Assignment: Spirituality in the Business World
Case study: Lisa has a job offer withdrawn.
Lisa is a Muslim woman (who practices Islam). She recently moved to the United States with her family and has achieved a great assimilation into American culture. Lisa, who is dark-skinned, likes to follow the tradition of wearing the hijab (Muslim religious and cultural head covering) on her head. In addition, she speaks perfect English and is studying business administration. Like any college student, she was looking for a part-time job and spotted one at a cafe near her apartment. She applied for her job and her manager interviewed her over the phone, just like she did with all the candidates. Her manager was fascinated with her, so he offered her her job.
On her first day of work, when the manager met her, he looked at her very surprised and quickly informed her that they had already found a person with better experience for the position, so he told her to withdraw the job offer. . Lisa politely questioned the manager about her decision. This indicated to him that there were elements of her in her that certainly did not match the type of client who visited the place and that he could be uncomfortable for them. She questioned whether she was referring to her Muslim appearance, to which the manager replied, "There are definitely places for each expression and if you agree to remove the hijab, I might reconsider my decision." Lisa left the place frustrated and wondered what she should do.
Task
A. Develop an introduction describing what spirituality is and how it is supported by the company's values.
B. What elements are identified as failures in the management of the case by the manager?
C. What would Lisa have been advised to do in this case?
D. What strategies would have been recommended to the manager to achieve the inclusion of Lisa to the work team?
E. Should organizations incorporate spirituality into training programs? Why or why not?
F. How would you handle the issue of cultural, ethnic and spiritual differences if you are the manager of this company?