Reference no: EM132900568

1) In March 2009, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) announced the appointment of John M. Rafferty as the organization's new president and CEO. CNIB is a nationwide charity that provides services and support to Canadians who are blind or visually impaired. Rafferty left a lucrative private-sector job to join CNIB. The board of directors justified the decision by announcing that Rafferty is an exceptional business leader with 13 years of national and international experience as a senior executive who has served in numerous leadership positions. However, unlike all his predecessors and every top executive in the 91-year history of CNIB, Rafferty can see. He is CNIB's first "sighted" president and CEO.

His hiring resulted in a complicated debate about identity and employment equity within Canada's diverse blind and visually impaired community. Some people argued that by selecting Rafferty, CNIB has implied that blind Canadians qualified to lead a major organization do not exist. Is it fair that CNIB lobby corporations to hire the blind when it will not do so itself?

a) Discuss the role of perceptions in people's reactions to the hiring of John Rafferty. Use Bruner's model of the perceptual process and social identity theory to explain people's perceptions and reactions.

b) Do you think CNIB should have hired John Rafferty as the organization's new president and CEO, or should they have hired an individual who is blind or visually impaired? Explain your answer, using two relevant concepts you learned in this course. Source: Dale, D. (2009, May 3). Debate stirs over hiring of sighted CNIB head: Board defends choice as critics ask how it can lobby firms to hire blind when it will not do so itself. Toronto Star, A1; Meet the President: John M. Rafferty. www.cnib.ca/en/about/who/president/default.aspx.