Case Study: New Team Member Straight Arrow Systems Corp. located in Los Angeles, develops and builds custom systems. Its major customer is the military market. One of its current projects is to develop a personnel identification and tracking system, referred to as the PITS. Bob Slug is the team leader for the hardware development work package. There has been a higher than normal turnover of people on Bob's team. Today, Bob is just finishing up a brief orientation meeting with his newest team member, Brad. It is Brad's first day at Straight Arrow Systems. Brad recently graduated from a large university in southern California. His father is in the military, and prior to college, Brad lived in various countries where his father was stationed. "Before I introduce you to the rest of the team at the weekly project team meeting this afternoon, I want to briefly give you some background on each of the people so you know what you're in for," Bob told Brad, as he rolled his eyes. He continued, "They certainly are a different group of characters. Sometimes I wonder how we get anything done. You'll probably eventually hear that we've had some turnover on the team, but I think it was for the best. There were people who just didn't fit in, if you know what I mean.
"First, there's the Asian lady: Yoko something or other. I can't pronounce it so I just call her ‘Yoyo,' " Bob says with a chuckle. He continues, "Those people are good at detailed tasks so I pretty much assign her to double-check the work of some of the other people. By the way, whenever she brings in lunch, it smells up the whole place, as you can imagine. Who knows what kinds of food they eat. "Then there's Autumn. Cute! She looks like she's still in high school. She's always got one of those iPods plugged into her ears so it's hard to take her seriously. When she talks, she uses all these ‘techie' terms. These young people just don't know how to communicate; all they do is sit in front of their computer all day. And she is always asking me how she is doing. I mean, I'm not her mommy. Anyway, I kind of got my arm twisted into hiring her because management said I didn't have enough females on my team. Then they wonder why I have turnover. Next thing you know, she'll be pregnant and leave, too. "And I have Jared, the kid with the tattoo. Need I say anything more?" said Bob, as he shook his head.
"If he doesn't respect his own body, how can I expect him to respect my authority? He probably gave his parents a hard time, too. "Tyrell is the black guy, obviously. He doesn't say much; probably doesn't feel like he fits in because he's the only black on the team, and you know how they like to always hang out with each other. I expect he'll probably leave so I don't give him any long-term tasks. "Jay is the guy with the turban. Does he really have to wear that? I mean, come on, this is America. I also wonder about him. He is always looking down when he is around women and he never shakes hands with any of them. How could he not look at Autumn? "There is Tanya. She's got a couple of small kids. I'm not sure if she's married. Anyway, I can't count on her because she's always out because her kids are sick; and she can't work late because she has to pick up the kids from the babysitter. A mother with young kids should be staying home with them, like my wife. "And you'll see that Jose is always on the phone talking in Spanish so nobody else knows what he's saying. Obviously, he's not pulling his weight, and I think the rest of the team resents him. By the way, he has five kids; and before you ask, yes, he is Catholic." Bob said with a laugh. He went on, "He's another one I got pressured to hire.
"And there is Brenda ‘the blimp.' You won't miss her," Bob said, with a big grin. "When we have meetings with the customer, I obviously make sure Brenda has other things to do. I don't want them to get any bad images of the team. On the other hand, I try to make sure Autumn comes to those meetings; she's a real ‘looker' if you get my drift," Bob said, as he winked. "Stan is the guy who looks like he's a hundred years old. He should have retired a long time ago. He's too old to have any good ideas; I never even bother asking him. He's just hanging on to collect a bigger pension, and everyone knows it. "Fred is the guy in the wheelchair. He's okay, but takes forever to get things done and keep up. I have to make sure I don't give him any tasks that are too challenging, or he'll slow down the rest of the team. "Finally, there is Sandy. Nobody likes her. She has a hard time building relationships with the rest of the team; seems like she doesn't trust anybody. No wonder she's divorced. Somebody told me she has a kid on drugs. I guess that's no surprise; she's not the greatest role model. She also never seems to hang around any of the guys on the team. What does that tell you?" Bob said, raising his eyebrows. "How does management expect me to drive this bus, when I have so many flat tires?
"Thank goodness I have Bill on the team. I have known him for a long time. We went to the State University together, and both of our families go to the same Methodist church. We also both served in the military together; so he's a real task master who I know I can always count on." Bob goes on, "I want you to know, Brad, that I'm not prejudiced or anything like that. I'm just a straight shooter and call things as I see them. Some of the people may not like that, but at least they know where I stand. These people are who they are. I don't know where they all come from; I certainly don't see them in my neighborhood or at my church on Sundays. They just don't have the work ethic they should have, like Bill and me. They just have some strange values. Most of them will never get ahead if they don't change their attitudes. I got to do my best to get the job done with who I got. But it's difficult to get anything done, let alone having to always worry about who might get offended by what you say and then they might go whining to management or threaten to sue you.
It's not like the good old days, when everybody was the same. Frankly, I don't think some of them like working with each other because they can't see past their differences. Some of them even think I'm the one who is different; can you believe that? "So you can see, with the team I am stuck with, that it is a real challenge to complete our hardware development tasks on time. Some days, I REALLY think this project is the PITS! If I had more people like Bill on the team, things would be a lot simpler. "Brad, it looks like Bill, you, and I are going to have to carry the team. We are the only ones who are different. I hope I can count on you to pick up the slack and help get the hardware development back on schedule. And Brad, don't go telling anybody what I told you about these people, because if word got back to them it would probably get them all stirred up and they'd go running off to complain to management, and I'd lose my trust in you."
CASE QUESTIONS
1. Bob is demonstrating what behaviors with respect to valuing team diversity? What are some alternative choices for what Brad can do next? What should he do?
2. What should any of the team members do?
3. What could be done to improve the climate for diversity in this case?
4. What do you think Bob's direct supervisor would do if she were aware of Bob's actions?