snide comments, bigoted sniping and poor team performance in integrated teams.
The other problem that can arise is individuals trying to outdo each other with rude crassness bordering on naked bullying.
I prefer the quiet word in the right place at the right time. Sometimes years after that quiet word, you will get feedback from the individuals as to what effect your carefully chosen words had on them at the time. When that comment is positive and it changed something, or produced a good effect, you know you made the right decision and spoke the right words.
I have some misgivings at the large fine imposed as there are many facets in dealing with inappropriate comments and maintaining professional cohesion in a competitive environment, knee jerk, covering your own ar*se, bad leadership, failure of corporate image makers to develop professional guidelines, all come to mind.
Time will tell if the base problem is dealt with or it is still there but masked with PC statements? Something you will find in boardrooms and the way corporate spin doctors talk to each other.
Ken
