Reference no: EM132859951

Assumption College

In today's global society, it is useful to learn more about the religions that may be practiced by coworkers. Without some knowledge, individuals may attribute incorrect meanings to others' behaviors. In addition, organizations may have policies and practices that inadvertently conflict with their employees' religious beliefs. For example, some organizations do not allow vacation time to be accrued, thus preventing pilgrimages that may require a month of leave. Others require all workers to take Christian holidays and do not capitalize on the opportunity to have non-Christians work on days that have no significance to them. Jewish employees, for example may choose to work on Christmas Eve in exchange for having Yom Kippur off with pay. Because many individuals may be reluctant to discuss their religion or to explain its practices in a work setting, misunderstanding of behavior can result.

The following scenarios depict workplace incidents in which others are not aware of the religious basis for the individual's behavior. In each case, the employee is put in the limelight because of his/her religion. The supervisor or coworker, who has little or no knowledge of the religious practices that are at the root of these actions, may attribute an incorrect reason for the behavior that they see. These scenarios illustrate that lack of knowledge can lead to conflict, decreased productivity, and diminished motivation for workers as well as managers.

DIRECTIONS

Question 1: Discuss the negative and/or positive effects of these attributions on the work organization.

Question 2: What should a manager do in this situation?

Question 3: Explain the religious significance of this worker's behavior. (NOTE: It is important to this exercise that this is the last step in the discussion.)