You are a supervisor of a team that you have noticed has conflicting political views. While you refrain from sharing your own political views or engaging in political discussions in the workplace, you have noticed that one employee in particular frequently initiates these conversations. While it does not appear that the employee is misusing their time, as the conversations usually take place during breaks, you believe that it is making some employees uncomfortable. You decide it is time to sit down with the employee and have a one-on-one conversation. It is up to your discretion whether you decide to not allow any political discussions or choose a different approach

Employee Instructions

You are an employee who has been working at your current company for two years. During that time, you have developed close relationships with the other individuals on your five-person work team. You would consider yourself to be politically active and passionate about politics. Although you have conversations about politics at work, you are careful to only have these during breaks to ensure they do not interfere with your work. Some of the other individuals on your team are also passionate about politics, so you do not see an issue with these discussions, particularly as the conversations are, for the most part, civil and respectful. As a result, you are surprised when your supervisor requests to meet with you. When students have completed the role-play exercise, have them discuss the following questions. Lastly, as a whole class, have at least a few students share their responses to the debrief questions.

Questions

3-8.

If you were playing the role of the supervisor, how

did you address the situation? What factors

influenced how you handled the situation?

3-9.

If you were playing the role of the employee, how

did you respond during the conversation with

your super visor? Did you agree with how the su-

pervisor handled the situation? Why or why not?