The Fijian Experience

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their misconduct. Moala is a good employee but due to his Tau relationship with Salome, he failed in carrying out his duty justly. On the other hand, Salome, knowing that Moala would not correct her misconduct, stole the company’s money bravely. This should not be taken lightly. In the warning letter, they should be warned that such behaviour would not be tolerated in the future and if it happens again, they will be sacked. In any organization, the underlings can carry out misconducts such as stealing if there is no thorough supervision from the supervisor. This is why Moala’s attitude towards work is very important. At any circumstances, he should never put customs and personal relationships above his own duty towards the company.

Firing Salome Suacake

Salome has done an intolerable mistake. Stealing should never be taken lightly by any organization and firing Salome is a just decision. By firing her, Brett can set an example within the management that stealing for any cause even if it is for a good cause will never be tolerated. By doing this, other employees would not follow her footsteps even if the church pressures them to. Furthermore, she is still a trainee. Unlike Moala who has been in the company for years, firing Salome would not create much protest from the company staffs.

Evaluation of Alternate Strategies

Relocating Salome Suacake to another department

Pros

Relocating Salome to another department where she does not need to deal directly with money would prevent her from taking the company’s money to keep for herself (or the church) as the inaccessibility would lower her chances of stealing. That would also mean that Salome would not lose her job, hence she would still be able to obtain a salary and contribute to the church. It would also allow the company to reinstate and retain Moala, and Moala would not have to be conflicted over his responsibilities anymore in choosing between being Salome’s Tau or being an honest assistant manager. Moreover, this would be able to solve the problem immediately.

Cons

Salome may not be trained or qualified to function effectively at other departments, as she was initially trained as a waitress. Thus, it may cause inefficiency for a while before she gains enough experience to function effectively at another department. Besides that, the other departments may not necessary have a vacancy, and the vacant waitress position left by Salome might cause a bit of inefficiency to the restaurant.

Issuing a warning letter

Pros

The warning letters to both Salome and Moala would help them understand the consequences of their actions and what to expect if the misconduct was repeated. This would also help them understand the importance of upholding integrity at the workplace. This is especially important for Moala, who is a potential leader of the company. Besides that, the company would be able to retain the talent (Moala and Salome), instead of setting out to recruit new talents to fill the positions. Most importantly, the company’s reinstitution of Moala after a warning letter would make the other employees happy as they highly respect Moala and he is a source of motivation to them. This would also be able to solve the problem immediately.

Cons

Salome may still persist with her stealing despite the warning as she would still be constantly exposed to handling money from the customers. Therefore, the misconduct may happen again, and negatively affect Moala once more. It would also not be able to strongly resonate with the other employees because it would appear as if the company tolerates dishonesty.

Firing Salome Suacake

Pros

This would be able be used as an example for the rest of the company, and emphasize that dishonesty will not be tolerated despite whatever reasons. It would illustrate clearly how the company strongly upholds integrity and takes it very seriously. It would boost the morale of the employees when the employees realise that the company acts towards misconduct at the workplace. It would also solve the problem immediately.

Cons

The company would need to fill up the position left vacant by Salome. Besides that, Moala would have to deal with the consequences of not upholding his customary practice of being Salome’s Tau, because Salome lost her job. Moreover, the indigenous Christian Fijians who lack understanding may be unhappy with the company, because Salome was supposedly stealing money for the church, not herself.

Best Strategy and Justification

The best strategy is to relocate Salome to another department within the company. The relocation is to be made to another department that has no direct dealing with money. By doing this, Salome would have lower chances of stealing the company’s money.

As mentioned, this strategy benefits all parties and has the least severe consequences – FIJIAN, Moala, Salome, the rest of FIJIAN employees, and the villagers. This is because FIJIAN would not need to deal with the hassle of recruiting new employees to replace Moala and Salome. Moala would be able to keep his job and continue to inspire and motivate the other employees who look up to him, and FIJIAN would even be able to promote him as a leader in the future. Salome, on the other hand, would still be able to retain her job and be able to support the church with the income she gets (albeit less than when she stole money). The other employees would benefit as Moala would be there to continue to help them. Lastly, the villagers would not look at FIJIAN as a company that is inconsiderate towards their customs and religious beliefs.

Besides that, the relocation would help Salome to realise that the company gave her a second chance despite of her misconduct. In a way, this would cause Salome a psychological guilt and regret for taking advantage of the company before this. As a result, she would eventually improve both for herself and for FIJIAN.

Implementation

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