Gordon Foundry Case

Mr. White Deer’s case represents an unfortunately common occurrence: a toxic workplace environment. It is difficult to provide a thorough assessment without having been an eyewitness to the events precipitating the aggressive maneuver of the hose-down, but it is clear that several micro-aggressions had already taken place to intimidate Mr. White Deer. There are multiple layers of problems in this case, but all fall under the rubric of ineffective leadership.
Leadership determines organizational culture. Mr. Smith seems amicable enough, but seems like a laissez-faire leader who lacks awareness of organizational culture and climate. He believes the old foundry workers are a “fine group of fellows” because they have been with Gordon Foundry for a long time and they have served the company well. Yet the “fine group of fellows” is better described as a “good old boys” club: men from an older generation whose values are starkly different from those held by Mr. White Deer. Unfortunately, their habits, values, and beliefs have been ingrained for so long that it is unlikely that any of the foundry workers will be willing to change. The foundry workers also seem to lack a leader or manager that sets the tone of their discourse and their comportment, which is why they ended up taking control of the situation by intimidating the newcomer.
Another problem evident in this case is the inter-generational conflict between the foundry workers and Mr. White Deer. The older men may resent having a younger man as their superior, which could be one reason for their aggressive behavior. Also, the older men likely have a strong working class ethos and strong pride in their working class identity. They might view persons with higher education and advanced training with disdain, rather than admiration. Compounding the already salient variables of age and social status is the fact that Mr. White Deer is viewed as an outsider. Whether or not they see Mr. White Deer as an outsider because of his nationality or his ethnicity, they most certainly see him as an outsider because he is new to Gordon Foundry. The fact that several of the foundry workers are members of the Smith family exacerbates the fact that Mr. White Deer will be excluded from the inner circle of Gordon Foundry.
Being French Canadian does create an in-group/out-group situation, too. Mr. White Deer refers to Canadian French as a “patois,” which may indicate his own prejudices towards the men. Although the French spoken in Quebec is different from formal French, French Canadians do have a great degree of pride and would not want their language to be referred to in a derogatory way.
Mr. White Deer did not anticipate the reactions of the foundry workers, or else he might have nipped the problem in the bud early. Perhaps he could have invited all of the foundry workers for a round of beers to break the ice as soon as he started working. As the leader of the organization, Mr. Smith needed to be more cognizant of the ways the foundry workers might react to their new colleague. Mr. Smith should have prepared the foundry workers, and ensured that Mr. White Deer would be treated warmly and welcomed to the organization as their ally, not their enemy. Therefore, most of the salient issues are linked to Mr. Smith’s lack of awareness of the importance of organizational culture and climate. The most critical issues include leadership, organizational culture, and communication.
One solution would be for Mr. Smith to receive some kind of leadership training or to hire a consultant. Mr. Smith needs to take responsibility for what is happening, and to recognize his role in enabling a toxic climate. While it may actually be too late to change the culture because of how long the “old boys club” has been around, it might at least be possible to make some small changes through a shift in leadership. Mr. Smith might even consider hiring someone to manage the foundry workers, or to provide the foundry workers with additional training but this approach is likely to backfire. The foundry workers would more likely rebel against anything that remotely resembled sensitivity training. Yet Mr. Smith may benefit from leadership coaching, to help him cultivate a style of leadership that would be conducive to workplace harmony.
Another solution is to work more directly with Mr. White Deer, improving his leadership style so that he comes to dominate the discourse with the foundry workers and not the other way around. Also, Mr. White Deer needs to explain to the foundry workers why he was hired, and why his technical engineering degree will help improve Gordon Foundry operations. White Deer already knows that the foundry workers “pooh-pooh” the value of his education, and that he is the only one at the foundry who has ever had any advanced training or higher education. Knowing this, Mr. White Deer needs to level with the foundry workers. He needs to understand that their working class ethos defines their identity, their value system, and even their worldview.
