The Case of the Mismanaged Ms

The case study of “The Case of the Mismanaged MS” illustrated gender discrimination that prevents women from advancing through the corporate ranks. In this case, Ruth Linsky claims that she has been discriminated against in the selection of a new marketing director at Triton. With this case going on in Triton company the best way to approach this conflict in the short term that the HR manager can do is to try to get everyone such as the male employees and Ruth Linsky in the room and talk through different solutions. All sides could voice their feelings and ideas on the issues and discuss how to right the situation. In this situation, it might help save the company Triton from the lawsuit issue. It might also open a lot of eyes to the problems at Triton. Most importantly, the company needs to be changed regarding its sex discrimination or sexual harassment policy. If the problem is still not solved, then Ruth could take the next steps to file a lawsuit against the company.

On the other hand, I think that Ruth Linsky does have a strong sexual harassment case in her company because it is a hostile environment. There are conditions that make the workplace abusive such as comments to and about women and the low percentage of women on staff and in authority positions. In addition, women are treated as second-class citizens in meeting with clients, visits to factory sites, and during non-work related activities Male executives at Triton even admitted that gender discrimination exists in their company and in their industry. According to Triton’s vice-president, the “factories are still a man’s world and men generally do not feel comfortable socializing with women. When such socialization occurs, the issue of sex may arise”. However, Ruth Linsky probably does not have any real witnesses to help her, and she did not say anything out loud when things were happening that she did not like. She did question a few things, but she did not complain over long periods of time about the things that were going on at Triton. Additionally, her past affair will probably come back to haunt her as she admitted to having an affair with Steve in the past. Unfortunately, the lawsuit might not end up in her favor, which may end up hurting her more than helping. She will probably lose and then have to find a new job.

In terms of the future, the company Triton should assure more effective career management for other minority/female employees. They should come up with a new rule set into their workplace. For instance, there should be no more vocal statements about others without consequences, and perhaps a stop on some of the drinking and inappropriate behavior that has been happening at meetings and parties. Thus, Triton definitely needs to hire someone to come in and do training on sexual harassment and discrimination. Every employee, including top managers and supervisors, should be required to go to the training on the policy. Each person needs to sign a written acknowledgment of his or her participation in the training and there should be no excuse for not going through the training.

“The Case of the Mismanaged MS” is really interesting because it deals with unequal treatment on the job. In this case, I can see that both sides are at fault, and Ruth is being discriminated against as are all women at this company, but legally, it would be hard to make a good case against the powers that be. In order for Triton to be more effective they should come up with new rules for their workplace and have all their employees go through training. Only then can discrimination end at Triton and equal opportunity be given to all people, both men and women, equally.