Michael identifies himself as African American. He is a college graduate and the divorced Father of a teenage son, Aaron, who attends a private school in the well-to-do suburb where they live. Dennis, a new employee who reports to Michael at work, is a native of Brazil. Dennis asked Michael to approve his request for personal leave. Dennis wants to take paid leave to attend the funeral of his “compadre”—a close personal friend. Company policy grants five days of paid, excused absence from work for “Death in the Family.” Because his friend’s funeral is in Brazil, he needs to take a full week off. Nothing in the company’s leave policy covers this situation. Dennis feels a deep commitment to the family of his compadre. According to Dennis, a compadre is far more than a friend; a compadre is like family. In his request, he points out that there is no direct English translation for the word compadre . Michael is not sure how he feels about this. Although he sympathizes with his friend, he thinks that agreeing to Dennis’s request establishes a bad precedent.
Questions:
1. Do you think Michael should approve Dennis’s request? Can this request be justified given company policy?
2. If Dennis is allowed to do this, should the company treat all other employees who have a very close friend the sam
3. Dealing with Dennis’s request will require Michael to use a number of diversity
skills. In this situation, which of Michael’s diversity skills do you think will be the
most critical? Why?