Benchmarking

Gap Analysis: Global Communications

Global Communications is a company which for the last three years has been experiencing financial difficulties. Its stock has plunged over 50 percent and stockholders are debating about the company's ability to rebound. The company has developed a new approach to increase its diminishing returns and to reduce costs. The new approach consists of outsourcing company's call centers to India and Ireland. In the process of implementing the new plan, Global Communications must address challenges. Some of the challenges are communicating its strategy to the employees and the union. The company's new strategy will call for downsizing and pay cuts which are bound to shake employee morale within the organization. Its new approach will also affect the current contacts that the company has with the union. Global Communications will need to negotiate with the union and try to create an agreement in order to avoid any government class actions that may be taken against them. The company's goals are logical and present a company with an opportunity with the long term growth but Global Communications must clearly identify all issues and opportunities and convey them to its stakeholders.

The company is developing a new approach to address these issues and create new opportunities for development. Its new strategy is to outsource some of their call centers globally which will reduce their labor costs and give them a chance to establish their global presence. The strategy seem logical, however, the company is facing domestic issues which may impact their decision to outsource. One of the main issues they are faced with is downsizing and keeping the stakeholders satisfied. The company has an opportunity to grow and develop new products but it needs to take care of its current stakeholders. After downsizing, Global Communications will face the remaining employees who will be hard to please. The company took pride in treating their employees well and saying that their competitive advantage comes from employee loyalty but the company is about to step over that statement and let some of them go. It is a great ethical dilemma for both sides: the company and the employees. For some employees the loyalty and dedication will be shattered due to the approach of sharing information. The management team believes that the employees may have heard about their strategy through the grapevine which creates distrust and animosity towards the company. Its new strategy to outsource will need to be carefully designed around the employees that the company is keeping. This situation gives Global Communications an opportunity to create new incentives for employees to stay.

The company needs to take into consideration the stakeholders perspectives and ethical dilemmas. Organizational commitment kept many of the employees working for the Global Communications Company. As stated previously, the company took pride in treating its employees well. However, their job satisfaction is about to be shaken. With the new approach to outsource, employees will face a dilemma of whether they should base their decision on the organizational commitment, continuance commitment, or exit-voice-loyalty-neglect (EVNL) model. Those who decide to stay with the company after downsizing will have to evaluate their commitment to the company and their personal interest. How safe is it to work for the company which just laid off people due to new approaches of expansion? The company may face a decrease in job satisfaction and performance which also leads to customer satisfaction. "Happy employees make happy customers" is a common statement in many industries. Job satisfaction affects the general mood of an employee which consequently transmits to his/her job performance. For those who decide to stay loyal to the organization, one concern is that company's loyalty results in low turnover which limits the company's opportunity to acquire new knowledge and fresh ideas. The union is another great concern for Global Communications. The union sees this move as unethical and feels that Global Communications is a manipulation of the situation which surrounds their current contracts. The company has already taken away major benefits convincing the employees it was necessary for its long term growth. Now, Global Communications faces the union which will not let this issue "slide" with out possible government action.

One of the end state goals should be to increase profitability and reduce its operational costs. To achieve this, Global Communications will need to benchmark the critical elements which add value to their final goals. The company would successfully introduce new products and services which will increase its market confidence and have a positive impact on their stock prices. Another goal would be to bring agreement to their stakeholders. The company's end state will downsize only necessary percentage of labor and