Mixing
![Defining terms: man hours vs. calendar hours [closed]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjbpfN9tAutmK93bJRC3ZoROZzi2TJDms5n8_qJuhgE0a9b52OOHayv3NGT8igAdFL7byXNst-_1DZK5SjrIJ28_6RQPUpBROqMs5s6jo-ZsjX8kjDwfxJufIitH3TaQRXWaGSQKRQib-f/s72-c/1.jpg)
What action should be taken by a manager when subordinates become racist?
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP
.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;
up vote
10
down vote
favorite
In our office people are from different backgrounds, races, caste and culture. Yesterday I heard heated argument among a group of coworkers. The discussion was about terrorism, and one of the group was blaming a particular community. The members of this community felt bad and in turn they started on the other community, and thus the environment was charged. This was all happening at lunch time.
What should be done by the authority to check this and avoid any conflict later on. This type of feeling actually destroys the team sprit and is very dangerous to growth. How to avoid this in future and create a healthy environment for everyone, irrespective of cast, religion and race?
colleagues company-culture human-resources
edited May 1 '13 at 4:35
Andrew Grimm
1861212
asked Apr 30 '13 at 10:10
user5377
4981414
add a comment |Â
up vote
10
down vote
favorite
In our office people are from different backgrounds, races, caste and culture. Yesterday I heard heated argument among a group of coworkers. The discussion was about terrorism, and one of the group was blaming a particular community. The members of this community felt bad and in turn they started on the other community, and thus the environment was charged. This was all happening at lunch time.
What should be done by the authority to check this and avoid any conflict later on. This type of feeling actually destroys the team sprit and is very dangerous to growth. How to avoid this in future and create a healthy environment for everyone, irrespective of cast, religion and race?
colleagues company-culture human-resources
edited May 1 '13 at 4:35
Andrew Grimm
1861212
asked Apr 30 '13 at 10:10
user5377
4981414
1
Does your office have policies and/or training on this? And is your environment such that people feel comfortable reporting this to either HR or their manager?
– Elysian Fields♦
Apr 30 '13 at 10:19
9
The golden rule is to never discuss politics or religion at the workplace. Ever. Not even on lunch break.
– maple_shaft
Apr 30 '13 at 12:28
add a comment |Â
up vote
10
down vote
favorite
up vote
10
down vote
favorite
In our office people are from different backgrounds, races, caste and culture. Yesterday I heard heated argument among a group of coworkers. The discussion was about terrorism, and one of the group was blaming a particular community. The members of this community felt bad and in turn they started on the other community, and thus the environment was charged. This was all happening at lunch time.
What should be done by the authority to check this and avoid any conflict later on. This type of feeling actually destroys the team sprit and is very dangerous to growth. How to avoid this in future and create a healthy environment for everyone, irrespective of cast, religion and race?
colleagues company-culture human-resources
edited May 1 '13 at 4:35
Andrew Grimm
1861212
asked Apr 30 '13 at 10:10
user5377
4981414
In our office people are from different backgrounds, races, caste and culture. Yesterday I heard heated argument among a group of coworkers. The discussion was about terrorism, and one of the group was blaming a particular community. The members of this community felt bad and in turn they started on the other community, and thus the environment was charged. This was all happening at lunch time.
What should be done by the authority to check this and avoid any conflict later on. This type of feeling actually destroys the team sprit and is very dangerous to growth. How to avoid this in future and create a healthy environment for everyone, irrespective of cast, religion and race?
colleagues company-culture human-resources
edited May 1 '13 at 4:35
Andrew Grimm
1861212
asked Apr 30 '13 at 10:10
user5377
4981414
edited May 1 '13 at 4:35
Andrew Grimm
1861212
edited May 1 '13 at 4:35
Andrew Grimm
1861212
edited May 1 '13 at 4:35
Andrew Grimm
1861212
1861212
asked Apr 30 '13 at 10:10
user5377
4981414
asked Apr 30 '13 at 10:10
user5377
4981414
asked Apr 30 '13 at 10:10
user5377
4981414
4981414
1
Does your office have policies and/or training on this? And is your environment such that people feel comfortable reporting this to either HR or their manager?
– Elysian Fields♦
Apr 30 '13 at 10:19
9
The golden rule is to never discuss politics or religion at the workplace. Ever. Not even on lunch break.
– maple_shaft
Apr 30 '13 at 12:28
add a comment |Â
1
Does your office have policies and/or training on this? And is your environment such that people feel comfortable reporting this to either HR or their manager?
– Elysian Fields♦
Apr 30 '13 at 10:19
9
The golden rule is to never discuss politics or religion at the workplace. Ever. Not even on lunch break.
