Organizational behavior - Case Study Example

“The customer is the foundation of business success” (Hose, 2013). When Amie Lee was appointed to a supervisory position one of the other employees, Hahn Chen, was outraged and asked Abdul for an immediate transfer. He claimed he could not work under a person that did not have any technical skills. There is more than meets the eye at the reaction of Hahn Chen. Mr. Chen is a Chinese American that was raised by Chinese immigrant parents. Amie Lee is also of Chinese heritage. The organization behavior theory that explains the behavior of Hahn Chen is cultural conflict.

In China females are visualized as second class citizens in the workplace. For a Chinese person it is disrespectful to work under the supervision of a woman. China is a male oriented society in which sexism is a common occurrence (China, 2011). As a manager Abdul would benefit from the OB concept of perception. Perception can be defined as the process through which people receive, organize, and interpret information from their environment (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2003). He must realize that Hahn Chen is lying about his rejection of Amie as his supervisor.

In reality his actions are discriminatory against women in the workplace. Discrimination in the workplace based on gender or sex is prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Eeoc, 2013). The problem could have been avoided by the manager through training and development. The employees of the firm should have been given cultural and discrimination training as part of their orientation period when they became employees of the company. The firm must take this matter very seriously because Hahn Chen just exposed the firm to legal liabilities if Amie decides to take actions against the firm.

She was discriminated against by Mr. Chen. Nobody has the right to make another person feel bad and inferior in the workplace. Abdul Balli must take this problem very seriously and seek a solution immediately. Any solution must recognize the fact that Amie is the victim in this scenario and her needs should be the top priority. The first step Abdul must take is to meet with Amie to evaluate her state of mind. She left the meeting crying, thus it is fair to assume that Hahn’s action affected her emotionally.

Abdul must make it clear to her that she is a value member of the staff, that the company is extremely happy with her work performance, and that she earned the promotion that was given to her. Abdul must tell her that the actions of Hahn are not representative of the business culture of the firm. To resolve the conflict Abdul will approve the transfer request of Hahn Chen under the condition that he takes sensitivity, discrimination and cultural training immediately. Transferring Chen leaves a position open the engineering department.

Abdul must hire a person to fill the void. To speed up the process an employment agency will be hire to recruit a new engineer for the staff. Abdul cannot allow its employees to adapt bad customs from other cultures into the workplace. References China.org (2011). Chinese women seek larger role. Retrieved December 3, 2013 from http://www.china.org.cn/china/2011-08/10/content_23177569.htm Eeoc.org (2013). Sex-Based discrimination. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Retrieved December 3, 2013 from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sex.

cfm Hose, C. (2013). Customer Importance in Marketing. Retrieved