Background information
The case study is based on a communication language dilemma at X–Tel, a leading telecommunication company in the United States of America. The company experienced a management crisis regarding the official language of communication. Its Hispanic American technicians were using Spanish as a medium of communication at work, thus discriminating their non-Hispanic colleagues. The African American technicians made a complaint to the management about the behavior of their Hispanic American colleagues.
In response, Mary Leach issued a communication memorandum to all organizational members regarding official language of communication. The memorandum message sought to enforce English as an official language of communication. According to the message, those who failed to comply with the new rule risked being fired. This message raised a misunderstanding among Hispanic American employees who threatened to file discrimination lawsuit against their employer.
As a reaction to the new communication policy, the Hispanic American employees sent two lawsuit threats to Mary Leach; one of them was forwarded to Frank Loggins, a senior manager in the organization. The affected employees threatened to sue X-Tel for discriminating them based on their nation of origin and violation of their Civil Rights. Two organizational aspects evident in this incident are discrimination policy and management lapse.
Discrimination policy
From the case study, X-Tel employed diversity policy when hiring its employees. This led to tripling of Hispanic American employees, forming a majority in the organization. These Hispanic American employees used Spanish as a communication medium in the organization.
The African American technicians felt discriminated by their Hispanic colleagues at work. They felt left out in job related communications. According to their arguments, electrical repair jobs were risky and thus all technicians needed to have a uniform language of communication that ensured they read on the same page. The above snapshot shows that X-Tel observed nondiscriminatory policies in employment. However, the behaviors of Hispanic American technicians were discriminatory.
Another element of discrimination is seen in the way Mary Leach addressed her memorandum demanding all employees to use English as the Medium of communication. Before sending out the memorandum, Mary Leach talked to Hispanic American employees regarding the use of English as a communication medium. The affected Hispanic American employees said that they spoke Spanish naturally without knowing when communicating among themselves.
However, Mary responded to them that English is an official language in the United States of America, and they had no option but to speak it. She threatened them that those who defied the new communication rule risked being laid off. While the rule appeared facially nondiscriminatory, the way it was communicated was discriminatory. The policy discriminated Hispanic Americans based on their nation of origin. It also violated their Civic Rights.
Management lapse
The management of X-Tel was unable to come up with nondiscriminatory strategy that ensured all employees adopted a common language of communication without force. Mary Leach distributed a memorandum of communication that demanded all employees to observe English as a medium of communication. She did this without consulting other managers.
It was the result of Mary’s non-consultative approach that Matt and Frank Loggins were disappointed about organizational management. X-Tel managers should have consulted among themselves on the best nondiscriminatory approach of enforcing communication policy before implementing it.
The best strategy should have been employees’ training and coaching on communication at the work place through team building sessions. The organizational management should have mentored those employees with hardship of adapting English to ensure effective change. The management should have also reminded the Hispanic Americans that they discriminated against their non-Hispanic colleagues by using Spanish as a communication medium at their work place.