– maple_shaft
Apr 30 '13 at 12:28
1
1
Does your office have policies and/or training on this? And is your environment such that people feel comfortable reporting this to either HR or their manager?
– Elysian Fields♦
Apr 30 '13 at 10:19
Does your office have policies and/or training on this? And is your environment such that people feel comfortable reporting this to either HR or their manager?
– Elysian Fields♦
Apr 30 '13 at 10:19
9
9
The golden rule is to never discuss politics or religion at the workplace. Ever. Not even on lunch break.
– maple_shaft
Apr 30 '13 at 12:28
The golden rule is to never discuss politics or religion at the workplace. Ever. Not even on lunch break.
– maple_shaft
Apr 30 '13 at 12:28
add a comment |Â
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
up vote
12
down vote
As a manager I am pretty much against letting HR handle stuff like this. This is mainly because I've seen too many cases where HR, as outsiders being called in to solve an internal problem, ends up attracting too much attention with too little success. As such, my preference would almost always to be handle it internally.
If it were my team, I would call all of them into a meeting and put my foot down. Since I don't know the team (not even the size, which makes a difference), I don't have any specific suggestions but I would make sure that everybody leaves the room knowing any repeat of this behaviour would not be tolerated.
As for whether or not I would let the incident slide, I don't know. A lot is riding on hearsay since I wasn't around. In cases like this, where the penalties might be severe and the circumstances not entirely clear, punishing any party might backfire. This is especially true if its a big team and a lot of people got sucked into a single stupid moment.
By the way, all this only applies if your company doesn't have explicit procedures and policies regarding these incidents. If it does, I would suggest you get support from senior management before making any deviations.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:37
Permas
4,83111829
I Wouldn't do that HR /IR are the correct people to do this the riot act needs to be read to your entire team in very blunt terms and its better if HR play the bad cop rather than you.
– Neuro
Apr 30 '13 at 16:43
1
Which "bad cop" would be more effective? A random officer from an outside department? Or your direct superior? Managing means providing leadership, you can't do that if you "delegate" something this important to an outsider.
– Permas
May 1 '13 at 4:55
Good answer since 'both parties' make essentially the same mistakes, and no one is to blame in particular (well, the childish "he started first" may come up but that's just an excuse to not address ones own behaviour). The "mistakes" being mainly: generalizing individual behaviour to group behaviour. We humans always do that and it never contributes.
– Jan Doggen
May 1 '13 at 10:22
+Permas You get the hr director to do it as for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:40
+Permas You get the hr/ir director or equivalent) to do it for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade - the risk of failure is to high as its unlikely a random team leader would have the knowledge and skills to handle this both from a legal perspective. You want any lingering resentment after the telling off (or possibly sackings) to go to HR the team leader can then move things on as he/her wasn't the one doing the bollocking or if it came to it the firing.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:47
 |Â
show 1 more comment
up vote
8
down vote
Step in. This is a case where leadership as opposed to management is important.
A couple different tacts:
Don't be a bystander - if you're in any position of authority and you hear a discussion on racism get heated and charged, step in. Almost any form of leadership sending the message "this is not OK" is better than ignoring it. When the leadership ignores it, it becomes tacit approval.
Diffuse with questions - discussions like this often get loaded when people stop asking and listening and start accusing. One way to diffuse the charged issue is to get the parties to start asking questions - "do you know that not everyone in X racial group is terrorist?", "how would you feel if someone called you a terrorist just because of your race?", "isn't there a better way to address our fear and concerns as a group?" - some of these may sound canned, so finding the way to ask it in your own words in a way they will hear it is really important.
Start a team/department discussion - seriously, if people are freaking out, get them to address it in a corporate-appropriate manner. What's the actual fear? What can we do? Is this fear reasonable? Talking about contingency support, emergency response scenarios, and what to do at work in the event of a crisis is something a company really should talk about and it's a whole lot more productive than pointing fingers.
Give pointed feedback in private - if you see a pattern and you see particular parties falling into that pattern - give feedback in private. Let them know that you see the behavior as racist, and racism is really not OK. An important part of current discrimination thinking is that it's not the victimized race that can stand up for this - if you see something that is racially offensive, you have every right to point it out - regardless of what race you are.
If this stuff isn't working, or you want a sanity check - do check with HR. Sometimes they know nuances and particular limitations to this sort of interaction that can be helpful for a manager to be aware of. But anything respectful and upholding of company values and local law is bound to be better than staying silent.
