Issues of Sexual Orientation at Work
Issues of Sexual Orientation at Work
1. I think what’s going on here is something that a lot of companies have been dealing with this past decade more than ever. The company is traditional and values “normalness” and the employee thinks that sexual orientation isn’t as important anymore and wants to let his boss know of his intentions on bringing his partner to the social gathering the company has to give out awards. Adam is particularly concerned with the effect this new information will have on his career. He tries to assure George that he is doing the same thing as everyone else. George, however, is focused solely on the effect this will have on the business. But it may seem that he is using that excuse to mask the fact that he really isn’t comfortable with a gay man in the workplace. 2. If I were George, I would seriously think about the implications that this could have on our business, if any. Of course, there are still people who do not like mixing business with personal matters. I don’t think society is already completely open to gays in the workplace. However, I would probably suggest to Adam to gain the trust of a client first and if the opportunity comes up to mention that he’s gay, then that’s fine. Although that may seem wrong, it’s a necessary step in order to retain business. This is an external factor, though. This conversation with Adam has created a need to do something organizationally. If we don’t have an inclusion strategy, we should create one. We can start by identifying organizational issues related to LGBT employees to see where on the spectrum we are. The second step would be to introduce diversity training (including other aspects such as women as well). Finally, we can communicate the policies internally and externally. 3. My preferred strategy would encompass a defensive and offensive strategy in introducing a new type of inclusion policy. On one side, we want to protect our current business and clients (if they all leave
1. I think what’s going on here is something that a lot of companies have been dealing with this past decade more than ever. The company is traditional and values “normalness” and the employee thinks that sexual orientation isn’t as important anymore and wants to let his boss know of his intentions on bringing his partner to the social gathering the company has to give out awards. Adam is particularly concerned with the effect this new information will have on his career. He tries to assure George that he is doing the same thing as everyone else. George, however, is focused solely on the effect this will have on the business. But it may seem that he is using that excuse to mask the fact that he really isn’t comfortable with a gay man in the workplace. 2. If I were George, I would seriously think about the implications that this could have on our business, if any. Of course, there are still people who do not like mixing business with personal matters. I don’t think society is already completely open to gays in the workplace. However, I would probably suggest to Adam to gain the trust of a client first and if the opportunity comes up to mention that he’s gay, then that’s fine. Although that may seem wrong, it’s a necessary step in order to retain business. This is an external factor, though. This conversation with Adam has created a need to do something organizationally. If we don’t have an inclusion strategy, we should create one. We can start by identifying organizational issues related to LGBT employees to see where on the spectrum we are. The second step would be to introduce diversity training (including other aspects such as women as well). Finally, we can communicate the policies internally and externally. 3. My preferred strategy would encompass a defensive and offensive strategy in introducing a new type of inclusion policy. On one side, we want to protect our current business and clients (if they all leave