Managing Difficult Conversations

In the case study, heuristic influences the interactions of the employees at the ABC Corporation and causes a decline in workplace relations, which resulted in Kareem’s dismissal. Hence heuristics, or rules of thumb, as common decision-making aids may lead to biases. In this regard, the “productivity above all” heuristic was most useful. This heuristic, institutionalized by Thomas, the call center manager, neglected all factors apart from the effectiveness rates, including the vital aspects such as the well-being of the employees and cultural sensitivity. High productivity rate motivated Thomas to make statements and take actions that were hostile by keeping the employees value score just based on productivity. This heuristic led him to change Kareem’s behavior by spying on him more, leading to his firing because he was seen as unproductive to the company, although the cause was that he was stressed and had other problems.

This heuristic resulted in prejudicial perceptions that affected interpersonal relations in the workplace, inter alia regarding Kareem’s religious duties. The prejudice here is seen in how Kareem’s reasons for being unproductive, that is, his religious duties, were not honored at all. For example, when Kareem was making some adjustments to perform his prayers, others saw it as a sort of negligence, and they would end up costing the company time and money. Thomas and Janet's idea of the ‘productivity above all’ heuristic meant that they did not endeavor to comprehend the cultural or religious value of Kareem’s actions, thus resulting in a notion of discrimination. They never failed to expose their unpleasant attitude towards him, and this lack of communication that made them maintain their old, biased perception led to Kareem’s dismissal (Al-Kubaisi, H. 2022).

Inter-cultural clash was also one major reason that fueled the conflict. About religious beliefs, which state that Kareem is an Islamic man that should pray five times a day, the workplace did not follow any of them. This inadequacy of provision could therefore be attributed to cultural blindness and an organizational culture focused on availability and performance. The transcripts show that Thomas and Janet did not bother to try to talk to Kareem regarding his religious well-being. This cultural insensitivity led to a situation whereby Kareem religious beliefs were a camouflage of a non-performing employee. The clash of cultures in relation to Kareem’s religious beliefs and the workplace culture brings into focus the necessity of policies that are sensitive to the faith of employees and better training of managers on issues to do with diversity.

These are a few of the things that may cause future conflicts to occur. In order to avoid such problems and mitigate the intensity of the future conflict, the following strategies could be suggested: First of all, it is necessary to create conditions under which cultural and religious orientations are accepted and appreciated. This may be done through offering cultural competence training for the employees in their workplaces, with special attention given to the managers. Thus, the training would enable managers such as Thomas and Janet to embrace the changes in practices and embrace the diversity at the workplace.

Second, under no allowance of doubt and controversy, a more flexible break regime policy that can support religious practice and not neglect productivity could also help prevent similar conflict. For instance, it is possible to permit employees to have short and timed breaks to perform the prayer or other cultural activities as an attempt to meet the need of the section (Lapshina, N., and Grabarski, M. K. 2023).

Last but not least, it would also be advisable for the company to effectively demarcate the network of reporting and foster informal discussions regarding the spiritual beliefs of the employees. Perhaps if Kareem had been able to talk to his supervisors about his religious commitments, the situation would not have been handled in such a manner. It is highly possible that if the company encouraged the culture of open communication as well as tolerance of deviations from productivity targets, the relationship between employees could improve, and further conflicts wouldn’t arise.

Lastly, the heuristics used in the context substantially affected the employees’ experience at work by causing bias and cultural misunderstandings. By understanding these heuristics in ABC Corporation, this way, the company will be able to handle conflicts as well as promote the distribution of everyone in the organization.

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