Gap Analysis: Global Communication

Gap Analysis: Global Communications

Changes in the telecommunications industry have made it a very competitive environment where only the most aggressive companies with market advantages can survive. Global Communications has suffered from this competitive environment and needs to come up with strategies to support a change to assist them in becoming profitable again. The executive management team has decided on some significant cost-cutting measures and international marketing strategies that will help them achieve profitability in the near future. Without these strategies, Global Communications will face inability to rebound in the industry. But, such rapid decisions could have negative implications on the company, especially since Global Communications neglected to involve a key stakeholder in the decision making process.

Technologies Workers Union, a stakeholder who represents the technological call center employees, disagrees with Global Communications in their strategic goals, and they believe that there were not fair negotiations. The union considers that by Global Communications becoming a global organization and opening call centers in Ireland and India, jobs in the United States will be eliminated. An ethical debate has arisen because of the societal impacts this could mean to the United States and international markets and the displacement of workers. More importantly, Global Communications needs to reconsider their strategies, get the appropriate and necessary buy-in from all stakeholders, and analyze the outcomes of these strategies to ensure a successful endeavor.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Global Communications faced challenges in the telecommunications industry due to a competitive marketplace where their competition had out placed them by providing more services to fit the changing needs of their clientele. Local, long-distance, and international market telecommunication carriers were all competing for business, and Global Communications soon realized in order to stay profitable, they needed to start by providing combined packages to their customers, and expanding their business ventures globally. At this point Global Communications' stock had depreciated over 50% in three years due to their lack of competitive initiatives, so the executive team wanted to identify opportunities for them to return to profitability. Some of their considerations were to globalize by increasing international marketing efforts and becoming a full-service global company. To decrease operating costs, the company is proposing to relocating some of the technical call centers to India and Ireland reducing call handling costs by 40%, and supporting their vision of being an international corporation.

When Global Communications' senior executive team met to consider the possibilities of returning to profitability, they did not include a key stakeholder, Technologies Workers Union, in their discussions. Having the union involved would have given the executive management team a broader perspective of values (De Janasz & Dowd, 2002, p. 2) before coming to a recommendation to solve their problem. To remedy this oversight, Global Communications can now attempt to negotiate with Technologies Workers Union in order to turn this into a win-win situation where both parties are pleased with the decisions. This may mean that Global Communications goes back to the planning and identifying alternatives stage to shape their decisions. Fortunately, the decisions Global Communications made about moving operations to Ireland and India were not acted upon immediately, and there is time to involve any key stakeholders that were previously missed. They also have the opportunity to enact very clear communication strategies internally and externally once all the involved stakeholders agree on the next steps, and put the correct infrastructure in place to support their initiatives. Communication and infrastructure are key items in the process because the impacts of globalization could impact stateside headcount; creating opportunities in Ireland and India will help support the company's vision of becoming a global leader while reducing labor costs, but the impact could mean job loss in the US market. Gaining the insights and understanding of how Technologies Workers Union views this dilemma will avoid unethical decision making, and ensure Global Communications does not receive bad publicity and unplanned consequences of social impacts domestically and internationally.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

Stakeholder perspective is critical in problem solving, and it could be a fatal error for Global Communications if perspectives and ethical dilemmas are not taken into consideration. Global Communications did make some decisions without all stakeholders involved, but there is time to get stakeholder perspective and negotiate to select the best alternative. The executive team at Global Communications has the business in mind and seeks social responsibility while maintaining integrity and trust of internal stakeholders and investors. They want to communicate with the appropriate persons at the correct time to ensure effective change measures and support.

Ultimately, the executive team has the final vote in the decision, but other stakeholders are responsible for upholding their team values by presenting their viewpoints. Human Resources and Public Relations seek honest and fair treatment for employees -- in which they can succeed by being honest, responsive and respectful by fully communicating at appropriate times. They also have a social responsibility with laws and regulations they must uphold. Sales and Marketing are a key stakeholder in assisting in Global Communications return to profitability by providing innovative, quality solutions that are effective in a global economy while ensuring customer service is par. In the implementation process, Sales and Marketing not only takes accountability for their decisions and output, but holds all others to the same level of accountability. Business Operations also shares some of the same values and interests; making the business profitable and running the operation effectively and efficiently, providing impeccable customer service and upholding organization integrity. Technologies Workers Union is another key stakeholder whose primarily focus on the workers' best interest, protecting them and providing internal and external insight on industry standards. They seek fair, honest treatment for workers in a trustworthy environment. The union must be present in decisions that have impact to their employees so that they are fully represented in the best way. Technologies Workers Union holds