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Guess who’s coming to deliver? Tough decisions about race in the workplace

Katina Williams Thompson (Department of Management and Quantitative Methods, Illinois State University College of Business, Normal, Illinois, USA)
Susan Dustin (Department of Management and Quantitative Methods, Illinois State University College of Business, Normal, Illinois, USA)

Publication date: 14 February 2019

Issue publication date: 11 November 2019

Abstract

Theoretical basis

The authors used Sue’s (2010) microaggression process model and Freeman et al.’s (2010) stakeholder theory as a theoretical basis for this case.

Research methodology

Information for the case was gathered from publicly available sources. No formal data collection efforts were undertaken.

Case overview/synopsis

Guess Who’s Coming to Deliver is a case that examines an event that occurred at Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse in late July and early August of 2015. A customer who had purchased some products from Lowe’s requested that only White delivery people were dispatched to her home because she did not allow African–American people in her house. The case is factual and was written from information that was publicly available in the media. The case is designed to help instructors facilitate a meaningful classroom discussion about microaggressions from the different stakeholder perspectives.

Complexity academic level

The case is relevant for undergraduate and graduate organizational behavior and human resource management courses.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Disclaimer. This case is written solely for educational purposes and is not intended to represent successful or unsuccessful managerial decision making. The authors may have disguised names; financial, and other recognizable information to protect confidentiality.

Citation

Thompson, K.W. and Dustin, S. (2019), "Guess who’s coming to deliver? Tough decisions about race in the workplace", , Vol. 15 No. 5, pp. 416-440. https://doi.org/10.1108/TCJ-01-2018-0020

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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