1.

0 Summary

John Baker, an Englishman is a chief engineer of the Caribbean Bauxite of

Barracania in the West Indies, preferred working overseas because of he
had an innate knack and experience in understanding a regional staffs
psychology to know how to get along with the regional staff. He was given
an assessment interview of his position within one month because he was
being promoted to a new position as production manager of Keso Mining
Corporation. He did his final task by an interview with the successor,
young Barracanian Matthew Rennalls.

Matthew Rennals, the son of the Minister of Finance and Economic

Planning had a lot of political pull, was studied at London University had
taken first-class honors in the BSs engineering degree. He was one of the
brightest Barracanian prospects on the staff of Caribbean Bauxite.
Rennalls was sensitive towards political, racial and equality issues
involving relations between his culture and western influence. John Baker
had served 23 years with Continental Ore in East Asia, several African
countries, Europe and the West Indies and promote this young man as his
successor.

John Baker had tried to know the background of Rennalls, four years of his
studies at London University had accentuated racial consciousness and
made him sensitive to any sign of condescension on the part of
expatriates. He acted as ambitious and did not lie in politic manners
because staunch nationalist by serving his country was the best as well.

The company had been particularly pleased when Rennalls decided to

work for it rather than the government in which his father had such a
prominent post. Jackson, the senior draftsperson, had reported that
Rennalls had been rude towards him. With this thought in mind to solve
the complaint, Baker leaned forward and request Rennalls to come to the
room to begin a final chat between them before he will off to Canada in a
few days time. Baker noticed that he is friendly and get on better with his
fellow Barracanians than he does with Europeans. Baker gives him the
suggestion that it will be necessary to get on well with expatriates
because until the company trained sufficient people of his caliber,

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Europeans are bound to occupy senior positions in Barracania. These
prompt the superiority and extraordinary of the Europeans to possess the
positions.

John Baker told Rennalls by criticizing his people do not own as much
experience in the commercial trade as the Europeans or Americans do as
excellent. Rennalls thought that John Baker tried to insult him without
consideration the character sketch of Rennalls. John Bakers objective was
to have a smooth transition for his replacement of his position with
harmonious workplace culture of dignity. This was a threat more than a
friendly reminder from Baker.

To return the plus and minus technique, John Baker congratulated him on
the caliber of the work and the ability to overcome a challenge which
never had to meet as a European. The interview had run along in friendly
manner and ended on such a cheerful note. In the next morning, Rennalls
passed a vital letter to Bakers secretary and dictating that must be sent
off without any delay. At the end, Matthew Rennalls requests John Baker to
accept his resignation.

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2.0 Problems, Symptoms and Problem Statement

2.1 List of Problems

2.1.1 Miscommunication and lack of trust between John Baker and

Rennalls. There was some misunderstanding between both of them before
the disputation happened on them. The inconsistency in the interpersonal
communication when John Baker is oversensitive that Rennalls unable to
get along well with the European expatriates as well. This
miscommunication appears when the senior draftsperson, Jackson, had
reported the rudeness of Rennalls towards him.

2.1.2 The problem is Rennalls had a deep root of racial consciousness

towards any sign of condescension on the part of expatriates meanwhile
John Baker less sensitive to his working environment. Baker noticed that
he is friendly and get on better with his fellow Barracanians than he does
with Europeans. During the interview session, Baker reminded him there
was a necessary to get on well with expatriates because until the
company trained sufficient people of his caliber, Europeans are bound to
occupy senior positions in Barracania. These prompt the superiority and
extraordinary of the Europeans to possess the positions.

2.1.3 The problem is the perceptual process between Matt Rennalls and
John Baker result in errors of judgment. My ancestors have all been
brought up in this environment for the past 200 or 300 years, and I have,
therefore been able to live in a world in which commerce has been part
and parcel of my being. It has not been something revolutionary and new
that has suddenly entered my life. In your case, the situation is different,
because you and your forebears have had only some 50 or 60 years in this
commercial environment John Baker stated to Matt Rennalls.

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They should never associate present behaviors of a person with the past
actions of a group of descendants. Rennalls and Baker failed to create a
good impression between them and the dispute happened. These
consistent perpetual errors committed by John Baker and Matt Rennalls
failed in encountering circumstances of working environment.

2.2 Problem Statement

In my opinion, the main cause of the problem is a racial problem

between an American and West European company in West Indies.
Matthew Rennalls, the son of the Minister of Finance and Economic
Planning, four year studies at London University had taken first-class
honors in the BSs engineering degree. Rennalls had a deep racial
consciousness because of his family background and political
involvements. These involvements make him more sensitive towards
political, racial and equality issues involving relations between his culture
and western influence. John Baker told Rennalls by criticizing his people do
not own as much experience in the commercial trade as the Europeans or
Americans do as excellent. Rennalls thought that John Baker tried to insult
him without consideration the character sketch of Rennalls.

