In office and daily life, conflicts are normal. How to resolve
conflicts and build a harmony atmosphere office is really a problem to
everyone. All conflicts and complaints are the result of someone’s expectations
not being met. At least one person had expectations about your interaction that
were not met otherwise there would have been no upset. Complaint letter is a
good tool to solve conflicts and misunderstanding in office with proper skills.
A good complaint letter could fulfil both exceptions in conflict.
In the Group Assignment 2,
our group will work on developing a persuasive “complain” letter to solve a
real case from the workplace. We got together and shared some stories had
happened in the workplace, as we all have short working experiences before studying
master. After comparing several real stories, we chose the topic religion, which
is a general conflict in mainland China. The Hui nationality is the second
biggest population of Chinese minority. Their religious custom and dietary
habit are different from those of the Han nationality. This is the general
background.
In this case, the leading
character is a Moslem. He has joined this company for 2 months, but there is no
proper food for him in the company canteen. He tried several methods to solve
this problem. The result is not so well. Then he went to the canteen manager
but couldn't get help and felt being offended by the manager’s word. He was so
angry and disappointed. He wanted to report the issue to higher organizations,
but in what kind of way? Talking with the general manager or admin manager face
to face is too risky, as with anger he may not present himself right. There are
some tips called SMART to prevent the conflicts. SMART is the short of specific,
measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. If Muslem could use these tips,
his troubles maybe get resolved immediately. At another hand, the managers need
some time to do some research about it and to decide how to deal with the
problem. Face to face may create an awkward situation. A complain letter can
make his statement clear and objective, and can help avoiding jumping to the
ladder of inference, which is a better solution.
The first part should be the
objective statement. He needed to recall all the details had happened during
the conversation to make sure no personal emotion involved. The letter can
later be a kind of evidence, so just write what it is.
The second part is about
feelings. In this case, the leading character has tried eating outside or
bringing food to the company. However, none of these two methods can work due
to the break time or company facilities. That is the reason Muslim went to the
canteen manager. And the manager was jumping the ladder of inference thinking
Muslim is to find trouble with him. The misunderstanding created the conflict.
Showing his opinions and feelings can enhance the result of the offence, and
clarify your attitude to it. Taking perspective is a method can be used in
order to help oneself to climb the ladder of inference. And it is a good to
help the opposite party (the manager) to realize what kind of omission happens.
The Muslim can try to understand the canteen manager may not know about his
religion. It shows an attitude to solve the problem instead of making conflict
bigger and more serious.
The third part is to give
remedy under the certain situation. In this case, the eating problem can be big
and can be small. The main point is to reach win-win. So the Muslim should not
compromise. He should ask for more lunch break time or let the admin manager to
publish some rules to deal with it.
Below is the letter:
Dear Admin Manager
This is a letter for getting
your attention on the religion respect in this company.
My name is Muslim. I joined
this company two-month ago. During these two months, there is a problem bothered
me, and it has not been solved until now. The problem is that there is no
special meal for Moslem in canteen.
As you may found, I am a
Moslem. Based on my religion, I can’t eat any pork or even pork made food. But
in canteen there is no pork free food offered which makes my lunch become not
easy. About this problem I have tried some ways to solve, I tried to have lunch
outside, but the lunch time is too little and I can’t manage to come back to
work on time; I also tried to bring lunch by myself, but there is no place for
me to heat my food. I had no choice, so I went to talk with the canteen
manager to ask if it’s possible to provide some pork-free foods. But he
rejected my request for the reason that the menu was fixed every Monday. He couldn't change.
However when he makes the menu for a new week, he didn't consider my
needs at all.
At beginning I feel very
frustrated and upset. I feel he doesn’t respect my religion at all. When I
reconsider about this issue, I think his rejection might not be personal. His
rejection might because of unknown of the background information and my request
is beyond his authority. So I’m writing this letter to you. I respect canteen
manager and your job, but also I hope the company will respect my religion and
solve my problem.
Thank you
Muslim
Three years ago when I was a senior student in university, I went out with a Muslim. It was an unforgettable experience. We spent two hours in finding a proper restaurant. From the complaint letter, I can feel the embarrassed situation. Thank you for your sharing. It is a nice letter.
