Gender Discrimination Assessment Activity: The Shoe Store Incident
Gender Discrimination Assessment Activity
HRM 546
October 6, 2014
The Shoe Store Incident Gender discrimination is a serious issue no matter who you are and where you go it seems there is someone who may not even mean to discriminate against a woman or a man, but they do. However, some individuals mean to discriminate against a female and sometimes a male on purpose. This discriminatory act was done for the fact that perhaps that individual has an issue with the opposite sex or the same sex due to an experience they had. I am a regional manager of a shoe store chain that is one of the many chains located within the metro area. My manger’s name is Bob, and he has contacted me in regards to the …show more content…
following situation. About an hour ago, the store’s best customer named Imelda walked in and asked Bob if an employee could assist her in getting the proper fitting for her shoes.
Bob then explained to Imelda that Tom, another employee, would be more than happy to assist her. Imelda said that she preferred to be assisted by Mary, another employee and stated that if she had Mary to assist her she would probably purchase five pairs of shoes. Mary was working in the back of the store.
Mary and Tom rotate on a daily basis because the person who works in the front of the store gets the commission for that day. Rotating on a daily basis in the shoe store is the companies’ policy and Bob or I do not have the flexibility to change that schedule, and there is no way to split the commission.
Today is Tom’s day to earn that commission. Bob has asked me what he can do. He asks if he should swap Tom and Mary so that the store gets the benefit of Imelda 's purchases, or should he stand firm that only Tom is available to assist her. When Bob contacted me asking about what he should do in this situation, I thought about the pros and cons of the situation. My decision was that the pros are that Imelda would possibly purchase five pairs of shoes if she had a female assisting her and she may feel more comfortable with a female assisting her.
Imelda has been the best customer the company has.
The cons would be that rotating on a daily basis is a company policy. It seems that it would be best to swap Tom and Mary so that Mary can assist Imelda if Imelda is more comfortable with Mary and would possibly purchase not one pair of shoes but five pairs of shoes.
As a company, it is important to make the customer feel like they are being treated especially nice so that the individual continues coming back to the store. Since the company cannot get a commission, and then swapping Tom and Mary in order to have a five shoe purchase in one day, the company would make quite a bit of money on this alone.
It is important for any company to make the customer feel that they are being treated in the best way possible and with much respect as well. If Bob did not have Mary to assist Imelda then Imelda could sue the company for gender discrimination and would possibly win that argument.
I feel that if a customer wishes to have someone specific to assist her, then the company, no matter what policies there is, should oblige to the customer. If the company does this for the customer then, the customer will continue coming back and making more purchases. In turn, this would not only make revenue for the company but keep a loyal customer as …show more content…
well.
The legal issue that could or would arise in this situation is that if Imelda feels she is being discriminated against because of her gender. Imelda could hire an attorney and sue the company for not allowing her to be assisted by an employee that she felt more comfortable dealing with.
In most cases of this happening, the customer would more than likely win the argument with her lawyer and sue the company for their money in order to receive a fair treatment from the company.
The ethical issues that would arise would mainly be the issue of rotating on a daily basis for the commission that is the company policy. Also, swapping Tom and Mary to assist the customer with who she feels more comfortable with assisting her.
As a company, I think it is more important to make the customers feel like they are being treated in the best way possible and that their feelings are taken into consideration. I also feel that it should be the customers’ right to request certain employees to assist them in their shopping needs.
The right choice was swapping Mary and Tom so that Mary can assist Imelda as Imelda requested. If Mary is assisting Imelda, Imelda may purchase five pairs of shoes instead of just one, in turn, making more money for the company.
While taking into account and into consideration Imelda 's wants and needs in order to continue being a loyal customer as she has been and hopefully will continue to be after allowing Mary to assist Imelda with her shopping needs. By doing this, it still benefits the company and Imelda as well as even the other
employees.
References
n.a. (n.d.) Gender Discrimination. Retrieved from http://www.aflcio.org/Issues/Civil- and-Workplace-Rights/Your-Rights-at-Work/Gender-Discrimination n.a. (2014). Gender Discrimination in the Workplace. Retrieved from http://www.allisontaylor.com/wrongful_termination/gender_discrimination.asp Alexander, Dawn D. Bennett & Hartman, Laura P. (2007). Employment Law for
Business (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from University of Phoenix Library eBooks
Collection.