3.0 Alternative Strategies

3.1 Apologize to Rennalls by sending a letter

An apology on behalf of the company is deserved and it would be in the

companys best interest to see if they can retain Rennalls for the Chief
Engineer position. Therefore, John Baker has to apologize by writing a
letter to Rennalls. John Baker should invite Rennalls back to the company
as the company could not lose a potential worker. John Baker needs to
persuade him to return to the company and trying to explain the
miscommunication that occurs between John Baker and Rennalls. John
Baker has to explain that he was no intention to insult but Europeans are
being direct and no hidden word. He has to apologize for the harsh feeling
that might be brought to Rennalls.

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3.2 Cultural diversity training

John Bakers manager or someone from the diversity team needs to have
a conversation with John Baker regarding the inappropriate nature and
comments made during his discussion with Rennalls. It is important that
his behavior changes immediately before it further impacts the
organization in the long term. Therefore, the company could have cultural
diversity training and awareness forum for management. Diversity
management refers to the voluntary organizational actions that are
designed to create greater inclusion of employees from various
backgrounds into the formal and informal organizational structures
through deliberate policies and programs.

3.3 Apologize to Rennalls 's father by sending a letter

It is important that someone reach out to Rennalls and see if they can
rectify the situation. By doing this, John Baker can write a letter to the
father of Rennalls, the minister of finance and economic planning in order
to make himself understood that there was no intention to insult his son
and the different of culture between Europeans and Barracanians was the
main problem of miscommunication happening. John Baker explain his
true intention in conversation when he emphasized a lot on European
employees being more experienced does not mean that he was insulting
Rennalls but positive compliments. Thus, father of Rennalls has to
persuade his son to return back to the company and reconsider for the
resignation as his father can provide some useful advice to his son.

3.4 Face to face meeting

John Baker should make an extraordinary meeting on the same day with
Rennalls and explain in a diplomatic way what he adopts the plus and
minus strategy in order to evolve to a higher competitive standard. John
Baker attempt to clarify the miscommunication that occurred and tells
Rennalls that he was not intentionally behaving as a racist but an old
saying stays true the road to hell is paved with good intention. Thereby
ensuring Rennalls that although he was insulted it was not his intention
and he would be more thoughtful about the comments he makes in the
future. This would clarify and correct the miscommunication that occurred.

4.0 Evaluation of alternative strategies

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4.1 List of possible positive and negative outcomes

4.1.1 Apologize to Rennalls by sending a letter

The possible positive outcome from apologies to Rennalls by sending him

a letter strategies is Rennalls might realize that he misunderstanding John
Baker after reading the letter send by John Baker. Also, sending Rennalls a
letter will also show that John Baker is sincerity and willing to solve this
misunderstanding. Besides, this strategy also may help the company to
earn back a skillful and talented chief if success. However, there are still a
few of disadvantages by using this strategy. As an example, there will be
a possibility of having a short deny letter or not having an answer at all.
On the other hand, the weakness of sending a letter which is could not see
the real reaction face to face also will become another disadvantage.

4.1.2 Cultural diversity training

The positive for this approach is the company will get long run benefits
from cultural diversity training such as provides the knowledge, skills, and
tools to assist team members for behaving differently. Also, if the case
similar with Rennalls and John Maker happen again in future it will also
become more easily for the employees to handle it.

The negative for this approach is John Bakers company, Caribbean

Bauxite Company will face the loss of elite such as Rennalls. Besides, John
Baker decision to leave the island will also have to cancel since there is no
one to replace his position. Therefore, John Baker had to continue to stay
until a new candidate is found. The image of the company will also be
affected if this case is widely spread in local. The negative words exist
such as racist, arrogant and so on will be linked with Caribbean Bauxite
Company.

4.1.3 Apologize to Rennalls 's father by sending a letter

By using this approach, there will be some positive such as Rennalls s

father would understand the situation and further explain and discuss with
his son, Rennalls. The man in anger will lose his rationality, that is why
John Baker should send the letter to Rennalls s father instead of Rennalls
himself. Also, Rennalls had already discussed this matter with his father,
therefore it is necessary to let Rennalls and his father know about it is only

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a misunderstanding and miscommunication. However, the negative such
as the letter is being denied or not answering at all also might happen.
Besides, there will be a probability of Rennallss father will further
misunderstand John Baker since there was different in culture between
Europeans and Barracanians. Also, writing a letter also consider as a weak
communication method compared to face to face communication.