回复删除From the beginning, I do feel the honesty of the Muslim. Eating is crucial for every Chinese including Hui People. While, after reading the "special food" in the last sentence, I do want to refute you if I were the manager. It is not easy for canteen to prepare delicious and enough food for all staff. Why do you want special food? How about putting the reasons here? For example, how about putting that there is no pork free food offered in canteen. Because you have special religion, you need pork free food. In this way, it sounds reasonable. What is more, you can explain the reason that you need such food, since I do not think that everyone in the company know that Muslims have such special requirement.
You made good use of ladder of inference in the second paragraph! As the canteen manager does not find more data for you, you initiative offer him or her more data about the situation so I think when the manager of the canteen knows about that, he or she will change minds.
Giving the other party more data is smart. However, without telling them the severity about the case, it is hard for them to change. Only change is constant. This sentence is common to all. However, when change has already come, how many of us can really change? Here is the problem of the complaint letter. Just Muslim complains alone. For the admin manager or canteen manager, this small requirement can be ignored since there is other staff. Thus, why not add more information for them to explain that the problem is quite serious to urge them to take action? For example, Muslim is now taking charge of a core project in the company, if he cannot eat well during the lunch, he cannot work well in the afternoon. Or, though Muslim is new to the company, he has made great contribution to the company. He needs to be regarded properly. Or in the contract, the company has promised that it will treat Muslim's religion seriously by solving his daily life problems. Otherwise, Muslim will accuse the company of breaching contract. Then, the admin manager will regard the letter seriously. He or she will think that hey, Muslim is important. Even just he complains alone, he is a crucial member of this organization. We should treat him better. There are ways to complain, giving them plenty of data or assumption is certainly wise. However, how to motivate them to take action needs more tacit.
删除SMART used in writing complaint letter is also nice. It includes practical ways in solving problems. But, let me inform you something about choices. When people are faced with one choice or many choices, they will easily regret about their choice (Meyer, 2011). In the situation here, it is possible that they will not take action for you with just one complaint and one solution. What is worse, the solution is not that easy to attain. Changing the menu is easy. Then, the canteen needs to buy special materials and sources such as special oil, meat and species to cook. Finally, the chief needs to cook special Muslim cuisine for just one person. Furthermore, the canteen has to offer different dishes for just one person. How troublesome it is! The cost of change is really high. For the solution part, you had better give them more solutions and it is not hard to come up with different solutions. For instance, you can ask the manager to buy one microwave oven so you can heat your food and other colleagues can also use it. Compared with big change in the menu, obviously, it is a better way. Or for instance, you can ask the manager to contact one Muslim restaurant which can deliver the food to the office for you. Anyway, with providing several ways to the manager, the conflict can be easily solved instead of getting stagnant.
删除I have read your assignment 2. I really understand what you want to say because it is a common conflict in our daily life because the eating problems matter heavily. I think it is clear for us to read and it is also a clear and concise structure you provided. In you blog, I found the solution( a complaint letter) provided lastly. And in the blog, you explained the situation and the feelings, which lead the readers to follow your direction and lead me to sympathy to the character in the blog. What's more, your content is related to religion, which is a big and controversial issue all over the world. I understand that you want to remind readers to pay more attention to the problem of religion. It's good! It is true that people hold different ideas about religion and customs. This conflict exists for long time. So, I think this story is a tip of the iceberg. Good Job!
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回复删除I think religion problem is always a conflict no matter in a company or in daily life. For the structure of this complaint letter, you have a good flow going to the complaint letter and the background introduction is very detailed and I like it. However, actually in the end of the complaint letter , I was looking forward to a practical and persuasive solution or some obvious improvements of this conflict. I think the company could have some window to provide only Muslim foods. Anyway, I think there are too many facts but fewer analysis process. I think you can work more on the rational and theoretical analysis to make it better. I like your complaint letter context and I think this problem should be attached great importance.
回复删除After reading your case, I was attracted by the incident, the religion problems and conflict in company. Here I am not going to focus on the complaint, instead, I want to discuss the religion problem in organization.
回复删除Usually, we treat the canteen in our organization just as a place providing food, and we never think about it will cause religion problems. Actually, this incident really hit me, because I founded a company four years ago, and we also have a company canteen, but I never pay attention to the canteen’s religion problems.
Seemingly, this is just a religion problem. But after deeper consideration, we can know that this is a management problem. We hire different people with various belief, we should not just think about how to make good use of their ability, on the other hand, we should take care their life and feeling at the same time. If the canteen cannot provide them suitable food, their normal life will be affected, as it is not possible for them to lead a normal life in the company, additionally, they will feel disrespected. For these reasons, the performance of them will go down, because they don’t receive any carefulness from the company, even one necessary lunch.
