Final Project Submission: Summary of Findings

Cultural needs assessment

Chellyn Jones

Southern New Hampshire University

WCM-620-R4282- Manage Difficults

Date: 06/05/2021

Kareem’s cultural needs

Kareem is of Indian descent and is a practicing Muslim. As a result, his religion requires that he pray five times a day, which involves a series of movements and recitations from the Quran and there are various standing, bending, and prostrating postures. Therefore, Kareem needed a workplace that would accommodate his religious practices. However, Kareem did not inform anyone about his religious demands because he did not want any special treatment and thus he thought he would sneak and go pray without anyone noticing.

An assessment of ABC Corporation’s organizational culture

Organizational culture refers to the values and behaviors that contribute to the social and psychological environment. ABC corporate organizational culture is oriented towards productivity and ignores the welfare of employees. Thomas, the department manager is recognized for having one of the most productive units in the organization and he is proud of the recognition his unit receives and he holds his employees to very high productivity standards. However, Thomas has instilled a culture of fear in his department, which has contributed to poor communication and relationship between employees. Thomas is focused on customer service representatives making many calls as possible and keeping their numbers up. His subordinates are afraid of him and rarely communicate with him. Janet, the call center supervisor says that Thomas does not talk to them. She adds that “this is a high-productivity environment. We have to work. We do not have time for conversations. The expectations are very high. And I do not know what Kareem was doing but it will not be tolerated here, the focus is on productivity.” ABC has created a culture that focuses on productivity alone, and ignores the psychological and social aspects of workplace environment. Overall, ABC Corporation has a poor organizational culture, which has contributed to poor relationships, unhappy employees, and struggles with hiring and retaining staff. For instance, Kathy says that the work environment is very intense and that she has seen people come and go here for the littlest things.

Description of the gaps between Kareem’s cultural needs and the ABC Corporation organizational culture

ABC Corporation organizational culture is focused on productivity. Employees are held to high productivity standards and are required to make many calls as possible and maintain high numbers. This contracts with Kareem’s cultural practices which requires him to be out of his workstation a couple of times to go and pray, thus interfering with his performance.

Recommendations of strategies for ABC Corporation to meet Kareem’s needs while still maintaining performance expectations

ABC Corporation should not discriminate Kareem based on his cultural needs, which do not align with the organizational culture of ABC Corporation. As a result, ABC should look for ways to accommodate Kareem regardless of his cultural needs as long as he is able to meet performance standards. The recommendation that ABC can put in place to accommodate Kareem is to ask him to compensate for the time he spends praying while at workplace. For instance, if he spends an hour daily praying, he should work an hour extra than other employees to compensate for the time lost. Also, ABC can set daily targets for Kareem to achieve. This means no matter what or does with his work time, he must attain his daily targets.