Case study: BANK OF LONDON Brian Gibb, vice-president of the Bank of London, was stunned. He had just been told that the union representing clerical workers would move forward with the complaint of gender discrimination in starting salaries. Gibb would play a lead role in navigating through the morass of alleged discrimination. Gibb realized that even an accusation of discrimination would cause ripple effects throughout the organization. The perception of discrimination was an explosive issue. Implications for the organization could be far-reaching. He recalled the screaming headlines in the media; stories involving the alleged discrimination on gender and minority status by big companies such as Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola. A lawsuit against Wal-Mart claimed that female employees were discriminated against in pay and were bypassed for promotions. Coca-Cola agreed to spend over $190 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought forward by minority employees. Texaco agreed to pay $140 million to settle a racial discrimination case. Two female vice-presidents of Bell Canada alleged gender discrimination in the workplace by their former employer. The women said they had to put up with a macho corporate culture that included sexist, vulgar language and being frozen out of drinking sessions with "the boys' club." Bell Canada denied that the women were subjected to discrimination and explained that the two women had been fired because of concerns about their management performance. What would this accusation of discrimination cost the Bank of London? How should perceptions be managed inside and outside the organization? Gibb fully realized that policies that explicitly favored one gender over the other were discriminatory. Clearly, he thought, the people in the human resources department would have understood the relevant legislation. Had things derailed? If so, how? Gibb was puzzled in particular because during these past few years, the organization had made an effort to make diversity and inclusion a natural part its culture. For example, human resources policies stated that "The Bank of London actively promotes diversity in its workforce, including the equal treatment of employees, regardless of gender, and does not tolerate discrimination in the workplace based on sex." There was full realization among members of the senior leadership team that the concept of diversity permeated the Canadian workplace, and that both diversity and inclusion were vital to facilitate organizational effectiveness and growth. This fundamental belief had led the senior leadership to embrace the concept of workplace diversity. Thus, the accusation of discrimination hit Gibb like a ton of bricks. Gibb contemplated how to proceed. He called an initial meeting with leaders of areas that could offer him some sound advice. He also wanted to generate some thoughts as to how to establish whether or not discrimination had in fact occurred, so he requested that the human resources department gather all relevant data and provide a summary for the meeting With respect to the issue salary discrimination, the positions in question were entry level data coding and entry jobs. The allegation of discrimination referred to starting salaries. There were 32 male and 61 female "skilled entry level" clerical employees in the database. For each employee, four variables were available: Beginning Salary is the clerk's salary when he or she startedemployment. Time is number of months after January 1, 1990, that the employee washired. Education is the number of years of schooling the employee had at the time of hire. Experience is the number of months of experience the employee had prior to joining the bank.Exhibit 1 provides summary information for this data set. STANDARD GENDER # MEAN MEDIAN DEVIATION SALARY Male 32 29,784 30,000 3,454 Female 61 25,694 26,100 5,643 EDUCATION Male 32 13.5 15 1.9 (years) Female 61 12 12 2.3 EXPERIENCE Male 32 103 56 102 (months) Female 61 99 82 86 TIME Male 32 15 14.5 9.7 (in months) Female 61 17 17 10.5 Case Questions Question1 Identify the main issue in this case? Rely on theoretical references to support your answer. (300 words) Question2 Relying on the case study and in particular Exhibit one data, do you think that the clause of discrimination is valid? Explain your answer. (300 words) Question3 How do you think the vice president should act now? Explain your answer relying on external references of similar cases. (400 words)