Read the following case and use your knowledge of this chapter's concepts to answer the questions that follow.

What to Do About Louie?

Louie is the manager of a Mighty Muffler Brake service center in the Great Lakes Regions of the United States. The center offers a wide range of services for vehicles, including muffler and exhaust system replacement, brake systems, oil change, lubrication, tune-ups, and state inspection. Louie's branch is located close to a busy highway, and stores and residential neighborhoods are also close by. His store is among the chain's highest volume and most profitable units.

Management at Mighty Muffler is pleased with the financial management of Louie's store, yet complaints have surfaced about aspects of his relationships with employees and customers. Vlatka, the human resources and customer services manager for the company, was recently pouring over the results from customer satisfaction cards mailed back to the company. She found that a few of the customer comments suggested that Louie might have made some inappropriate comments, as reflected in the following feedback:

"You did a wonderful job replacing my brakes and fixing a rattle in my exhaust system. But the manager insulted me a little by suggesting that I talk it over with my husband about whether to get a new exhaust system now."

"I have no complaints about the repairs you made or the price you charged. However, you better replace that manager of yours. He is definitely out of touch with the times. My partner and I are proud of our relationship, so we don't attempt to hide occasional public displays of affection. When your manager saw me giving my partner a light kiss on the cheek, he asked if we were from San Francisco."

"When I came back to pick up my car, I had to wait two hours even though I was told the car would be ready by 3 p.m. I also found some smudge marks on the beige leather seats. When I complained to the manager, he said, Granny, watch your blood pressure. It's not good for a senior citizen to get too excited.' I was never so insulted."

Concerned about these comments, Vlatka scheduled a trip to Louie's store to investigate any possible problems he might be having in managing cultural diversity among customers and employees. Vlatka explained to Louie that the home office likes to make periodic trips to the stores to see how well employee relations are going and how well employees are working together. Louie responded, "Talk to anybody you want. I may joke a little with the boys and girls in the shop, but we all get along great."

In Vlatka's mind, her informal chats with workers at Louie's Mighty Muffler suggested that employee relations were generally satisfactory, but she did find a few troublesome comments. A young African American employee noted that when he does something particularly well or Louie agrees with him strongly, Louie gives him a high five. In contrast, Caucasian or Latino workers will receive a congratulatory handshake or a fist bump, respectively.

A female brake technician said that Louie is a kind-hearted boss but that he is sometimes patronizing without realizing it. She volunteered this incident: "During breaks I sometimes enter the waiting room area because we have a vending machine up front that sells small bags of nuts and raisins, which I particularly like. One day, I was about to enter the waiting room when Louie tells me to stay in the back. He said that there was a Hell's Angels-type guy waiting for his truck to be repaired, and he probably wouldn't appreciate it if he thought that a girl' was working on his truck. How could anybody be that sexist in today's world?"

Vlatka went back to the home office to discuss her findings with the CEO and the vice president of administration. Vlatka said that Louie is making a contribution to the firm, but that some changes needed to be made. The two other executives agreed that Louie should become a little more multicultural, but that they didn't want to upset him too much because he could easily join a competitor. Vlatka concluded, "So I guess we need to figure out what to do about Louie."

The Great Lakes service center is one of the most profitable units of Mighty Muffler. Hence, the employees are required to develop significant levels of cultural sensitivity for dealing with multicultural customers. Louie was not the only employee at the center who had problems trying to relate to diverse customers. As the CEO of the company, which of the following steps would you take to achieve cultural diversity?

a. Ensure that employees to partake in at least one social responsibility initiative.

b. Increase the power distance in the organization.

c. Start mentoring programs to develop managerial skills among employees.

d. Instill cultural sensitivity in all employees and make managers accountable for achieving diversity.