Diversity case study Essay

Submitted By kevinqiu1987
Words: 333
Pages: 2

Case notes for Differences at Work: Sameer(A)
In this case, we could see that Sameer and his wife felt that they were offended by their manager’s offensive Arab joke. In my opinion, this joke indeed hurt their feelings. We do not know whether the founder who sent this company-wide email is intentionally, or whether he or she knows there may be some Muslims working in the company, the founder should not say things like this. As we know, three former HBS classmates founded the company and the team was really small. The place had a very tight-knit feeling. In this circumstance, the manager may like freely talking about jokes to enhance the cohesion of the team or adjust the tense work atmosphere. However, he or she should be aware the construction of the team. A joke in his or her eyes maybe just a joke, however, it may unintentionally hurt some Muslims’ feeling. If I were the manager, I would reply Sameer like this:
Sorry about the joke. The founder did not know there are two Muslims in our team, and we apologize if the joke hurt your feelings. As you know, we are a very tight and cohesive team, and we care everyone like caring our own families. We would ask the founder to send a company-wide email to apologize to you. I know that some team members may think your Muslim identity is the same with the Middle East, and that is why they have misunderstanding on you. We would try our best to eliminate the discrimination existed in our company. We could