MGMT Diversity in Corporate Setting
Although Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores added sexual orientation to its anti-discrimination policies in 2002, and posts an Equal Opportunity Statement on its website, the restaurant chain has been sued for racial discrimination involving employees and customers, as well as sexual harassment and retaliation against an employee who lodged a formal complaint for a supervisor’s derogatory racial remarks. Employees alleged disparate treatment because of race, such as inadequate wages and assigning African Americans primarily to dishwashing duties and/or waiting only on African American customers (Iwata, 2004). African American customers complained of excessive supervision while shopping; racial slurs; long waits while white patrons received tables; being segregated into smoking sections in the back of the restaurants, even when they requested the non-smoking section; and being served food from the trash. Department of Justice interviews with current and former employees revealed that 80 out of 150 witnessed or experienced racial discrimination and that most complaints were not investigated. As a result, the Department of Justice ordered Cracker Barrel to implement changes, such as hire an outside auditor to ensure civil rights compliance, employ mystery shoppers to test individual stores for discriminatory practices, institute employee diversity training programs, post signs indicating how to file a formal discrimination complaint, and develop and implement procedures for investigating all discrimination allegations. (Schmidt & Copeland, 2004). In September 2004, Cracker Barrel agreed to pay $8.7 million to the plaintiffs, which included the NAACP, to settle the civil lawsuits (Iwata, 2004). In 2009, Cracker Barrel paid $250,000 to settle two additional diversity related lawsuits. The first one alleged that male managers and employees made suggestive remarks and told dirty jokes to female employees. When the employees complained, no action was taken by management. The second lawsuit, which was part of a Supreme Court ruling protecting workers who file bias claims from retaliation, involved a Black employee who was fired when he complained about racially offensive comments made by his supervisor (Biscuit, 2008; USA Today, 4/9/2009). The Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores Corporation now has almost 600 stores in forty-one states. IN addition, the organization continues to win awards such as the Consumers’ Choice in Chains “Best Family Dining Chain “which it has won for 19 consecutive years. Beginning in 2000, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. was listed in Fortune magazine’s annual list of “America’s Most Admired Companies “for nine consecutive years (Cracker Barrel.com).
- Current age-related trends in the workplace include: Baby Boomers working past the traditional retirement age of sixty-five and Millennials being “underemployed,” that is, able to get only part-time jobs or positions that don’t require the education, particularly college degrees, that they have attained. What are the long-term workplace problems that these trends could cause? Do you think this is a global or only an American issue? Why?
- It is often said that sexual harassment is about power not sex. What material from the articles on women and men would support that statement? What role does privilege play in sexual harassment?
- Why do you think that there are no U.S. federal laws protecting LGBT workers from losing their jobs due to their sexual orientation? What might prevent there ever being such a law?
- Once after conducting the “Musical Chairs “exercise, an instructor asked the class how it felt. A student who spoke English as a second language responded by saying,” Wonderful. Now everybody has experienced what I feel every day. “What could he have meant by that statement? What does this teach you about diversity?
- Now that you have read about the primary dimensions of diversity, what have you learned about yourself? Of the six dimensions covered in this text (race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, and physical and mental challenges), which so far have affected your life the most? What examples can you provide to substantiate your answer? Do you think these may change in importance during your lifetime? Why or why not?