Case Study Of Road To Road

Decent Essays
The base of this essay is the case study called ‘ROAD TO HELL’. The case is about the conversation between a chief engineer ‘BAKER’ and a national worker ‘RENNALLS’ in a Bauxite company of Baracania in the West Indies. Baker has travelled to many locations due to his work commitments throughout Europe, Africa and some parts of Asia. With the several work locations, Baker believed he was good with regional staff and different types of cultures. Once he was being promoted to another enterprise which was in Canada, another individual was supposed to replace his position on doing so he selected ‘Rennalls’ and began training him for the task that lay ahead. Rennalls was very well educated and determined with his job, hence seemed to be the perfect …show more content…
But this case is prime example of the exact opposite, on knowing that Rennalls’s culture is way different from his, Baker unknowingly made various mistakes which hurt the sentiments of Rennalls. The conversation started off with Baker appreciating Rennalls technical skill set but further went into stating his only flaw which was “he was favouring his own race and behaving odd with the Europeans in the work place”. What Rennalls should have done at that moment should have cleared his doubt about it instead of keeping quiet, Baker meant it as an improvement focus and not as a racial statement. Baker could have worded it another way maybe to avoid the miscommunication caused by the statement. The other statement which put Rennalls uncomfortable was the one wherein Baker passes a comment regarding the experience of business of Baracannian having 50 to 60 years compared to Europe with 200 to 300 years. Baker meant it as a compliment wherein he explains that Rennalls is helping his nation to move faster and efficient but it was misunderstood for an insult. The tone at which Baker spoke to Rennalls also should have adjusted …show more content…
Once answering the quarry, I had used international management theories to explain the situation. Firstly, I have used the attribution theory which is when a group of individuals’ behaviours are adjusted according to the situations put towards them. I have applied the theory in the case as it clearly states that Rennalls held back when he was offended and Baker kept on talking about his culture and way of conducting things. We need to realise that two people from different cultures cannot share a common ground initially, they need to meet at a point where they understand each other, in this scenario Baker could have been a little more sensitive while talking about Rennalls about the business experience of the country. The second aspect I have used is ‘cultural synergy’, it is when a group of individuals come together for a common goal. In the case study both the lead individuals have synergy at work due to their engineering skill sets and humour. This common synergy between the two was ended due to the cultural pride which came in between them. Baker shows his pride by talking about his countries superiority in business knowledge, but Rennalls pride set in because of his deeply rooted cultural and nation driven

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