Ethnocentric

Ethnocentrism is when one judges another culture by the standards of their own culture (Cherry, 2014). Prejudice is when one has a preconceived opinion for which there is no factual or experiential basis. In this case, the department head is being prejudiced. His decision is based on assumptions that he is making about the friend, in particular that he is lazy. This is a notion about Jamaicans that exists mostly because of impressions people have of their culture, most of which come from entertainment -- the rasta stereotype -- or from people's vacations at the beach.

The point about the accent being difficult to understand might sound like ethnocentrism, but this is more of a smokescreen than a genuine complaint. It is a feeble excuse to rule somebody out of a position for which they are otherwise qualified, and that comes down to prejudice, not a genuine concern over communication -- I doubt someone from Glasgow would get the same excuse even though they are equally incomprehensible. I might tell my friend what I was told -- of course I would pass along this information. He might not be able to do anything about it unless those excuses are in writing, however. I would also escalate this. The senior managers want what is best for the company, which means hiring the most qualified people. When a manager is not doing this, and is in the process exposing the company to legal action under the Civil Rights Act, senior management needs to be aware of this.

I actually do have experiences in this area, with a Jamaican. I had a boss who took essentially this same approach with a Jamaican girl who was the most qualified candidate. The smokescreen that time was that the customers would not respond well to a Jamaican voice on the phone, and it was a phone marketing job. This was probably true, knowing the customer base, and we had other good candidates, so I did nothing. But at the end of the day, that lady did not get a fair shake at the job, and I still remember that incident whenever the subject comes up, because I know the whole thing went down wrong.

References

Cherry, K. (2014). What is ethnocentrism? About.com. Retrieved May 6, 2014 from http://psychology.about.com/od/eindex/fl/What-Is-Ethnocentrism.htm