' What are the root causes that have led to this condition? What perceptual errors have occurred and who caused them? Among other possible perceptual errors, did any stereotyping occur? . Has there been discrimination against Elena? Explain. ADVENTURE BOATS Case Assignment Kurt Wetzel was very happy with the latest sales numbers. The Vice-President of Marketing at Adventure Boats, a large Canadian manufacturer and distributor of recreational boats, accessories and supplies, was pleased to see that the marketing campaign to improve sales of the company's products was working. Sales volume and market share of the products had increased signicantly over the past year compared to the previous year. The improved sales of the company products could be credited to Elena Perez, who was assigned responsibility for the products last year. Perez had joined Adventure Boats less than two years ago as an assistant brand manager after leaving a similar job with another boating company. She was one of the few non- white women in marketing management at Adventure Boats and had a promising career with the company. Kurt Wetzel was pleased with Elena's work and planned to let her know this in the annual performance review. He now had an excellent opportunity to reward her by offering her the recently vacated position of marketing research coordinator. Although technically only a lateral transfer with a modest salary increase, the marketing research coordinator job would give Perez broader experience in some hi ghprofile work, which would enhance her career in the company. Few people were aware that Kurt Wetzel's own career had been boosted by working as marketing research coordinator at Adventure Boats several years earlier. Elena Perez had also seen the latest sales gures and was expecting Wetzel's call to set up a meeting that morning. Wetzel began the conversation by briey mentioning the favourable sales figures, and then explained that he wanted Elena to take the marketing research coordinator job. Elena was shocked by the news. She enjoyed brand management and particularly the challenge involved with controlling a product that directly affected the company's protability. Marketing research coordinator was a technical support position-a \"backroom\" job- far removed from the company's bottom-line activities. Marketing research was not the route to top management in most organizations, thought Perez. She felt she had been sidelined. After a long silence, Elena managed a weak, \"Thank you Mr. Wetzel.\" She was too bewildered to protest. She wanted to collect her thoughts and reect on what she had done wrong. Also, she did not know her boss well enough to be openly critical. Wetzel recognized Perez's surprise, which he assumed was her positive response to hearing of this wonderful career opportunity. He, too, had been delighted several years earlier about his temporary transfer to marketing research to round out his marketing experience. \"This move will be good for both you and Adventure Boats, \"said Wetzel, as he escorted Perez from his office. Elena was preoccupied with several tasks that afternoon, but was able to consider the day's events that evening. She was one of the top women and minorities in brand management at Adventure Boats and feared that she was being sidelined because the company didn't want women or non-white people in top management. Her previous employer had made it quite clear that women \"couldn't take the heat\" in marketing management and tended to place them in technical support positions after a brief term in lower brand management jobs. Obviously, Kurt Wetzel and Adventure Boats were following the same game plan. Wetzel's comments that the coordinatorjob would be good for her was just a nice way of saying that Elena couldn't go any further in brand management at Adventure Boats. Elena Perez now faced a difficult decision of whether to confront Wetzel and try to change the company's sexist and even racist practices or leave the company