A question of appearances; HR's dilemma: how to do right by all when an employee believes he's being invited to a sales presentation only as a 'showpiece' - Ethics

HR Magazine, April, 2002

As human resource director at Techno Inc., a fast growing information technology company, Maura Sprenger believes she should do something to resolve a conflict between two valuable employees. But what? At stake is a multimillion-dollar deal with a large client, but winning the contract could be costly if the way it's done causes a valuable employee to quit.

Jack Ridge, Techno's vice president for sales and marketing, has been pulling out all the stops to sell a major contract to Apex Co. Jack's visits with Apex executives impressed on him that the company is very proactive about the diversity of its workforce and likes its vendors to reflect the same commitment. Although Techno has an employee diversity committee, staff training and recruiting efforts, the staff's diversity is limited, as evidenced by Jack's sales team.

Jack began to worry that the composition of both his sales group and Techno's technology team would send the wrong message to Apex and prevent a lucrative contract. He decided he needed one more player--someone from a minority group--and he wants James Tellis at the table when Techno makes its presentations to Apex.

James, a rising star in Techno's research department, knows the technology and the industry, and has effectively and gladly met with other clients and potential clients. But he knows that his most recent projects would prevent him from ever working on Apex's contract.

"The only reason I'd be there is because I'm black," he complained to Maura. He argues that if he participates in the sales presentations, Techno would knowingly be creating false expectations at Apex. He figures his presence would send a signal to Apex that he would be part of the service team after the contract was signed. But James knows that's not going to happen.

"It's a sham," he said. "I resent being used as a sales tool because of my color. If this is how we do business around here, maybe I'm at the wrong company."

"He can only help us by being there," Jack told Maura. "With him there, we stand a better chance of getting the contract. If he's not there, we could be dead in the water. I'm not going to promise Apex that he'll be working on their contract. But just knowing that he works here and has an important job can only help Apex view us more favorably. WI can't he be a team player, just this once?"

James' boss, Techno's vice president for R&D, has mixed feelings. He wishes James could go along and not fight this particular battle. But he has long known that James is sensitive and outspoken when he's riled.

Maura knows there are at least two--maybe more-- ways to look at the question of whether James should participate. "Would it really be dishonest?" she asks herself. "We wouldn't be saying he'd be part of the service team. He'd be in the meetings simply as an expert--the most knowledgeable technical person at the table.

"On the other hand, if Apex assumes James would be part of the project team and then he wasn't, the company might feel like they were doublecrossed. Or if they asked whether James would work with them and learned he wouldn't, having James there might backfire, anyway."

Despite those risks, Jack wants James' boss to order him to attend the meetings, and both have consulted with Maura to help resolve the impasse. "I'm in a bind," she tells herself. "If I try to persuade James to go along, we could lose him because he felt pressured to do something he thought was wrong. If we let James off the hook, we could lose the contract. It would cost the company a lot of revenue and, potentially, some jobs."

What should Maura do?

Be Objective, Diplomatic--And Decisive

By Sherrie Gong Taguchi

This is a complex challenge and a delicate issue. Maura will have to think and act like a strategist, business partner, big-picture thinker, coach, sensitive listener, facilitator and broker. If I were Maura, I would embark on a five-part approach:

* Meet with James to understand his reaction, especially since he has been amenable to participating in other sales efforts in the past. His objections could be a symptom of deeper discontent or broader dissatisfaction about the company or his career.

* Offer to identify for Jack, as a backup plan, some other capable people of color or those fitting a broader definition of diversity who might actually serve on the Apex service team and thus could replace James in the upcoming presentations. Diversity does not have to mean minority; for many organizations it's about diversity of perspective, background or how they think about things.

* Convince James' boss and Jack that James should not be forced to participate. It should be James' choice. Guide them to see the drawbacks of making James do this. The Apex representatives could be influenced negatively if they sense James' reluctance, or James could quit.

* Advise James' boss on balancing James' and Jack's conflicting viewpoints. He needs to be sensitive to both of them.

* Check in with Jack as a voice of conscience to make sure that if James does participate, his role would be crystal-clear to Apex. Provide a gentle reminder that Techno values honest communication. Suggest a positive positioning for communicating James' participation to Apex. The objective: to be forthright with Apex, to make James feel like a valued contributor to this phase of the project rather than a token, and to pre-empt any disappointment at Apex by noting that James' previous commitments to projects prevent him from being part of the service team.