Communication & the Social Norm

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What is appropriate communication amongst coworkers within the workplace? To define this I would like to look at a situation where we encounter two young male coworkers holding conversations of a sexist and rude nature. We refer to several people that we trust to amass insight on how to proceed. In doing so, we are given different perspectives, some that support reporting the offense while others say not to. The question becomes what action to take?
The individuals the issue is brought to are Shirley Wright, the Manager of Student Employees, Ron DesVue, a 30yr old veteran and classmate, Rudy Day, a close friend and classmate, and Frieda Choose, another close friend and classmate. That we are approaching others for advice is an illustration of the conflict between the ego and the superego. This is demonstrated by the fact that we did not initially act by either confronting the coworkers, or report the incident to a higher management chain. The inner conflict in this case as described by Freud called it “sublimation, which changes selfish drives into socially acceptable behavior.” (Macionis, 2012). We do this consciously or unconsciously for reasons that we want to be accepted within our social environment.
As a manager Shirley should have taken the complaint seriously and acted upon it. By not doing so, she is establishing a culture of hostility. This behavior is a negative representation of Tradition as expressed by Max Weber tradition “consists of values and beliefs passed from generation to generation.” (Macionis, 2012). Her use of the analogy “boy will be boys” is based on the Nature vs. Nurture theory where it is assumed that because the individuals are of male gender they are expected to act a certain way and that it is wid...

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...loped and the demonstration of bureaucratic inefficiency.
In closing, it is clear that we feel alienated from the bureaucratic system of the employer and seek to conform to the social norm of our peers. As Weber puts it management should have conducted itself by “Rationally enacted rules and regulations…” that are enforced and through impersonality, thus ensuring that rules are put ahead of personal whim to ensure that all are treated the in same way. The advice that we should take is that of Ron’s. Since we had previously brought the issue to our manager, and she made it clear that she supported the actions of the coworkers; we then need to go higher to HR and up through the upper management chain of command.

Works Cited

J. Macionis (2012). Society: The Basics [VitalSouce bookshelf version].
Retrieved on March 20th, 2014 from http://devry.vitalsource.com/books/

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