And, in my experience, waiting to put a nice package around it is less useful than nipping it in the bud. Speaking in generalities and hoping people catch on to the problem is less effective than redirecting a negative scenario on the spot.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 16:24
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
Inform all parties involved that this is not an appropriate topic of discussion at the work place. Don't get into who started it or said what. Everyone is at fault since no one did the right thing and stopped the conversation before it went too far. No topic should ever cause this much hostility even if it is work-related. You have to demand that professional adults show restraint.
Establish consequences if this continues (I have no idea what would be considered legal or appropriate in your area.). As others suggested, you should have your HR department formalize this.
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
This depends a bit on the exact circumstances and your personal relationship with the team. If it's mainly one instigator, you need to take him aside: "Hey dude, that's entirely uncool. I know you are upset about what a bunch of whack jobs are doing there but that is clearly not the fault of anyone in our company. This discussion just makes everything worse and is helping no one. If you want to do something good, we can think about putting a benefit fundraiser together". Standard procedure: acknowledge the personal opinion and don't judge, clearly state that the behavior isn't acceptable, and then offer a distraction.
If it's already spreading and it's more of a group thing, than things are more difficult. Whenever you hear a discussion that's trending this way you need to step in right then and there: "Hi guys, I understand we are all upset and frustrated about this meaningless violence, but this is really not the time and place to discuss this and specifically not for blame games. We can't have this in our company. I'm wide open to any constructive suggestion of what positive things we can do for the victims. Come and see me if you want to chat about this".
I would only engage HR if the approaches above fail. HR will mainly go by the book and they don't know the players that well. Engaging HR will cover you legally and in terms of responsibility to the company, but it can also result in lasting relationship damage.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:09
Hilmar
23.3k65772
add a comment |Â
StackExchange.ready(function ()
$("#show-editor-button input, #show-editor-button button").click(function ()
var showEditor = function()
$("#show-editor-button").hide();
$("#post-form").removeClass("dno");
StackExchange.editor.finallyInit();
;
var useFancy = $(this).data('confirm-use-fancy');
if(useFancy == 'True')
var popupTitle = $(this).data('confirm-fancy-title');
var popupBody = $(this).data('confirm-fancy-body');
var popupAccept = $(this).data('confirm-fancy-accept-button');
$(this).loadPopup(
url: '/post/self-answer-popup',
loaded: function(popup)
var pTitle = $(popup).find('h2');
var pBody = $(popup).find('.popup-body');
var pSubmit = $(popup).find('.popup-submit');
pTitle.text(popupTitle);
pBody.html(popupBody);
pSubmit.val(popupAccept).click(showEditor);
)
else
var confirmText = $(this).data('confirm-text');
if (confirmText ? confirm(confirmText) : true)
showEditor();
);
);
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
12
down vote
As a manager I am pretty much against letting HR handle stuff like this. This is mainly because I've seen too many cases where HR, as outsiders being called in to solve an internal problem, ends up attracting too much attention with too little success. As such, my preference would almost always to be handle it internally.
If it were my team, I would call all of them into a meeting and put my foot down. Since I don't know the team (not even the size, which makes a difference), I don't have any specific suggestions but I would make sure that everybody leaves the room knowing any repeat of this behaviour would not be tolerated.
As for whether or not I would let the incident slide, I don't know. A lot is riding on hearsay since I wasn't around. In cases like this, where the penalties might be severe and the circumstances not entirely clear, punishing any party might backfire. This is especially true if its a big team and a lot of people got sucked into a single stupid moment.
By the way, all this only applies if your company doesn't have explicit procedures and policies regarding these incidents. If it does, I would suggest you get support from senior management before making any deviations.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:37
Permas
4,83111829
I Wouldn't do that HR /IR are the correct people to do this the riot act needs to be read to your entire team in very blunt terms and its better if HR play the bad cop rather than you.
– Neuro
Apr 30 '13 at 16:43
1
Which "bad cop" would be more effective? A random officer from an outside department? Or your direct superior? Managing means providing leadership, you can't do that if you "delegate" something this important to an outsider.
– Permas
May 1 '13 at 4:55
Good answer since 'both parties' make essentially the same mistakes, and no one is to blame in particular (well, the childish "he started first" may come up but that's just an excuse to not address ones own behaviour). The "mistakes" being mainly: generalizing individual behaviour to group behaviour. We humans always do that and it never contributes.
– Jan Doggen
May 1 '13 at 10:22
+Permas You get the hr director to do it as for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:40
+Permas You get the hr/ir director or equivalent) to do it for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade - the risk of failure is to high as its unlikely a random team leader would have the knowledge and skills to handle this both from a legal perspective. You want any lingering resentment after the telling off (or possibly sackings) to go to HR the team leader can then move things on as he/her wasn't the one doing the bollocking or if it came to it the firing.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:47
 |Â
show 1 more comment
up vote
12
down vote
As a manager I am pretty much against letting HR handle stuff like this. This is mainly because I've seen too many cases where HR, as outsiders being called in to solve an internal problem, ends up attracting too much attention with too little success. As such, my preference would almost always to be handle it internally.
