Case study:

You are working as a Customer Service Manager at a big telecommunication company, You are responsible for a team of 25 call center representatives. One of your team members - Kylie, has made a complaint to the human resources department claiming she has been experiencing racial discrimination from her co-workers.

She claims that her colleagues tease her about her accent and due to this she has been subjected to very offensive comments. She also says she has been isolated and even ostracised as no-one ever talks to her and when she wants to talk to her colleagues- they always say to her "oh, I don't know what are you trying to say, it is so hard to understand you" or "you should learn how to speak English first before you start talking to us".

Kylie claims that these comments have caused her much distress and she doubts her capabilities in relation to her being a call center customers' service representative. Kylie has been employed in your company for over 2 years. She is from India and does have a bit of an accent, but this has never been an issue and customers that she has been serving, have always been very happy with her saying Kylie is a very patient, calm and polite person and always explains things clearly and correctly.

Kylie always participates in mandatory workplace training and always receives good reviews from trainers.Kylie reports directly to you. Workingtogether with the Human Resource Manager, you need to follow up and respond to the issue. You need to identify the issue, recommend ways to resolve any conflict and promote the organization's cultural diversity within your team.

Question:

Develop an issue management process to ensure that the issues that have been raised would be resolved promptly and referred to relevant personnel. In the issue management process you need to include:

Symptoms - early warning signs of the issue

Facts - identify who is involved and establish the causes

Analysis - evaluate the extent of the issue, determine the potential implications, consider the interest of all those affected and ensure adherence to the organisation's equal opportunity policy, conflict resolution procedure and legislative requirements

Options for resolution

Action plan - implementing the solutions and follow-up to ensure implementation

Monitor outcomes - describe the process of how you will monitor the outcomes of the action plan, including ongoing support and counseling to assist team members in resolving their difficulties in the workplace