HRM 546
October 6, 2014
The Shoe Store Incident Gender discrimination is a serious issue no matter who you are and where you go it seems there is someone who may not even mean to discriminate against a woman or a man, but they do. However, some individuals mean to discriminate against a female and sometimes a male on purpose. This discriminatory act was done for the fact that perhaps that individual has an issue with the opposite sex or the same sex due to an experience they had. I am a regional manager of a shoe store chain that is one of the many chains located within the metro area. My manger’s name is Bob, and he has contacted me in regards to the …show more content…
following situation. About an hour ago, the store’s best customer named Imelda walked in and asked Bob if an employee could assist her in getting the proper fitting for her shoes.
Bob then explained to Imelda that Tom, another employee, would be more than happy to assist her. Imelda said that she preferred to be assisted by Mary, another employee and stated that if she had Mary to assist her she would probably purchase five pairs of shoes. Mary was working in the back of the store.
Mary and Tom rotate on a daily basis because the person who works in the front of the store gets the commission for that day. Rotating on a daily basis in the shoe store is the companies’ policy and Bob or I do not have the flexibility to change that schedule, and there is no way to split the commission.
Today is Tom’s day to earn that commission. Bob has asked me what he can do. He asks if he should swap Tom and Mary so that the store gets the benefit of Imelda 's purchases, or should he stand firm that only Tom is available to assist her. When Bob contacted me asking about what he should do in this situation, I thought about the pros and cons of the situation. My decision was that the pros are that Imelda would possibly purchase five pairs of shoes if she had a female assisting her and she may feel more comfortable with a female assisting her.
Imelda has been the best customer the company has.
The cons would be that rotating on a daily basis is a company policy. It seems that it would be best to swap Tom and Mary so that Mary can assist Imelda if Imelda is more comfortable with Mary and would possibly purchase not one pair of shoes but five pairs of shoes.
As a company, it is important to make the customer feel like they are being treated especially nice so that the individual continues coming back to the store. Since the company cannot get a commission, and then swapping Tom and Mary in order to have a five shoe purchase in one day, the company would make quite a bit of money on this alone.
It is important for any company to make the customer feel that they are being treated in the best way possible and with much respect as well. If Bob did not have Mary to assist Imelda then Imelda could sue the company for gender discrimination and would possibly win that argument.
I feel that if a customer wishes to have someone specific to assist her, then the company, no matter what policies there is, should oblige to the customer. If the company does this for the customer then, the customer will continue coming back and making more purchases. In turn, this would not only make revenue for the company but keep a loyal customer as …show more content…
well.
The legal issue that could or would arise in this situation is that if Imelda feels she is being discriminated against because of her gender. Imelda could hire an attorney and sue the company for not allowing her to be assisted by an employee that she felt more comfortable dealing with.
In most cases of this happening, the customer would more than likely win the argument with her lawyer and sue the company for their money in order to receive a fair treatment from the company.
The ethical issues that would arise would mainly be the issue of rotating on a daily basis for the commission that is the company policy. Also, swapping Tom and Mary to assist the customer with who she feels more comfortable with assisting her.
As a company, I think it is more important to make the customers feel like they are being treated in the best way possible and that their feelings are taken into consideration. I also feel that it should be the customers’ right to request certain employees to assist them in their shopping needs.
The right choice was swapping Mary and Tom so that Mary can assist Imelda as Imelda requested. If Mary is assisting Imelda, Imelda may purchase five pairs of shoes instead of just one, in turn, making more money for the company.
While taking into account and into consideration Imelda 's wants and needs in order to continue being a loyal customer as she has been and hopefully will continue to be after allowing Mary to assist Imelda with her shopping needs. By doing this, it still benefits the company and Imelda as well as even the other
employees.
References
n.a. (n.d.) Gender Discrimination. Retrieved from http://www.aflcio.org/Issues/Civil- and-Workplace-Rights/Your-Rights-at-Work/Gender-Discrimination n.a. (2014). Gender Discrimination in the Workplace. Retrieved from http://www.allisontaylor.com/wrongful_termination/gender_discrimination.asp Alexander, Dawn D. Bennett & Hartman, Laura P. (2007). Employment Law for
Business (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from University of Phoenix Library eBooks
Collection.