If it were my team, I would call all of them into a meeting and put my foot down. Since I don't know the team (not even the size, which makes a difference), I don't have any specific suggestions but I would make sure that everybody leaves the room knowing any repeat of this behaviour would not be tolerated.
As for whether or not I would let the incident slide, I don't know. A lot is riding on hearsay since I wasn't around. In cases like this, where the penalties might be severe and the circumstances not entirely clear, punishing any party might backfire. This is especially true if its a big team and a lot of people got sucked into a single stupid moment.
By the way, all this only applies if your company doesn't have explicit procedures and policies regarding these incidents. If it does, I would suggest you get support from senior management before making any deviations.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:37
Permas
4,83111829
I Wouldn't do that HR /IR are the correct people to do this the riot act needs to be read to your entire team in very blunt terms and its better if HR play the bad cop rather than you.
– Neuro
Apr 30 '13 at 16:43
1
Which "bad cop" would be more effective? A random officer from an outside department? Or your direct superior? Managing means providing leadership, you can't do that if you "delegate" something this important to an outsider.
– Permas
May 1 '13 at 4:55
Good answer since 'both parties' make essentially the same mistakes, and no one is to blame in particular (well, the childish "he started first" may come up but that's just an excuse to not address ones own behaviour). The "mistakes" being mainly: generalizing individual behaviour to group behaviour. We humans always do that and it never contributes.
– Jan Doggen
May 1 '13 at 10:22
+Permas You get the hr director to do it as for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:40
+Permas You get the hr/ir director or equivalent) to do it for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade - the risk of failure is to high as its unlikely a random team leader would have the knowledge and skills to handle this both from a legal perspective. You want any lingering resentment after the telling off (or possibly sackings) to go to HR the team leader can then move things on as he/her wasn't the one doing the bollocking or if it came to it the firing.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:47
 |Â
show 1 more comment
up vote
12
down vote
up vote
12
down vote
As a manager I am pretty much against letting HR handle stuff like this. This is mainly because I've seen too many cases where HR, as outsiders being called in to solve an internal problem, ends up attracting too much attention with too little success. As such, my preference would almost always to be handle it internally.
If it were my team, I would call all of them into a meeting and put my foot down. Since I don't know the team (not even the size, which makes a difference), I don't have any specific suggestions but I would make sure that everybody leaves the room knowing any repeat of this behaviour would not be tolerated.
As for whether or not I would let the incident slide, I don't know. A lot is riding on hearsay since I wasn't around. In cases like this, where the penalties might be severe and the circumstances not entirely clear, punishing any party might backfire. This is especially true if its a big team and a lot of people got sucked into a single stupid moment.
By the way, all this only applies if your company doesn't have explicit procedures and policies regarding these incidents. If it does, I would suggest you get support from senior management before making any deviations.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:37
Permas
4,83111829
As a manager I am pretty much against letting HR handle stuff like this. This is mainly because I've seen too many cases where HR, as outsiders being called in to solve an internal problem, ends up attracting too much attention with too little success. As such, my preference would almost always to be handle it internally.
If it were my team, I would call all of them into a meeting and put my foot down. Since I don't know the team (not even the size, which makes a difference), I don't have any specific suggestions but I would make sure that everybody leaves the room knowing any repeat of this behaviour would not be tolerated.
As for whether or not I would let the incident slide, I don't know. A lot is riding on hearsay since I wasn't around. In cases like this, where the penalties might be severe and the circumstances not entirely clear, punishing any party might backfire. This is especially true if its a big team and a lot of people got sucked into a single stupid moment.
By the way, all this only applies if your company doesn't have explicit procedures and policies regarding these incidents. If it does, I would suggest you get support from senior management before making any deviations.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:37
Permas
4,83111829
edited Apr 30 '13 at 14:48
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:37
Permas
4,83111829
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:37
Permas
4,83111829
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:37
Permas
4,83111829
4,83111829
I Wouldn't do that HR /IR are the correct people to do this the riot act needs to be read to your entire team in very blunt terms and its better if HR play the bad cop rather than you.
– Neuro
Apr 30 '13 at 16:43
1
Which "bad cop" would be more effective? A random officer from an outside department? Or your direct superior? Managing means providing leadership, you can't do that if you "delegate" something this important to an outsider.
