Case Study 7.2 Karla, African American Salesperson Karla is a salesperson at Ell
ID: 414866 • Letter: C
Question
Case Study 7.2 Karla, African American Salesperson
Karla is a salesperson at Ellison’s Furniture, the only African American on the small sales
force of 20 persons. She has been very successful in selling furniture, makes a good salary
plus commission, and during the year she has been at Ellison’s has made top salesperson of
the month three times. Karla enjoys her work but feels isolated from most of her
coworkers. Most of them are Euro-American men, and five are Euro-American women.
The manager Daniel is Euro-American and has been very supportive of Karla’s training,
development, and sales work. He often praises her work and encourages her to “keep it
up.”
Rachel is the only salesperson who has seemed willing to spend time with Karla during
coffee breaks or at lunch. While Karla doesn’t think of Rachel as a close personal friend,
she does view as more than just a business colleague. She’s also a friend.
From time to time Karla has overheard comments of her coworkers about the good times
they’ve had together at various parties and outings that they plan. She can’t help thinking
about the fact that she is never included. Last week as Karla approached the employees’
lounge, she heard someone saying, “…at Rachel’s party last Saturday….” Karla stopped
dead in her tracks. She felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach. What a blow to
discover that even her friend, her only “real work friend,” had thrown a party and had
excluded her.
Daniel has noticed that during the past week Karla has seemed quieter and more
withdrawn than usual. He is concerned because he believes that Karla’s success as a
salesperson is largely due to her outgoing, cheerful personality. When he gets a chance to
talk privately with Karla, he says, “IS everything okay, Karla? You’ve been awfully quiet the past few days.”
1. What surface problems do you notice?
2. What root problems might underlie the surface problems?
3. If you were Karla, what would you do?
4. If you were Daniel, what would you do?
Explanation / Answer
The problem that i see basically is of Cultural and Ethnicity difference. As people have difference cultures, values and traditions, they tend to form group with their similar kinds. As everyone is busy with thier work schedule, they get little time to spend with their colleagues and whatever little time they get , they tend to spend with their close ones and did not notice the people from different culture. It may or may not be the problem of intentional avoidance from Euro-American people. It can also be the issue that Karla too has nver tried to approach these people due to misguided fear.
Being Karla, I must rise above my fear and should be vocal about my problems at work. Therefore, I would go -(1) Go to my manager and discuss the problem in detail and discuss how it is impacting me personally and officially. (2). Go to Rachel and discuss the problem. As Rachel is the only one who spends some time with me, it would be better to discuss and clarify the things and ask for the root problems. I can also ask Rachel to introduce me to her other colleagues. (3) Go and talk to Euro American people and try to mingle with them on the daily basis. (4) Can bring some cookies and food stuff for the colleagues to break the ice.
Being Daniel, I can (1). Ask HR to arrange employee engagement sessions weekly or monthly so that employees know each other well. (2) Arrange a small informal party for these colleagues and get them on to the platform to know each other well. (3) Motivate Karla to leverage her cheerful personality, and start conversation with other colleagues
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