How does culture affect Baker's sense of who he is?
The case on the “Road to Hell” primarily focuses on the interaction between John Baker, an expatriate chief engineer and Matt Rennalls one of the crucial staffs of the Caribbean Bauxite Company. John is expected to interview his successor Matt Rennalls though the entire process goes all sour without the knowledge of John. Baker was an English expatriate and had worked in several companies in most parts of the world for more than 20 years. Thus, he is entirely an experienced worker in his line of work mainly with interacting with other people from different cultures. In fact, he considers himself to have an innate knack in this area. Nevertheless, his subconscious culture of prejudice blinded his intent of pushing his point further. He continually builds his interview from a personal as well as European point of view. John is unconsciously a racist though he would be shocked by such a conclusion since he unintentionally offended Matt.
How his cultural expectations could impact his interactions in an upcoming meeting with Rennalls?
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Having had an interview two years ago with Hutchins, the company’s production manager, Baker must have had several expectations from Matt since the subject concerned Matt. First, he knew Matt had a racial consciousness that he had developed while studying at London University. The feeling had accentuated over the years and made him quite sensitive to any form of condescension. Baker also knew Rennall’s political views as well as the fact that Matt was entirely intolerant to discrimination of his people in the global arena. Having understood this, Matt could have avoided building the interview session from a personal or European point of view. Unfortunately, Baker provided some personal and historical instances that were quite offensive to Matt in the effort of teaching him to better the firm with his leadership. He should not have regarded Barracanians as inferior to the European culture as much as it was unintentional. Consequently, the interview would not have been horrible to the extent of not only losing a key employee to the corporate but also tarnishing the company's brand.
How did Baker’s values affect his managerial decisions and communication style?
John Baker is quite a reflective individual. In fact, the case study begins with him gazing through the window deep in thoughts considering what to address in his interview with Matt precisely. Probably, this would have some somehow subjected him to pressure and consequently being blinded to making irrelevant and offensive statements. Additionally, John was a committed staff of the corporation. Baker had even analyzed Matt and was well informed of his background. For a fact, Baker knew Matt was sensitive to patronizing comments against his people. Apparently, Baker significantly focused on task orientation that this subsequently cut his sight towards the “diversity factor" of considering the other person's opinions as well as feeling. Consequently, this negatively affected his decisions as a leader. His communication style was ineffective as the message he conveyed was perceived as irrational and quite paradoxical coming from such a position in a reputable firm. The miscommunication resulted in Matt resigning the job before even starting.
What are the different levels of culture and how values and norms of each may have impacted Rennalls decision to resign?
Culture includes six levels whereby the national level entails focusing on awareness of cultural dynamics and patterns by one’s country. Upon reflection, Matt felt offended and insulted through baker's commentaries and in turns thinks that through him, all Barracanians were insulted. The regional level deals with the aspects of one’s linguistic affiliation and religion. Matt believes that the Barracanians’ spiritual values are of high value compared to the European history. Gender, on the other hand, comprises of the dimensions of whether one is a male or female. As a man, both Matt’s and his father’s ego is greatly hurt and hence this further fuels the need to resign. Generational level involves aspects of one’s lineage form grandparents’, parents and then to children. Baker insults Matt as he undermines Matt’s historical lineage by regarding them as “just down from the trees.” Social class entails the three socioeconomic statuses which comprise of the wealthy, middle class and poor backgrounds. Matt regards himself and his entire Barracania community as poor when Baker regards them as unable to catch up with the modern society. Finally, organizational deals with cultural dynamics encountered within an organization. Matt firmly believes that any corporation with a senior employee thinking like Baker is no place for any Barracanian finding pride in one’s culture.