– Permas
May 1 '13 at 4:55
Good answer since 'both parties' make essentially the same mistakes, and no one is to blame in particular (well, the childish "he started first" may come up but that's just an excuse to not address ones own behaviour). The "mistakes" being mainly: generalizing individual behaviour to group behaviour. We humans always do that and it never contributes.
– Jan Doggen
May 1 '13 at 10:22
+Permas You get the hr director to do it as for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:40
+Permas You get the hr/ir director or equivalent) to do it for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade - the risk of failure is to high as its unlikely a random team leader would have the knowledge and skills to handle this both from a legal perspective. You want any lingering resentment after the telling off (or possibly sackings) to go to HR the team leader can then move things on as he/her wasn't the one doing the bollocking or if it came to it the firing.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:47
 |Â
show 1 more comment
I Wouldn't do that HR /IR are the correct people to do this the riot act needs to be read to your entire team in very blunt terms and its better if HR play the bad cop rather than you.
– Neuro
Apr 30 '13 at 16:43
1
Which "bad cop" would be more effective? A random officer from an outside department? Or your direct superior? Managing means providing leadership, you can't do that if you "delegate" something this important to an outsider.
– Permas
May 1 '13 at 4:55
Good answer since 'both parties' make essentially the same mistakes, and no one is to blame in particular (well, the childish "he started first" may come up but that's just an excuse to not address ones own behaviour). The "mistakes" being mainly: generalizing individual behaviour to group behaviour. We humans always do that and it never contributes.
– Jan Doggen
May 1 '13 at 10:22
+Permas You get the hr director to do it as for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:40
+Permas You get the hr/ir director or equivalent) to do it for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade - the risk of failure is to high as its unlikely a random team leader would have the knowledge and skills to handle this both from a legal perspective. You want any lingering resentment after the telling off (or possibly sackings) to go to HR the team leader can then move things on as he/her wasn't the one doing the bollocking or if it came to it the firing.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:47
I Wouldn't do that HR /IR are the correct people to do this the riot act needs to be read to your entire team in very blunt terms and its better if HR play the bad cop rather than you.
– Neuro
Apr 30 '13 at 16:43
I Wouldn't do that HR /IR are the correct people to do this the riot act needs to be read to your entire team in very blunt terms and its better if HR play the bad cop rather than you.
– Neuro
Apr 30 '13 at 16:43
1
1
Which "bad cop" would be more effective? A random officer from an outside department? Or your direct superior? Managing means providing leadership, you can't do that if you "delegate" something this important to an outsider.
– Permas
May 1 '13 at 4:55
Which "bad cop" would be more effective? A random officer from an outside department? Or your direct superior? Managing means providing leadership, you can't do that if you "delegate" something this important to an outsider.
– Permas
May 1 '13 at 4:55
Good answer since 'both parties' make essentially the same mistakes, and no one is to blame in particular (well, the childish "he started first" may come up but that's just an excuse to not address ones own behaviour). The "mistakes" being mainly: generalizing individual behaviour to group behaviour. We humans always do that and it never contributes.
– Jan Doggen
May 1 '13 at 10:22
Good answer since 'both parties' make essentially the same mistakes, and no one is to blame in particular (well, the childish "he started first" may come up but that's just an excuse to not address ones own behaviour). The "mistakes" being mainly: generalizing individual behaviour to group behaviour. We humans always do that and it never contributes.
– Jan Doggen
May 1 '13 at 10:22
+Permas You get the hr director to do it as for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:40
+Permas You get the hr director to do it as for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:40
+Permas You get the hr/ir director or equivalent) to do it for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade - the risk of failure is to high as its unlikely a random team leader would have the knowledge and skills to handle this both from a legal perspective. You want any lingering resentment after the telling off (or possibly sackings) to go to HR the team leader can then move things on as he/her wasn't the one doing the bollocking or if it came to it the firing.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:47
+Permas You get the hr/ir director or equivalent) to do it for an individual team leader its well beyond his/her pay grade - the risk of failure is to high as its unlikely a random team leader would have the knowledge and skills to handle this both from a legal perspective. You want any lingering resentment after the telling off (or possibly sackings) to go to HR the team leader can then move things on as he/her wasn't the one doing the bollocking or if it came to it the firing.
– Neuro
May 1 '13 at 12:47
 |Â
show 1 more comment
up vote
8
down vote
Step in. This is a case where leadership as opposed to management is important.
A couple different tacts:
Don't be a bystander - if you're in any position of authority and you hear a discussion on racism get heated and charged, step in. Almost any form of leadership sending the message "this is not OK" is better than ignoring it. When the leadership ignores it, it becomes tacit approval.
