Osama, a Muslim associate and fellow manager of yours told you at lunch today that he feels like giving up and looking somewhere else for employment. Osama is losing his patience with comments and jokes his colleagues make about his name and his religion and his war in Iraq or the cost of rebuilding his country. Osama said to you, "Right after 9/11 the talk was pretty bad and I understood that because I shared the others' feelings of shock and anguish. I'm an American citizen." But it hasn't let up. Osama told you that he's still feeling out of the loop. His comments at meetings get discounted if he's invited to the meetings at all. The last straw was a comment he overheard from one co-worker to another: "Why did we hire those Muslims anyway? You can't trust them. How do we know they're not a bunch of spies?"
Discussion
First of all, a little historical perspective on your colleague's name. Although Osama bin Laden has created utter infamy for the name, Osama. It's an honorable and traditional Arabic name. Do a little more research and let the team know that "Osama" is the Thomas or Benjamin or George of other parts of the world. Get them used to it. There is a good chance they'll encounter this name in the workplace or with a customer again soon, so get them ready.
Forget the name for a minute because there is a bigger isssue to deal with. Your obligation as a manager and leader is to face this kind of problem head on when world events start affecting your workplace
Address the problem with people individually or in small groups, whichever is more comfortable. Keep Osama out of it. Give instances of what's happening from your perspective. Don't blame or shame. Approach it from the stance of "These are the behaviors I'm observing and these are the impacts of those behaviors on Osama, on our team and on our organization." Then you ask for their input and have a dialogue about what's been going on. Your goal will be to get them to agree to help you get the organization back on track as one of respect for everyone.
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