An Office Without Walls

The American work environment has to change, not the women. We should be recognizing that what women are not fitting into is a very narrow, male-dominated workplace of the 1950s. (Anne Marie Slaughter) First Union Federal is an integrative case 5.0 found in the Organizational Theory and Design textbook starting on page 588. We will be trying to see what solutions there is for this case, evaluate, and from that we will determine a cases analysis. This paper will identify the main issue at First Union, discuss the forces for cultural change, explain the use of power, and finally discuss what political tactics Meg should use to resolve this situation at First Union.

Meg Rabb has been employed at First Union Federal since she was eighteen years old. She has been recently promoted to Vice President after having worked the last five years as an assistant V.P. Meg Rabb needed to work very hard (perhaps harder than her male peers) in order to be promoted to her vice-president position and is the first woman to earn such a promotion in the company.

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The president of the company may have manipulated the building manager into reducing the size of Meg's office following her promotion. When Meg heard of this she felt everything and she felt nothing. She was happy because she had an office now, but she became mad as they told her that her new office would be rebuilt again to two dimensions smaller. She then questioned herself how the respect she had earned from her peers would go on about after all this.

Meg wondered if this had to do with her being a female in a position of such prestige and power especially when she had just gotten her promotion after an intervention of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Being a female in a power role that has never been seen or done before for some is an issue and can lead to certain acts because of it. For example, here we have Meg who just got promoted and got moved into a new office and out of the blue the President of the company does a walkthrough of the building and says that Meg's office is too large. My question is why Meg? Why now that she just got promoted? Is it a coincidence or? There are many many factors that come not just from a job, but from there being cultural differences amongst the people working there as well. We have the Senior Vice President Dan Cummings inviting everyone to the Golf Invitational, yet Meg who spent a good amount of time practicing for it did not receive an invite.

By this you can relatively see the type of culture and discrimination in the First Union workplace against women. Yes, she does have a role of power in the workplace, but she is not included in anything nor do the others care if the new V.P. is there to support them or the company itself. Sometimes in a workplace when a female gets something rather than a male, they are prone to feel more vulnerable and make the lives of others who worked as hard as they did or even more, they make them feel bad about themselves when all they've done is worked for something they deserve. There not only is gender bias, but organizational culture, and organizational politics involved now.

Why the walls came down? The severity of this glass ceiling is evidenced by the fact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is examining the company. Furthermore, the bank's top executives do not give women the respect they are due, but that of men they want the uttermost respect for them. The company should certainly come up with an internal approach for resolving some of these issues and cultivate morale, equality, cultural differences, effectiveness, and power especially with regard to the derogatory attitude toward women in the workplace. It is said that we live in a country of the brave and free, but are we resembling what that really means? We can say we are brave and free, but we do otherwise. How about instead of putting others down and being biased to the opposite gender, we help each other out and only then and there will be known as to be brave and free for the things that make us feel down and have us trapped.

Through the years, women from different generations have proven their strength and independence. Today, women have made amazing contributions in the government, business world, the army and many more sectors. Around the globe, there have been many women in positions and power. We should not stop fighting and advocating for gender equality. The issue Meg and many other qualified females are facing is a cultural issue. It has more to do with gender discrimination than anything else, if the glass-ceiling was hard to break through the walls-ceiling will be even harder. Let's be advocates for equality, what's right, for women all over the world who have a voice, but can't use it. Yes we are women, but we deserve the same amount of respect as men. It has to start with corporate and they have to start by educating themselves and their staff from their positions on down.

Questions:

What is the main issue in this case?

The main issue in this case is that there is clearly discrimination toward women in the workplace as it is very hard to miss here in this specific case. The company has a culture that affects those on the surface and those below the surface. Depending on the level you're at is how you will basically be treated. Meg being the first female V.P. didn't get invited to the Golf Tournament therefore, inequality between genders exists here.

What are the Forces of Cultural Change at First Union?

The changes of Cultural change need to start from the top and going down. Whether it be the manager or someone who holds a high position at the Union who started to set the tone as for how women would be treated, they need to stop doing that. It is a workplace and everyone is part of a team including women. No one more and no one is made less either. So to start these changes, all discrimination needs to stop, cultural differences amongst workers need to stop as well, whoever has power and thinks they have the authority to do something because they're on top they also need to stop. What face are we giving the company if this is what people are hearing that happens on the inside? Everyone is equal and everyone should get an equal opportunity not mattering whether you're a male or a female.

The use of power at First Union

The managers or the ones on top need to be the ones to set the example for the others. If they set a bad example the others will follow that, but if they set a good example then the workers there will follow that same good example. Having power doesn't mean that you get to do what you want, it means that having power you are able to make the good happen rather than choosing to do the bad.

What Political Tactics Should Meg Use?

Meg should use Political Tactics that are perceived as appropriate in the workplace to progress in positive relationships. Meg could use the tactic of being a mentor to the other females in the workplace by being a leader as the first female V.P. She can educate these women about cultural changes and what can be done to make the workplace and work environment better for the women as well for the men. She can be the one to change the perception of women in the workplace.