Diffuse with questions - discussions like this often get loaded when people stop asking and listening and start accusing. One way to diffuse the charged issue is to get the parties to start asking questions - "do you know that not everyone in X racial group is terrorist?", "how would you feel if someone called you a terrorist just because of your race?", "isn't there a better way to address our fear and concerns as a group?" - some of these may sound canned, so finding the way to ask it in your own words in a way they will hear it is really important.
Start a team/department discussion - seriously, if people are freaking out, get them to address it in a corporate-appropriate manner. What's the actual fear? What can we do? Is this fear reasonable? Talking about contingency support, emergency response scenarios, and what to do at work in the event of a crisis is something a company really should talk about and it's a whole lot more productive than pointing fingers.
Give pointed feedback in private - if you see a pattern and you see particular parties falling into that pattern - give feedback in private. Let them know that you see the behavior as racist, and racism is really not OK. An important part of current discrimination thinking is that it's not the victimized race that can stand up for this - if you see something that is racially offensive, you have every right to point it out - regardless of what race you are.
If this stuff isn't working, or you want a sanity check - do check with HR. Sometimes they know nuances and particular limitations to this sort of interaction that can be helpful for a manager to be aware of. But anything respectful and upholding of company values and local law is bound to be better than staying silent.
And, in my experience, waiting to put a nice package around it is less useful than nipping it in the bud. Speaking in generalities and hoping people catch on to the problem is less effective than redirecting a negative scenario on the spot.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 16:24
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
add a comment |Â
up vote
8
down vote
Step in. This is a case where leadership as opposed to management is important.
A couple different tacts:
Don't be a bystander - if you're in any position of authority and you hear a discussion on racism get heated and charged, step in. Almost any form of leadership sending the message "this is not OK" is better than ignoring it. When the leadership ignores it, it becomes tacit approval.
Diffuse with questions - discussions like this often get loaded when people stop asking and listening and start accusing. One way to diffuse the charged issue is to get the parties to start asking questions - "do you know that not everyone in X racial group is terrorist?", "how would you feel if someone called you a terrorist just because of your race?", "isn't there a better way to address our fear and concerns as a group?" - some of these may sound canned, so finding the way to ask it in your own words in a way they will hear it is really important.
Start a team/department discussion - seriously, if people are freaking out, get them to address it in a corporate-appropriate manner. What's the actual fear? What can we do? Is this fear reasonable? Talking about contingency support, emergency response scenarios, and what to do at work in the event of a crisis is something a company really should talk about and it's a whole lot more productive than pointing fingers.
Give pointed feedback in private - if you see a pattern and you see particular parties falling into that pattern - give feedback in private. Let them know that you see the behavior as racist, and racism is really not OK. An important part of current discrimination thinking is that it's not the victimized race that can stand up for this - if you see something that is racially offensive, you have every right to point it out - regardless of what race you are.
If this stuff isn't working, or you want a sanity check - do check with HR. Sometimes they know nuances and particular limitations to this sort of interaction that can be helpful for a manager to be aware of. But anything respectful and upholding of company values and local law is bound to be better than staying silent.
And, in my experience, waiting to put a nice package around it is less useful than nipping it in the bud. Speaking in generalities and hoping people catch on to the problem is less effective than redirecting a negative scenario on the spot.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 16:24
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
add a comment |Â
up vote
8
down vote
up vote
8
down vote
Step in. This is a case where leadership as opposed to management is important.
A couple different tacts:
Don't be a bystander - if you're in any position of authority and you hear a discussion on racism get heated and charged, step in. Almost any form of leadership sending the message "this is not OK" is better than ignoring it. When the leadership ignores it, it becomes tacit approval.
Diffuse with questions - discussions like this often get loaded when people stop asking and listening and start accusing. One way to diffuse the charged issue is to get the parties to start asking questions - "do you know that not everyone in X racial group is terrorist?", "how would you feel if someone called you a terrorist just because of your race?", "isn't there a better way to address our fear and concerns as a group?" - some of these may sound canned, so finding the way to ask it in your own words in a way they will hear it is really important.
Start a team/department discussion - seriously, if people are freaking out, get them to address it in a corporate-appropriate manner. What's the actual fear? What can we do? Is this fear reasonable? Talking about contingency support, emergency response scenarios, and what to do at work in the event of a crisis is something a company really should talk about and it's a whole lot more productive than pointing fingers.
Give pointed feedback in private - if you see a pattern and you see particular parties falling into that pattern - give feedback in private. Let them know that you see the behavior as racist, and racism is really not OK. An important part of current discrimination thinking is that it's not the victimized race that can stand up for this - if you see something that is racially offensive, you have every right to point it out - regardless of what race you are.
