THE ROAD TO HELL - Gareth Evans

Section Y Group 2
U112100 R.S.Girish U112101 Rahul Nayak U112102 Ramya N U112103 Rishabh Goel U112104 S.Subramanian U112105 - Saisha Shukla U112106 - Samikhya Joshi U112211 BES Lou

Cast of Characters
John Baker

Chief Engineer of the Caribbean Bauxite Company of Barracania in the West Indies Promoted as Production Manager of Keso Mining Corporation near Winnipeg one of Continental Oress fast expanding Canadian Enterprises English Expatriate, 45 years old, served 23 years with Continental Ore in East Asia, Several African countries, Europe and the West Indies for the last two years Preferred working overseas especially in Developing Countries as he felt he had an innate knack of knowing how to get along with the regional staff

Cast of Characters
Matthew Rennalls
Assistant Engineer of the Caribbean Bauxite Company of Barracania in the West Indies Education from London University with first class honors in the BSc Engineering Degree. One of the brightest Barracanian prospects on the staff of Caribbean Bauxite Son of the minister of finance and economic planning Good political pull Racially Conscious person His four years at London University had accentuated this feeling and made him sensitive to any sign of condescension on the part of expatriates Wanted to serve his country by putting his engineering talent to the best use possible as Bauxite was responsible for Barracanias Export Trade

Problem Summary
John Baker was promoted as Production Manager and was about to leave Barracania for Winnipeg

Matthew Rennalls was selected as the successor to John Baker at Barracania

John Baker had a final interview with Rennalls where he discussed Rennalls technical skills, his rapport with Europeans and the complaint from Jackson about Rannell being rude to him
He also discussed about how Rannell had bridged the gap of working in a commercial environment successfully in 50 or 60 years whereas John and fellow Europeans were in the environment for 200 or 300 years

Rannell felt ashamed and betrayed and he also felt he was insulted by John racially and he submitted his resignation letter the following morning

Theory Critical Race Theory

The comments made by John Baker were RACIST as Unintentional and unconscious motivations for behavior are as powerful as intentional and conscious behavior . The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions
The basic CRT model has five elements. They are: 1. The central nature of race and racism 2. A challenge to dominant ideology 3. A commitment to social justice 4. The central nature of knowledge that comes from experience 5. An interdisciplinary perspective (Solorzano, et al, 2000) CRT forms the base of the case. This can be observed through the following points:

1. 2.

3.
4.

5.

The main reason for resignation was racism. The resignation letter of Rennalls is a challenge to the dominant corporate nature of Caribbean bauxite company. He was related to the political party and bauxite was important to countrys progress which had recently become independent. Rennalls is committed to social justice. This can be confirmed because he thought that working for an industry would help him serve his country better than be in politics. Rennalls resignation letter emphasizes on centrality of knowledge from experience. The resignation letter doesn't have any theories or conclusions attached but shows a direct, personal, real-life conflict between two people The case brings out a number of interdisciplinary issues

Theory Critical Race Theory

In CRT the central theme is race and it takes four dimensions: 1. It has micro and macro elements 2. It has institutional and individual forms 3. It has conscious and unconscious elements 4. It has a cumulative impact on both an individual and groups (Solorzano & Yosso, 2001) The case matches to all the four dimensions: Firstly the issues between the two persons Baker and Rennalls is very clear and serves the micro elements.Also if you take the macro perspective we can see that Baccracania is a former colony and Baker was from a commonwealth country As both of them work for the same organizational they work in a group (institutional form)as well as add an individual effort to it Conscious and unconscious state of being affected by racism can be inferred because Baker consciously accuses Rennalls of racism and Rennalls attitude to racism has been brought to a conscious level after he stayed at London Rennalls resignation was a cumulative effect of the result of the racial slur that was charged against him by Baker

1. 2. 3. 4.

Therefore all four dimensions of the CRT emphasis on the centrality of race are present in the case study .

Options
Hive apologizes to Rennalls and Invites him back to the company Advantages: Rennalls can influence the policy of the company. Disadvantages: Rennalls has differences with the staff causing negative emotions.

To find another candidate for Rennalls place Advantages: Taking a Barracanian substitute can solve the problem. Disadvantages: Loose a irreplaceable specialist Because of Fathers position company may have to face difficulties

Options
To try to talk to Rennalls and invite him back to the company by persuading that company needs him. Advantages: Rennalls is a good worker and he understands the aspects of his job Disadvantages: The problem of negative emotions may still persist.

Recommendations
To find another substitute for Rennalls place

Plan of Action To invite Rennalls to talk Find out the problem Explain further cooperation is not possible Give Rennalls further time to write his official resignation Find a substitute for his place