Therefore, no matter the problems in office or in the canteen, they are worthy to pay attention, as any tiny problems will influence our performance.
I like this topic you chose. But it seems you spent your efforts in analysing why you wrote the complaint letter in this way, but not in using the "Ladder of Inference" in analysing why this employee would accuse the company not respect his religion, nor if it's a reasonable accusation, nor why Canteen manager rejected his request, ect. such questions. What a Pity!
回复删除Hi, group H2O! I am familiar with your topic. Because one of classmates in college is also Hui nationality. So I understand the situation totally. But I have some suggestions for you. Your structure is more likely to tell us how to write a complaint letter.Actually you give us clear analysis. So if you can change your structure, it will be better.
回复删除It is so exciting to find there're so many comments. Thank u guys
回复删除I think you guy has told us a wonderful story happening in the canteen which causing a religion related conflict. Actually, religious issue always be a sensitive topic that cannot be easily handled, so I go through the whole blog with the aim finding out the possible solution which will do me the favor in solving such a kind of tough conflict possibly in the future. At the end I found that there more descriptive words than the analysis words based on "Ladder of Inference" theory, so i expect a improvement here would make the blog better.
回复删除Hi Team_H2O, the conflict your group pointing out in daily life to happen so often. Good case sharing! Most offices just giving an hour for lunch break, that’s really rush and wasting time to take away lunch box from outside restaurants. Of course, in-house canteen could be one of staff benefits, where the place provides food and beverage are comparatively at low price and staff can have much more time to do personal things after lunch. Therefore, Admin Manager should take empathy to show his/her understand how the other persons’ needs. Be open and flexible to listen and really hear other persons what their concerns on food variety. Then, discussing with the chief by providing various food such as green food for vegetarians; beef, lamb or chicken food for some people to match with their different religions. However, canteen offers different kinds of food for staff to select, they must be very happy and pleased the manager what he/she put the efforts to benefit staff, while the conflict will be solved with win-win situation.
回复删除wow!!! this is a very good story. I love it. very smart to use religion as a factor to complain. yes, you are right. apart from gender, age, sex, religion could be a cause of discrimination. apart from political, religion is a very very sensitive. while we were with different people with different religion, we have to be very careful of the words we use, the behavior and the way of thinking. I have a several indian friends, they are just like us. very normal and interesting. however when it comes to food, it is a problem here in HK. although HK is a food paradise, finding a traditional vegetarian food restaurant is difficult since most of the HK people eat meat. and the fact that HK shop rent is very very high, restaurant should provide variety of food for customer in order to earn more. selling only veggie won't help. therefore, my indian friends always cook at home. bring their food to office. I feel so sorry for them. However, some of the muslims have a habit of praying several times a day. it causes problems for HK employers. one hand, i respect the praying but on the other hand, in the view of employers it may cause inconveniences. HK a fast move city, we want things to be done right here right now. this is difficult for them.
回复删除Should HK think to set up rules to protect both Muslim employees and the employers in order to have a win win situation??
wow!!! this is a very good story. I love it. very smart to use religion as a factor to complain. yes, you are right. apart from gender, age, sex, religion could be a cause of discrimination. apart from political, religion is a very very sensitive. while we were with different people with different religion, we have to be very careful of the words we use, the behavior and the way of thinking. I have a several indian friends, they are just like us. very normal and interesting. however when it comes to food, it is a problem here in HK. although HK is a food paradise, finding a traditional vegetarian food restaurant is difficult since most of the HK people eat meat. and the fact that HK shop rent is very very high, restaurant should provide variety of food for customer in order to earn more. selling only veggie won't help. therefore, my indian friends always cook at home. bring their food to office. I feel so sorry for them. However, some of the muslims have a habit of praying several times a day. it causes problems for HK employers. one hand, i respect the praying but on the other hand, in the view of employers it may cause inconveniences. HK a fast move city, we want things to be done right here right now. this is difficult for them.
回复删除Should HK think to set up rules to protect both Muslim employees and the employers in order to have a win win situation??
This is 53935415,
回复删除To be short, I didn't found the concrete solution towards your complaint, whether they have solve it in a win-win way? you can help the employee out, the real meaning of this assessment is about being the manager and solve the problem, that is a real core, a win-win solution of this complaint. And it is interesting for you guys to write a smart letter to the manager in a smart way, you tell the manager that you have already tried to solve the problem yourself other than go to the manager when the problem shows at once. The manager will be much more interested in solving your problem by reading your letter. Another thing is that you use to many book theory than the analysis according to your article.