If this stuff isn't working, or you want a sanity check - do check with HR. Sometimes they know nuances and particular limitations to this sort of interaction that can be helpful for a manager to be aware of. But anything respectful and upholding of company values and local law is bound to be better than staying silent.
And, in my experience, waiting to put a nice package around it is less useful than nipping it in the bud. Speaking in generalities and hoping people catch on to the problem is less effective than redirecting a negative scenario on the spot.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 16:24
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
Step in. This is a case where leadership as opposed to management is important.
A couple different tacts:
Don't be a bystander - if you're in any position of authority and you hear a discussion on racism get heated and charged, step in. Almost any form of leadership sending the message "this is not OK" is better than ignoring it. When the leadership ignores it, it becomes tacit approval.
Diffuse with questions - discussions like this often get loaded when people stop asking and listening and start accusing. One way to diffuse the charged issue is to get the parties to start asking questions - "do you know that not everyone in X racial group is terrorist?", "how would you feel if someone called you a terrorist just because of your race?", "isn't there a better way to address our fear and concerns as a group?" - some of these may sound canned, so finding the way to ask it in your own words in a way they will hear it is really important.
Start a team/department discussion - seriously, if people are freaking out, get them to address it in a corporate-appropriate manner. What's the actual fear? What can we do? Is this fear reasonable? Talking about contingency support, emergency response scenarios, and what to do at work in the event of a crisis is something a company really should talk about and it's a whole lot more productive than pointing fingers.
Give pointed feedback in private - if you see a pattern and you see particular parties falling into that pattern - give feedback in private. Let them know that you see the behavior as racist, and racism is really not OK. An important part of current discrimination thinking is that it's not the victimized race that can stand up for this - if you see something that is racially offensive, you have every right to point it out - regardless of what race you are.
If this stuff isn't working, or you want a sanity check - do check with HR. Sometimes they know nuances and particular limitations to this sort of interaction that can be helpful for a manager to be aware of. But anything respectful and upholding of company values and local law is bound to be better than staying silent.
And, in my experience, waiting to put a nice package around it is less useful than nipping it in the bud. Speaking in generalities and hoping people catch on to the problem is less effective than redirecting a negative scenario on the spot.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 16:24
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
answered Apr 30 '13 at 16:24
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
answered Apr 30 '13 at 16:24
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
answered Apr 30 '13 at 16:24
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
70.4k4136277
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
Inform all parties involved that this is not an appropriate topic of discussion at the work place. Don't get into who started it or said what. Everyone is at fault since no one did the right thing and stopped the conversation before it went too far. No topic should ever cause this much hostility even if it is work-related. You have to demand that professional adults show restraint.
Establish consequences if this continues (I have no idea what would be considered legal or appropriate in your area.). As others suggested, you should have your HR department formalize this.
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
Inform all parties involved that this is not an appropriate topic of discussion at the work place. Don't get into who started it or said what. Everyone is at fault since no one did the right thing and stopped the conversation before it went too far. No topic should ever cause this much hostility even if it is work-related. You have to demand that professional adults show restraint.
Establish consequences if this continues (I have no idea what would be considered legal or appropriate in your area.). As others suggested, you should have your HR department formalize this.
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
up vote
5
down vote
Inform all parties involved that this is not an appropriate topic of discussion at the work place. Don't get into who started it or said what. Everyone is at fault since no one did the right thing and stopped the conversation before it went too far. No topic should ever cause this much hostility even if it is work-related. You have to demand that professional adults show restraint.
Establish consequences if this continues (I have no idea what would be considered legal or appropriate in your area.). As others suggested, you should have your HR department formalize this.
Inform all parties involved that this is not an appropriate topic of discussion at the work place. Don't get into who started it or said what. Everyone is at fault since no one did the right thing and stopped the conversation before it went too far. No topic should ever cause this much hostility even if it is work-related. You have to demand that professional adults show restraint.
Establish consequences if this continues (I have no idea what would be considered legal or appropriate in your area.). As others suggested, you should have your HR department formalize this.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:01
user8365
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
This depends a bit on the exact circumstances and your personal relationship with the team. If it's mainly one instigator, you need to take him aside: "Hey dude, that's entirely uncool. I know you are upset about what a bunch of whack jobs are doing there but that is clearly not the fault of anyone in our company. This discussion just makes everything worse and is helping no one. If you want to do something good, we can think about putting a benefit fundraiser together". Standard procedure: acknowledge the personal opinion and don't judge, clearly state that the behavior isn't acceptable, and then offer a distraction.
