SOCS-350N Week 1 Discussion: Some of My Best - Graded A

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SOCS-350N Week 1 Discussion: Some of My Best Some of My Best. . . (graded) Your company is in need of someone to fill a new position. The spot calls for some very specific skills, education,... and experience, but you happen to have an old friend who exactly fits the bill. In addition, he has mentioned to you that he feels it is time to make a change and has been contemplating looking for a new job. You give him a call and he says that he is very interested, so you call the head of the department in question and tell him about your friend. The department head is very excited and tells you to have him call for an interview. You do and everything seems fine. Several weeks pass and your friend calls you and asks if you have any idea what happened with the job. He interviewed and everything went well, but he never heard back and just learned that the position had been filled with someone who has no experience and a much different background. You call the department head and relay the question. After some hemming and hawing, the department head makes some vague statement about your friend not being a "good fit." He was afraid that your friend's "accent" might make it difficult for him to be understood, and he was concerned about his work ethic since he came from a cultural background that has a more "laidback" work ethic. You hang up and think about it. Your friend is from Jamaica and does have an accent and very relaxed personality, but is certainly not lazy. Then you realize that he is also a minority and that this particular department not only has no minority employees, but never has had one. What do you do? Is the department head being ethnocentric or prejudiced? Do you tell your friend what you were told? Do you call someone higher up and express your concerns? Do you do nothing at all? The department head used his prejudiced attitude and cultural ignorance to choose a lesser experienced individual that obviously had the looks to fit the position. He is ethnocentric based on the fact that the department culturally looks the same and has always looked the same. Unfortunately, he shows through his actions and statement that he thinks that the Jamaican gentleman comes from a “laidback” work ethic, that he has the inability to respect people as individuals. Not only is the department head ethnocentric and prejudiced, his actions are illegal and a clear violation of the laws established and enforced by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The USEEOC clearly defines under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that it is “illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit”. Based on Title VII, I would tell my friend exactly what happened and refer him to the USEEOC, in addition, I would refer the situation to Human Resources for further investigation. It is my responsibility to respond the situation appropriately for two reasons. First and foremost, the discrimination is illegal and should be address internally by the company’s Executive team. They should be aware of the department head’s hiring strategy and methodology. Secondly, the person that was hired is inexperience and possibly lacks the experience that was initially necessary for the position which means that the department head is also providing a disservice to the department and thereby not meeting the needs company. Reference: http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/index.cfm [Show More]

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