Thanks
Hi, group H2O. I really appreciate that you pick the religion problem. Actually I am Buddhism and I often suffer similar problem in my life. Your letter gave me a lot of inspiration. I am a vegetarian and I never eat meat. But fortunately, City U canteens are so diverse that I can always find something without meat. But when I go out with friends and eat outside, lots of food contain meat and what I usually do is to cut out any meat in my dish. Under some extreme cases, I choose not to eat.
回复删除Lots of the conflicts in the world are from religion problems. I think religion problem could be a tough one because if you are not in it, you would not understand why people do this. I do not eat meat because I hate killing things. I don’t want to eat the dead body of an animal. I know that the Moslem do not eat pork because they think pigs have done favors for them. I think sometimes people just need to give more understanding for others and respect others. To respect people, you must respect the culture they carry. To respect the culture, you must understand what it means to them. I think sending the complaint letter is a very good way to show the feeling as well as resolving the conflicts. I think this is not only a single problem, you should find more Moslem friends and gather them together to right a formal letter. I think the power of more people would be useful in getting the situation changed.
Dear H2O, This is 53978673. I really like this interesting case. As the other classmates said, this religion related conflict was very common in our daily life. And I also very curious about how could we solve this kind of conflict. I really like you made a very clear introduction about the background and the explanation for why you wrote the complain letter like this. But if you could analyze more about why and how both of the Muslim and canteen manager walked up the ladder based on different perspectives in selecting reality, interpreting reality, and different assumptions, conclusion and belief, your paper would be better. Meanwhile, I think the readers also concern about how could we help them walk down the ladder.
回复删除I think this case has illustrated the difference in Hong Kong and mainland China's restaurant practices, which I think is a very interesting story that brings a new perspective to our Hong Kong fellows. The fact that Muslim's religious belief was not taken into consideration by the restaurant can cause other issues as he might not be the only person facing this problem. By writing a letter to the canteen manager, it could help the manager identify the problem and deal with it in a more serious manner. Taking your word "SMART", a smart manager should be able to see the consequential effect if this is not handled properly.
回复删除From the letter, the part I like the most was the emotional aspect that was introduced in the last paragraph. By sharing his own experience and with empathy to the canteen manager, the reader would feel more respect even it is some sort of a complaint. The atmosphere would facilitate conflict resolution in a more positive way as honesty has created a platform for free exchange in thoughts. Well done!
Meanwhile, I think that this case would be more fruitful if more can be done on elaborating on the possible solutions for the canteen manager.
Hi team H2O. I like your method to embed the theory into the article in such a smooth way rather than tell a lot of theories. Your complained issue is a big problem that occurs everywhere and it is really an offend and disrespect for those with religion beliefs. Your clam and sincere showing in complain letter impressed me a lot and I think it would be solved properly by your efforts. Your structure is well. The first two paragraph explain the background and your ideas about the reason for conflicts. And the following part tells us the basic ideas of the letters, which makes us easier to catch your point in the letter. Thanks for your work!
回复删除I think this situation is a practical case. Actually, in mainland, Moslem can have the separate food which is different from us. We treat the canteen in our organization just as a place providing food, and we never think about it will cause religion problems. Actually, this incident really hit me, because I founded a company four years ago, and we also have a company canteen, but I never pay attention to the canteen’s religion problems. It looks like is a religion problem. But after deeper consideration, we can know that this is a management problem. We hire different people with various belief, we should not just think about how to make good use of their ability, on the other hand, we should take care their life and feeling at the same time. If the canteen cannot provide them suitable food, their normal life will be affected, as it is not possible for them to lead a normal life in the company, additionally, they will feel disrespected. For these reasons, the performance of them will go down, because they don’t receive any carefulness from the company, even one necessary lunch.
回复删除Hello group H20, this is student 53820292.
回复删除Thanks for your sharing, It's a avery interseting and practical topic you choose, because there are really a lot of moslems in our country and we can easily meet some moslems in our daily life. Your group's choice is very considerate because you considered about moslems' eating habbit and their beliefs. You guys putting a good topic which worth to have a discussion.
However, i'm wondering about your tips : SMART, I'm wondering why you said if muslim use these tips then his problems may be resolved immediately? Besides, I have another question about this muslim's letter, I think it's very easy for any companies to buy a microwave. Then the problem about heating his lunch may be solved immediately? All in all, thanks for your sharing again!