Gap Analysis

Introduction

Imagine you are sitting poised at your desk and ready to begin your day as a technical call center representative. Executives hastily rush down the hallways and now you are feeling nervous and rambunctious. From delight to outrage, you hop up to hear the latest gossip that your job may be in jeopardy and outsourced to overseas skilled labor. What do you do?

Often time than none, many Americans are faced with such dilemmas. The ever changing world of technology has stared down the faces of many technological conglomerates and has forced them to snooze or jump onboard. There are no exceptions to the rules, you either fall behind or you make changes to catch up and propel. Companies are forced to choose between cheap labor and between the livelihoods of their employees. For effective change to be implemented, a sound and strong source of communication must be in place so that the lives of all to be affected will have a threshold on what is about to happen. Change is a necessity not a remedy.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Telecommunications companies are under tremendous economic pressure due to increased competition. Many of the local, long-distance and international markets are competing for the same business. Because cable companies have encompassed computers, televisions, and old telephone services, the industry has suffered a major blow. Global Communications is on the forefront of disaster and needs to regain strength in a highly competitive arena.

While top executives struggle to find common ground on key issues, many find it necessary to outsource and cut unnecessary costs. In order for survivability and profitability, Global Communications must change as humanely and gently as possible. According to McShane-Von Glinow (2004), some experts recommend incremental change because it fine tunes a system and takes small steps toward a desired step therefore, reducing risks.

A decision making process should include all pertinent parties and all ideas and suggestions should be communicated precisely and in a timely manner. Unfortunately, for the Senior Leadership Team, the Technologies Workers Union members vowed to take action through the government and use available resources at their disposal because they were not informed of any changes. Because of the lack of communication, both health and education benefits were taken away and jobs were outsourced to Ireland and India to cut costs. Effective communication is vital because it fulfills employee needs, supports knowledge management, and improves the decision making process (McShane-Von Glinow 2004, p. 324). Had the opportunity of effective communication occurred, The Senior Leadership Team and the Workers Union could have joined together to formulate a more compromising plan of action.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

In regard to all fairness and respect, the Senior Leadership Team should have formulated and presented a plan of action to the Workers Union in a timely manner. The concept of corporate social responsibility today needs to include attention to the legitimate interests of many stakeholders, particularly when attempts are being made to change the rules of the game to advance ex parte interests (Preston, Lee E., 2007, p 132). A fundamental role of unions is to obtain better terms and conditions of employment for employees through collective bargaining (Helen Lam, Mark Harcourt 2007, p. 236).

There was certainly a breakdown in communications between the two stakeholders. The Senior Leadership Team presented their plan to the Board without first consulting with the Workers Union. The Senior Leadership Team believed the idea of setting up new technical call centers would reduce unit cost for handling calls by nearly 40%. The plan to transform Global Communications into a global corporation should be implemented and working within three years. Though some of the call center representatives can be relocated to the expanding call centers, many will be let go. For the fortunate few spared by the corporate axe, they can be expected to take an average 10% salary cut. The layoffs will undoubtedly cause morale issues and impact productivity. Top executives fear that the competition may see this as an opportunity to seek and come after Global Communications’ best people.

The Union sees the Senior Leadership Teams’ actions as despicable. The Union also acknowledges the company is under a financial strain but sees globalization and outsourcing as a major concern. Because of the lack of communication, many people will lose their jobs and seniority. The Union feels as though they have been left out of the decision making process and now has to give up key benefits such as education and healthcare.

According to Winslow, Lance (2006), any high-ranking corporate top executive will tell you that negotiating with the unions is no easy matter and if it is not done correctly it causes a rift between management and labor and can disrupt the company for years to come. In this case, it is the employees who must go, as the union generally stays intact because without labor you cannot run your business.

End-State Vision

It is very important for a company to promote a healthy and long term vision for the basis of decision making. Long term vision enables goals, targets, and strategies to be prioritized and developed into concrete action plans. The objectives of all parties must come to a conclusion together to ensure all forms of communication are clearly expressed. Global Communications could become a force to be reckoned with once it finds the alliances and resources it needs to regain capital strength. By employing cheaper labor overseas, Global Communications could improve profits and compensate its domestic employees by offering a 15% retention bonus. A plan of change must also be implemented because it would teach employees valuable skills, involve them in the change process, help the employees cope with the stress of change, negotiate trade-offs with those who will clearly lose from the strategic effort; and using coercion as a last result (McShane-Von