4.1.4 Face to face meeting

The positive of face to face meeting is two-way communication is existing

and it is very effective to solve a dispute or misunderstand between
Rennalls and John Baker. Besides, both party also can identify the reaction
of others and this could not reach when it comes to writing a letter. Also,
face to face communication also provides the instant replies effect that
writing a letter could not reach. Without the instant replies from both
parties, the situation will be worse. The negative of face to face meeting
is there will be a quarrel between two parties if there is no unanimous
conclusion or expected results and this will lead to completely break off
relationship between two parties.

5.0 The best strategy and justification

The best solution for Baker to solve this issue is for him to take the
initiative to conduct a meeting with Matt Rennalls on the same day to
explain the misunderstanding in a diplomatic manner. Baker should
explain the reason he had adopted the plus and minus strategy was to
train Rennalls to evolve to a higher competitive standard.

The best solution is more effective as compared to writing a letter to

Rennalls father. Writing a letter to a third party instead of dealing directly
with Rennalls offers little viability. By choosing the optimal solution, both
parties would have to work together directly and learn about the needs
and customs of each other. This would allow them to have a better
understanding of their different cultures. Therefore, by developing the
understanding, this will raise the cultural awareness among Baker, an
expatriate, and Rennalls, who represents the Barracanians. Besides
solving the miscommunication and effects that exist between them, this
solution will also solve future dissensions.

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 Moreover, the best solution also has a better advantage as
compared to solutions whereby Baker chooses to send letters instead.
Even though sending a letter to explain himself offers a diplomatic
resolution of the conflict between Baker and Rennalls due to cultural
differences, however, it may still worsen the conflict if the words were
written does not translate the real meaning when it is read by Rennalls. As
the Barracanians have high context communication compared to Baker
from the UK which has low context communication, Rennalls might
mistake the written letter for having hidden meanings even when there is
none implied. Sending letters also takes longer time and the problem will
not be solved in real time. Rennalls might ignore and not reply the letter
which does not lead to resolution of the problem. However, the best
solution would be better as a face-to-face meeting allows both parties to
explain and respond in a real-time manner. The chances of
miscommunication are less through direct communication as the message
can be delivered clearly to the other party. This solution offers a higher
chance of a reply from Rennalls and provides resolution of the problem as
well as dissolution for future related problems.

6.0 Implementation
6.1 Short term Implementation
In the short-term implementation, a new meeting between Baker
and Rennalls is mandatory in order to get Rennalls to change his mind
regarding his resignation. To resolve this, it can only be possible if Baker
initiates the situation by explaining to Rennalls that he did not mean to
offend him or any Barracanian and their culture.

The first step Baker should take is to send an official letter to apologize
and request Rennalls to come for the meeting in order to clarify the
matter. In order to not make and further misunderstandings, Baker should
be very careful when preparing the letter. He should ensure himself to
choose his words wisely, showing Rennalls that he respects the
Barracanians and does not mean to offend Rennalls. Baker should show a
willingness to put behind him all the harsh words said by Rennalls in his
resignation letter. Besides that, Baker should also ask Rennalls if he would
like to have the option to meet with the senior draftsman, Jackson, in order

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to discuss their problems. Another senior member of the company should
be present in order to regulate the meeting and prevent any further
misunderstandings from occurring during the meeting. The regulator
should be on neutral standing and should not choose to take sides to
ensure that both parties are equal.

During the meeting, Baker should take a different approach

compared to the initial approach. Baker should assure Rennalls that they
have a good work relationship by not being too formal. Next, Baker should
explain the plus and minus technique he had used previously was a
compliment and not an insult as interpreted by Rennalls. As Rennalls has a
strong nationalistic drive, Baker should have emphasized on the benefits
implied by Rennalls promotion for the entire nation rather than his own.
After the resolution achieved from the meeting and a better emotional
connection is formed, Baker should encourage Rennalls to continue to
work for the company.

6.2 Long Term Implementation

For the long-term implementation, as Caribbean Bauxite is eager to

promote Barracanians to senior positions, therefore the company should
try to break the cultural difference between the Europeans and the
Barracanians. European employees like Baker should be given cultural
diversity training so that they can have an understanding of the local
culture in Barracania. This would ensure that European senior managers
have more experience in knowing the appropriate way to handle the
employees without causing offense due to differences in culture. To
overcome the cultural barriers, the company can organize team bonding
activities on weekends such as sports day and company parties. This can
foster relationships between employees outside of the workplace which
might be too formal. The relationship between employees have a huge
impact on the companys atmosphere, therefore good relationships lead to
a better atmosphere. At the same time, the companys productivity is
more efficient and companys reputation is better. Therefore, in the long
term, the company should take responsibility to foster good relationships
and cultural understanding to prevent misunderstandings that arise from
communication style differences.

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