I will advise a combination of these two solutions, addressing both the leadership issues and also helping Mr. White to adapt through methods of self-empowerment. It would certainly help if Mr. White Deer were to learn to speak Quebecois French. He needs to learn slang and colloquialisms, and not formal French, so that he can communicate with the workers. Using formal French would only isolate himself more and lead to even more derision.
Also, Mr. White Deer could tell the foundry workers a little about himself and his background, helping to build rapport and trust, thereby gradually breaking down the barriers the men erected when he arrived. White Deer admitted that his tendency was to ignore the men, which could have come across as being cold and standoffish, snobby as if he was looking down on them. Certainly, White Deer is right to not feed their “childish” antics, which are certainly both “silly” and “hostile,” as he put it. His avoidance behaviors did not dissipate the tension; quite the opposite. The foundry workers might mistakenly believe that Mr. White Deer believes himself to be better than they are or superior due to his having a higher education; Mr. White Deer needs to dispel their beliefs by making overt gestures. A social event would be ideal. Mr. Smith needs to participate in creating a more congenial work environment. It would be best if Mr. Smith called an all-hands meeting to more formally introduce Mr. White Deer and initiate a new era in workplace relations.
Mr. Smith also needs to alter his leadership style, but in a way that still retains the essential trust between him and the foundry workers he cares about. All Mr. Smith needs to do is take a few simple steps, such as holding more regular meetings and social events. Mr. Smith also needs to clear the air immediately by having a meeting in which grievances are aired. He could meet separately with the foundry workers to hear their point of view, and then have a meeting with Mr. White Deer present. Mr. Smith needs to tell the foundry workers directly why he hired Mr. White Deer, the reason why he needs an assistant, and how Mr. White Deer’s technical expertise will help the foundry workers directly.
The foundry workers also need to be empowered by showing Mr. White Deer exactly what it is that they do. In this way, Mr. White Deer will become more knowledgeable about the day-to-day operations, and he gets the chance to show respect to the men who have been with Gordon Foundry for so long. It will take a great deal of time to fix the damage that has been done, but Mr. White Deer seems to have a good attitude.
Interestingly, ethnicity, ethnic identity, and ethnocentrism are not as central to this case as they seem on the surface. Certainly, there are cultural barriers. French Canadians would have likely treated any Anglo—in fact, anyone outside of their community—in much the same way, especially if that person also had an advanced degree. Class conflict is a more meaningful root cause of the issue here. It does not seem like the foundry workers made any overt racial slurs. In fact, Mr. White Deer may hold some stereotypes about the French Canadian workers, assuming for example that they would “pooh-pooh” his education. This is why the solution needs to focus on changing Mr. White Deer’s communication style.
Having open, face-to-face communications with all the stakeholder in this case is the best solution to the problem. Mr. Smith needs to improve his leadership style, and recognize that he is uniquely in charge of creating a new organizational culture. He has the legitimate authority and also the respect of the foundry workers. If Mr. Smith fails to recognize his responsibility, he risks losing Mr. White Deer to a competitor.
To create a more harmonious work environment, all the stakeholders need to find their common values. As Myvatt (n.d.) puts it, “Those team members who share the same core values will be predisposed to trusting one another at high levels,” (p. 1). Finding common values will help overcome the immutable differences related to language, culture, class, and age. For instance, they all value the success of the foundry, and they all take pride in their work. To recognize that they all have similar ideals would help them to see each other as allies rather than enemies. The same goes for White Deer. Although he did nothing wrong, he does need to play a more active role in reaching out to the foundry workers and establishing rapport. He may never expect to be welcomed into their tightly knit social group, and nor may he even be interested in that, but everyone at Gordon Foundry needs to treat each other with respect.
References
Myatt, M. (n.d.). Leadership and toxic work environments. N2Growth. Retrieved from https://www.n2growth.com/controlling-gossip/