If it's already spreading and it's more of a group thing, than things are more difficult. Whenever you hear a discussion that's trending this way you need to step in right then and there: "Hi guys, I understand we are all upset and frustrated about this meaningless violence, but this is really not the time and place to discuss this and specifically not for blame games. We can't have this in our company. I'm wide open to any constructive suggestion of what positive things we can do for the victims. Come and see me if you want to chat about this".
I would only engage HR if the approaches above fail. HR will mainly go by the book and they don't know the players that well. Engaging HR will cover you legally and in terms of responsibility to the company, but it can also result in lasting relationship damage.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:09
Hilmar
23.3k65772
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
This depends a bit on the exact circumstances and your personal relationship with the team. If it's mainly one instigator, you need to take him aside: "Hey dude, that's entirely uncool. I know you are upset about what a bunch of whack jobs are doing there but that is clearly not the fault of anyone in our company. This discussion just makes everything worse and is helping no one. If you want to do something good, we can think about putting a benefit fundraiser together". Standard procedure: acknowledge the personal opinion and don't judge, clearly state that the behavior isn't acceptable, and then offer a distraction.
If it's already spreading and it's more of a group thing, than things are more difficult. Whenever you hear a discussion that's trending this way you need to step in right then and there: "Hi guys, I understand we are all upset and frustrated about this meaningless violence, but this is really not the time and place to discuss this and specifically not for blame games. We can't have this in our company. I'm wide open to any constructive suggestion of what positive things we can do for the victims. Come and see me if you want to chat about this".
I would only engage HR if the approaches above fail. HR will mainly go by the book and they don't know the players that well. Engaging HR will cover you legally and in terms of responsibility to the company, but it can also result in lasting relationship damage.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:09
Hilmar
23.3k65772
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
This depends a bit on the exact circumstances and your personal relationship with the team. If it's mainly one instigator, you need to take him aside: "Hey dude, that's entirely uncool. I know you are upset about what a bunch of whack jobs are doing there but that is clearly not the fault of anyone in our company. This discussion just makes everything worse and is helping no one. If you want to do something good, we can think about putting a benefit fundraiser together". Standard procedure: acknowledge the personal opinion and don't judge, clearly state that the behavior isn't acceptable, and then offer a distraction.
If it's already spreading and it's more of a group thing, than things are more difficult. Whenever you hear a discussion that's trending this way you need to step in right then and there: "Hi guys, I understand we are all upset and frustrated about this meaningless violence, but this is really not the time and place to discuss this and specifically not for blame games. We can't have this in our company. I'm wide open to any constructive suggestion of what positive things we can do for the victims. Come and see me if you want to chat about this".
I would only engage HR if the approaches above fail. HR will mainly go by the book and they don't know the players that well. Engaging HR will cover you legally and in terms of responsibility to the company, but it can also result in lasting relationship damage.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:09
Hilmar
23.3k65772
This depends a bit on the exact circumstances and your personal relationship with the team. If it's mainly one instigator, you need to take him aside: "Hey dude, that's entirely uncool. I know you are upset about what a bunch of whack jobs are doing there but that is clearly not the fault of anyone in our company. This discussion just makes everything worse and is helping no one. If you want to do something good, we can think about putting a benefit fundraiser together". Standard procedure: acknowledge the personal opinion and don't judge, clearly state that the behavior isn't acceptable, and then offer a distraction.
If it's already spreading and it's more of a group thing, than things are more difficult. Whenever you hear a discussion that's trending this way you need to step in right then and there: "Hi guys, I understand we are all upset and frustrated about this meaningless violence, but this is really not the time and place to discuss this and specifically not for blame games. We can't have this in our company. I'm wide open to any constructive suggestion of what positive things we can do for the victims. Come and see me if you want to chat about this".
I would only engage HR if the approaches above fail. HR will mainly go by the book and they don't know the players that well. Engaging HR will cover you legally and in terms of responsibility to the company, but it can also result in lasting relationship damage.
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:09
Hilmar
23.3k65772
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:09
Hilmar
23.3k65772
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:09
Hilmar
23.3k65772
answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:09
Hilmar
23.3k65772
23.3k65772
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworkplace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f11441%2fwhat-action-should-be-taken-by-a-manager-when-subordinates-become-racist%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
1
Does your office have policies and/or training on this? And is your environment such that people feel comfortable reporting this to either HR or their manager?
– Elysian Fields♦
Apr 30 '13 at 10:19
9
The golden rule is to never discuss politics or religion at the workplace. Ever. Not even on lunch break.
– maple_shaft
Apr 30 '13 at 12:28