Gap Analysis - Global Communications

Gap Analysis: Global Communications

Global Communications, a telecommunication company, based in the United States of America (USA), was facing tremendous economic pressure due to high competition from the local, long-distance and international markets, which attributed to the stock value depreciation.

In order to overcome the situation, Global Communications senior management developed aggressive approaches to compete in the market by introducing new services, partnering with a wireless provider and adapted various cost-cutting measures that can increase profits. To step up their globalization strategy, senior management had proposed outsourcing some of their call centers to India and Ireland with a business case of showing that those countries have higher technical sophistication, and the handing cost can be reduced by 40%.

To senior management’s surprise, President and the board have approved the plan quickly, without taking much time for the decision. The senior management was happy with the quick turnaround from the board and are in the process of setting up plans to implement the decision.

This document will look closely analyze various issues faced by Global Communications, the way the management handled the crisis and identify problems as opportunities for improvement while trying to solve the problems, the stakeholders who are affected along with their interests, rights and values, and a gap analysis between the current state and the end-state vision.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Effective Decision Making: Global Communications senior management team did not involve all the groups in the decision making process for their outsourcing plan. The strategy was kept private until the board approval had been obtained.

Before any major decision is made, that can affect the entire company, various groups in the company need to be involved in the decision making process. Brainstorming technique can be used to generate creative ideas for solving problems, by reducing critical and judgmental reactions to ideas from group members. For example, brainstorming is used by the group of comedy writers who develop jokes for one of the most popular television show, the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” (Gomez-Meija-Balkin, 2002, p.218)

Time Management: Global Communications President and the board did not take adequate time to make the final decision. In fact, the Chief Executive Officer Katrina Heinz, did not anticipate the board to approve the outsourcing plan in a short time.

Swami Vivekananda said, “In a day when you don’t come across any problems вЂ" you can be sure that you are traveling in the wrong path.” In businesses, managers do face several problems on a day-to-day basis. Not having enough time can be stressful and the decision makers tend to be reactive. “To make good decisions, managers need time to understand the problem and develop creative solutions. They need to be proactive by planning activities and priorities so that enough time is budgeted for the important decisions to be made.” (Gomez-Mejia-Balkin, 2002, p.209)

Conflict: Global Communications senior management did not take into consideration all the stakeholders, who will be affected by their decision of outsourcing plan. While the decision aimed at lowering the cost, it may lead to a conflict between the management and the employees union and the conflict can potentially lead to strike, which might cause major losses and the entire company might suffer.

The quality of any decision is dependent on how it was accepted. Management need to analyze and resolve all the possible conflicts that can arise, by involving all the stakeholders in the decision making process. That will eliminate the conflict and improve the quality of the decision. Conflict enhances the quality of the decision by sharply focusing attention on diverse ways of thinking about the consequences of the decision from diverse agendas of the people affected by it.

Effective Communication: Global Communications had serious communication issues. Within the senior management itself, Maria Antez, Vice President-Technologies Workers Union, was not aware of a major outsourcing plan happening within the organization. She has been negotiating with the union to give away some of their benefits, as the company’s financial position was hard. The outsourcing plan was also not previously communicated to the employees, which can lead to potential danger of rumors spreading through grapevine.

Senior management need to have a clear communication strategy between them on any potential decision that can affect the entire company. At the time of crisis, it will be better for the people in the group to be informed from the earliest possible stage. “People always get wind of these things through the office grapevine, and when they do, their imaginations are likely to create a situation far more grave than it actually is.” (McKenna & Maister, 2002)

Shaw’s supermarkets acquired another company, and so rumors on were spreading on stores getting closed and people might be laid off. For a company with 32,000 employees, controlling rumors is very hard. Management quickly came up with a solution to publish a newsletter The Rumor Buster, giving all the facts on the merger, which gave employees confidence and trust on the company. (Krietner & Kinicki, 2004, p.542)

Planning and Foreseeing: Global Communications leadership did not foresee the problems well. They waited on taking aggressive decisions, when things completely went out of control.

Success of leadership is dependent upon, if they can predict the future and take proactive actions. When operations are going smooth, the management needs to work on the preventive maintenance steps and think innovatively to see how things can be improved.

Intel, located in Silicon Valley, California, was founded in 1968 to manufacture memory and microprocessor chips. During mid-1980’s, when Japanese companies started manufacturing memory chips at a cheaper cost, it was difficult for Intel to compete. In 1984, Intel’s President, Andrew Grove made a key decision after foreseeing the importance of microprocessor market, to concentrate only on the microprocessors, leaving the memory chip market. Grove’s decision made the company higher profits. (Gomez-Mejia-Balkin, 2000)

Contingency Planning: Global Communications board and senior management did not have a contingency plan. That was part of the reason, during crisis; they are trying to find a quick solution instead of looking