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...…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.…