Case Study-Karla, African American Salesperson

Karla is a salesperson at Ellison’s Furniture, the only African American on the small sales force of 20 persons. She has been very successful in selling furniture, makes a good salary plus commission, and during the year she has been at Ellison’s has made top salesperson of the month three times. Karla enjoys her work but feels isolated from most of her coworkers. Most of them are Euro-American men, and five are Euro-American women.

The manager Daniel is Euro-American and has been very supportive of Karla’s training, development, and sales work. He often praises her work and encourages her to “keep it up.” Rachel is the only salesperson who has seemed willing to spend time with Karla during coffee breaks or at lunch. While Karla doesn’t think of Rachel as a close personal friend, she does view as more than just a business colleague. She’s also a friend. From time to time Karla has overheard comments of her coworkers about the good times they’ve had together at various parties and outings that they plan. She can’t help thinking about the fact that she is never included. Last week as Karla approached the employees’ lounge, she heard someone saying, “…at Rachel’s party last Saturday….” Karla stopped dead in her tracks. She felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach. What a blow to discover that even her friend, her only “real work friend,” had thrown a party and had excluded her.

Daniel has noticed that during the past week Karla has seemed quieter and more withdrawn than usual. He is concerned because he believes that Karla’s success as a salesperson is largely due to her outgoing, cheerful personality. When he gets a chance to talk privately with Karla, he says, “IS everything okay, Karla? You’ve been awfully quiet the past few days.”

1. What surface problems do you notice?

2. What root problems might underlie the surface problems?

3. If you were Karla, what would you do?

4. If you were Daniel, what would you do?