Caribbean Bauxite

The The case case “Roa “Road d to Hell Hell”” by Gare Gareth th Evan Evanss is a stor story y of two two char charac acte ters rs with with diff differ eren entt  backgrounds, personalities and points of view an d how these two characters interact. John Baker John Baker is a successful western chief engineer of the Barracania’s branch of a multinational company. In the case it is is mentioned that John Baker is an English English expatriate, so we assume that that he is white, possibly born in Canada. Baker thinks he has an edge ed ge in working in a foreign country  because  because he has experience in understandi understanding ng a regional regional staff’s psychology psychology and knowing knowing exactly exactly how to get along with locals. Matthew Rennalls Baker has been working to prepare Matt Rennalls to be his successor in the chief engineer’s  position. Rennalls, on the other hand, is a young engineer who represents the the new generation of    patriotic patriotic,, well-educat well-educated ed Barracania’ Barracania’ss professiona professionals. ls. His four years as a student student at London Univer Universit sity y made made him especi especiall ally y sensit sensitive ive to politi political cal,, racial racial and equalit equality y issue issuess involv involving ing relations between his culture and western influence. Caribbean Bauxite Caribbean Bauxite Company Limited of Barracania, is one of the leading b auxite exporters in the West Indies. The company is vastly diverse and has the most Barracanian middle managers of all foreign companies operating in Barracania. However, Europeans still occupy (to hold, fill) the top managerial positions in the company. The Meeting John John baker baker call callss a meet meetin ing g with with Renna Rennall llss due due to the the Jack Jackso son, n, the the seni senior or draf drafts tsma man, n, who who complained about the rudeness of Rennalls.

During the meeting he insults Rennalls by saying that his people do not have as much experience in commerce as the europeans and the americans do. The mistake John made was comparing the Barracanians experience to the European experience. He still made a mistake mistake building his interview from from his own (European) perspective. perspective. Baker gave some some histor historica icall and person personal al sugges suggestio tions ns that that “My ancestor ancestorss have been brought brought up in this this environment environment for the past 200 or 300 years, and I have, therefore, therefore, been able to live in a world in which commerce (as we know it today) has been part and parcel of my being... In your case, the situation is different, because you and your forebears have had only some 50 or 60 years in this commercial environment. You have had to face the challenge of bridging the gap between 50 and 200 or 300 years. These suggestions suggestions given by baker were not meant to be offensive. offensive. However, However, from from Matt's point of view, the suggestions suggestions were totally totally inappropriate. inappropriate. Through Through the interview, interview, Baker emphasized emphasized several times the importance and leading position of European staff in the company. This meeting between two case characters ended up in a disaster. disaster. Instead of accepting the chief  engineer position, Matt turns in his resignation, insulted by John’s.

The main problem of this enterprise is that it is an American and west European company in an west Indies region. The racial problem is obvious. Due to various cultural differences between the Barracanian and the Europeans employees racial {separation of different kinds of humans (like black and white people)} tension is always present in the working environment. Despite the fact that the company has more Barracanian managers than Europeans, some Barracaians feel that the company has unjust (lacking in justice) partiality (favoritism) towards the Europeans. This case is one of many examples of how people from different cultures and backgrounds do not take diversity into consideration. They evaluate and measure each other by their own scales and perceptions, which often lead to serious misunderstanding and conflicts. World’s societies have made substantial progress in eliminating racism from both community and work place, multiple surveys show that racism is still a serious issue. For instance, the  public opinion poll by Gallup Organization revealed that 50% of surveyed believe that racial minorities in US don’t have equal job opportunities with non-Hispanic whites (Gallup Organization, 2001). Another survey by Harris Interactive reports 51% surveyed think that minorities have too little power influencing government policy, politicians and policy makers in Washington (Harris Interactive, 2001). Problems: Racism (Culture differences) Unfair Labor Practices according to Europeans

Causes: Ignorance, brainwashing, upbringing, negative experiences with individuals of a given race, negative images portrayed in media and societal stereotypes, separation, hate, lack of  education, distorted thinking, fear....  Effects: judgment, slurs, violence, hate crimes, death, inequality, inhumanity, discrimination, derogation, exaltation, miscommunication, misunderstanding, prejudice (unfairness), conflict, degradation, individualization, dehumanization, confirmation bias, bigotry, intolerance...

Preventions of Racism and Unfair Labor Practices are: 1. Equal Employee Opportunity Discrimination is prohibited in such employment practices as recruitment, rates of pay, upgrading, layoff, promotion, and selection for training. Employers may not make distinctions based on race, color, religion, sex. 2. Respecting Differences and Working Together Awareness of cultural differences and recognizing where cultural differences are at work  is the first step toward understanding each other and establishing a positive working

environment. Use these differences to challenge your own assumptions about the "right" way of doing things and as a chance to learn new ways to solve problems. 3. Building Trust Across Cultural Boundaries Research indicates that there is a strong correlation be tween components of trust such as communication effectiveness, conflict management, understanding and productivity. Cultural differences play a key role in the creation of trust, since trust is built in different ways, and means different things in different cultures.

4. Change the behavior to reduce racism: Change in behavior mean we must understand the different culture and environment exist in organization. We must understand how individuals relate to and participate in groups, how leadership is exercised, how organizations function, and how change is effected in organizational settings.

Change the behavior is not only important for the organization but it also play a vital role in the society. To prevent the racism, firstly we need to minimize the racism in our society. Racism is not our natural state. No child is born racist. It is a result of misinformation. I feel that the only way that racism can be eliminated is to start with ourselves. It begins at home with our parents and our families. We are not born with prejudice; it is something that is taught. From there, it goes to our schools. We should try to be more understanding of our classmates and even our teachers. It doesn't matter what race or color we are, or even the language we speak. What matters is what we have in common. People should be judged on what is in the inside, not what is on the outside. It starts with me.