Beyond Massa

The book entitled “Beyond Massa - Sugar Management in the British Caribbean, 1770-1834” written by Dr. John F. Campbell seeks to examine the workings of the plantation life of both the enslaved and the European whites who were known as masters. It delves deeper into the truth about slavery and revisionism, as this book contradicts many past events and judgements on slavery with supporting evidence. Dr. Campbell focused on the British Controlled Caribbean territory of Jamaica and specifically on the Golden Grove plantation which was owned by Chaloner Arcedekne, an absentee owner and managed by his close friend, Simon Taylor. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, difficulties faced by masters on the sugar plantations and the social relationships which formed between the enslaved people and their masters were accentuated in “Beyond Massa.” The major areas of research and discussion about the sugar plantations during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were Human Resource Management practices, the role of women, the enslaved elite and the centre of power and power centre.

Human Resource Management (HRM) was dominant within the sugar estates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Although this term was recently developed around the mid 80’s, as historians conducted further research into sugar estates, there has been evidence which proves that Human Resource Management was in fact prevalent on the sugar estates. “By the 1980’s, HRM meant an approach to the management of people at work with an emphasis on performance, workers’ commitment and rewards based on individual or team contribution” (Henderson).1 The term Human Resource Management “refers to the design and application of formal systems in an organization to ensure the effective and efficient use of human talent to

________________

1 Iain Henderson. Human Resource Management for MBA Students Second Edition. United Kingdom: CIPD, 2011.

accomplish organizational goals” (Daft 307).2 Simon...