Road to Hell
Description of the Case
The case “Road to Hell” by Gareth Evans is a story of two characters with different backgrounds, personalities and points of view and how these two characters interact. John Baker is a successful western chief engineer of the Barracania’s branch of a multinational company. In the case it is mentioned that John Baker is an English expatriate, so we assume that he is white, possibly born in Canada.
Baker thinks he has an edge in working in a foreign country because he has experience in understanding a regional staff’s psychology and knowing exactly how to get along with locals. 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 new generation of patriotic, well-educated Barracania’s professionals. His four years as a student at London University made him especially sensitive to political, racial and equality issues involving relations between his culture and western influence.
The last meeting between two case characters ended up in a disaster. Instead of accepting the chief engineer position, Matt turns in his resignation, insulted by John’s farewell interview and advice. This incident not only leaves Baker puzzled about what he might have said wrong, but also puts the future of the company’s relations with its regional staff and authorities in jeopardy.
Diagnosis
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.
Baker knew a lot about Matt's political views, racial issues sensitivity and intolerance to any discrimination of value of his country and people in the world arena. However, he still made a mistake building his interview from his own (European) perspective. Baker gave some
The case “Road to Hell” by Gareth Evans is a story of two characters with different backgrounds, personalities and points of view and how these two characters interact. John Baker is a successful western chief engineer of the Barracania’s branch of a multinational company. In the case it is mentioned that John Baker is an English expatriate, so we assume that he is white, possibly born in Canada.
Baker thinks he has an edge in working in a foreign country because he has experience in understanding a regional staff’s psychology and knowing exactly how to get along with locals. 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 new generation of patriotic, well-educated Barracania’s professionals. His four years as a student at London University made him especially sensitive to political, racial and equality issues involving relations between his culture and western influence.
The last meeting between two case characters ended up in a disaster. Instead of accepting the chief engineer position, Matt turns in his resignation, insulted by John’s farewell interview and advice. This incident not only leaves Baker puzzled about what he might have said wrong, but also puts the future of the company’s relations with its regional staff and authorities in jeopardy.
Diagnosis
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.
Baker knew a lot about Matt's political views, racial issues sensitivity and intolerance to any discrimination of value of his country and people in the world arena. However, he still made a mistake building his interview from his own (European) perspective. Baker gave some