7.10 Learning review

Valerie is doing a vocational training in one of the biggest textile firms in Germany. Almost 70 per cent of roundabout two hundred employees are representatives of different minorities. Before the 'refugee crisis' in Germany, in this firm 99 per cent of the employees were women. But this started to change because many migrants from African countries and Syria had sewing skills and the company employed them. Some of the female employees do not like to have male colleagues, but they continue to work there. The headscarf is forbidden in the sewing hall, when operating the sewing machines. The women are wearing it during the breaks and take it off during the work.

One day, one of the Turkish employees has a conflict with the boss, and during the discussion she is told that if she does not like the working conditions she can quit. She cancels her contract and goes home. The others are told that she did not want to take off her headscarf at work because now there are male employees as well. She did not want to appear in front of the men without a headscarf.

Answer the following questions in your learning journal:

1. Analyse the issues at stake using a culture reflexive approach and use the already introduced questions:
   
   • Which cultural factors regarding different perspectives and meanings of cultures could play a role?
   • What other collectives and systems, especially with regard to the situative organization, could play a role? What do we not know and need a solution for, anyway?
   • Which privileges and collective experiences are predistributed in the given interaction and need to be considered?
2. What solutions with less conflict potential come to your mind? Find at least 3 variations of actions or steps.
3. If you were Valerie: what would you do, personally, and why?