Case of Aline DeNeuve

This case Aline DeNeuve is written by Alvin Turner, from St. Catharine’s, Ontario, Canada. There are a lot of issues in this case. Aline talked with five random employees to secure their views on having another retreat and to take their opinion how effective was the previous retreat.

The first employee she talked with was Heather. The main issue over here is mostly stereotypical and racial discrimination. Heather told she doesn’t like retreats. She also said that she was ignored to give a promotion six months ago by her supervisor Jack as she was Chinese, and that her supervisor doesn’t like foreigners. She also stated that the three day retreat held once a year won’t solve the anti-social atmosphere between the employees. This problem occurred because Heather was upset with Jack for the reason she was not promoted by him. Categorization is an OB concept which falls under stereotyping. This is a comparison process for social identity, and that comparison begins by categorizing people into different groups. Heather thought she was categorized by her supervisor Jack as she was from China. Homogenization is another OB concept that falls under stereotyping. It is a simplified process of comparing people in various groups. Here people tends to think that, people with in a group are very much similar to each other despite the fact that everyone is an individual and have their own different characteristics. Heather thought that jack was homogenization towards her as she belonged from China, and was from some kind of Chinese group. Heather also thought that Jack was discriminating towards her as she was a foreigner, and so didn’t give her a promotion. There were also internal attribution factors in Heather as she regularly took large numbers of sick days from work, for the reason she thought her supervisor was discriminating her. She also had fundamental attribution error. Fundamental attribution error is a bias, refers to our tendency to see the person rather than the situation as the main cause of the person’s behaviour. Heather thinks that she is biased by her supervisor. These problems can be fixed in various ways by Heather. Awareness of perceptual biases is one of the ways her problems can be solved. Training on diversity awareness can lessen discrimination by making people aware of methodical discrimination as well as biases that occur through stereotyping. Awareness of perceptual biases can make people more watchful of their opinions and activities. Thus, Heather might have a better point of view about Jack, and might think more positively about the outcomes that come in real life. Another way of fixing her problem is by improving self-awareness. It is a more powerful way to minimize perceptual biases; it provides evidence that the individual’s own conduct and choices reflect these biases. Therefore Heather can have a better and positive view of what is happening in her surroundings and how positively she can take them. However, Heather can have a conversation period with her supervisor and discuss all the matters that are bothering her. This might help her understand Jack in a better way and stop all kinds of problematic issues they have between each other.

The second employee Aline talked with was Jack. Jack is the manager of marketing department. He did not want to attend the retreat. He was upset as he was not promoted to the director position. Jack thought that he was passed over because he was black. He suggested that the organization should invest more money in its security purposes as he thinks lot of employees are taking home office supplies. He also thought that the company should design a better job orientation and socialization program for the new employees. The problem over here was Jack thought that he didn’t get the promotion because he was black; he assumed that he was racially discriminated. He also made a very serious statement about other office employees, that they have been taking office supplies to their home. This to my thought was really offensive to other employees especially when he had no evidence to prove them. The only positive statement that I thought Jack made was having a better designed job orientation and socializing program for the new employees. This step would really help the new comers to get involved in various activities in an organization. In this part of the case I found two problems that took place with Jack. The first one was Jack thinking stereotypically about himself. His thinking was more of stereotypical because he thought he was racially discriminated in the organization and so was not given a promotion to the director position. The solution to this problem can be diversity awareness training. This training will help Jack to minimize discriminating thoughts in his mind. He also needs to improve his self-awareness in himself which will let him know what he thinks about himself. The second problem associated with Jack was accusing other employees of the organization, for taking office supplies to their home. This is a very serious offensive issue. To me Jack thinks like this because he is having some internal issues with his fellow employees. This can be fixed from the Johari Window model. It helps to get to a mutual understanding which eventually encourages disclosure of argument. Jack can also have a formal conversation with the organization’s promotion giving team to get to know why he wasn’t selected for the director position; this might really help him to get to know the real facts.

The third employee Aline had a conversation with was June, manager of customer service. She was also not keen to attend the retreat as she thought that the previous one was a waste of time. She also doesn’t like her job anymore as it became too stressful for her. She also stated that the company kept on promising her that it will hire more customer service representative, but haven’t hired anyone. She also mentioned that it is getting hard for her to maintain her marriage with such a stressful job beside. June also said that she got tired of answering customer’s silly questions. The first problem June had was shortage of customer service representative which made her working condition stressful. She can write a letter to the organization’s head stating the entire problem that she is facing and asking for an immediate solution. The fact that June’s marriage life is getting affected from her work life falls in an OB concept, work-life balance. People tend to lose control of their marriage life due to a stressful condition in their work life. This problem can be solved by the means of virtual work. She can request the company to work from her home instead of working in the office using information technology. This will let her to for work from the comfort of her home; allowing to have a better and balanced lifestyle. Many survey came up with results that on an average, a person working in a call center works no more than two years. However, I think June should leave her current job and look for a better one, because doing something that she doesn’t like, won’t be productive for her or the company.

Fourth employee Aline spoke with was Alison, supervisor of employee benefits and services. Alison also expressed disagreement in attending another retreat. She said that some male and female employees think that retreats are an opportunity for hitting on one another. She also mentioned that the company should develop a policy regarding inter-office dating. She also stated that the management is contributing to these factors by not taking actions to stop such behaviour in work place. As Alison has very strong views to her religion she is very unsatisfied with the kind of environment that goes in work place, because most religious views are strong and conservative. This is more of an issue than a problem. This issue falls under categorical thinking, as religious views falls under a specific category. In this categorical thinking people tries to relate every possible action in the base of that category, as Alison did by judging most of the situation in religious views. To overcome this issue Alison can go through a behaviour modification session, it is also known as operant conditioning and reinforcement theory. It helps people understand that learning and visualising completely depends on the environment and the situation.

The last employee Aline talked with was Richard. Richard said he will be pleased to attend a retreat because he always felt these types of ventures are a great way to improve interpersonal relationship and to socialize with senior management. Richard was the only employee amongst the five employees who had positive and inspiring attitude. There was no problem that I could find from this conversation. Instead he was more inspirational for the other employees. He is extroverted, as he seems more outgoing, sociable, and assertive.
The organization should take a lot of immediate actions to resolve these problems. The company can encourage its employees to join on various training sessions on improving self-awareness, awareness of perceptual biases, meaning full interactions with one another in office environment, behaviour modification, etc. The company can set up free training sessions to help their employee learn the visuals of work life in a modified and better way. One of the best alternatives can be, giving new employees not only job training but also other training to keep office environment healthy and good.

MD Samiul Karim Shaown
A00355188
Micro Organizational Behaviour
MGMT-2383-1C