Global Communication

Problem Solution: Global Communications

Global Communication has been trying to pull themselves out of a financial rut over a couple of years. With joint effort with the union they were able to survive for a couple of years. But the changes that they made in the past have not yield positive results. With recent development of falling stock prices, and stakeholder concern over financial future of the company, Global is rethinking their position, and fit in the communication market. Stiff competition from other high tech communications company began to plague Global performance in the market. Despite recent efforts to rejuvenate the company profit margin, they still log behind in technology. Global faces deficiencies in their technology department and the way they market their services and this impedes the firm effective performance.

Global came up with new strategic measures that would enable the company to be on the road to financial freedom. New innovation, new market strategies, globalization and cost cutting by outsourcing call centers are some of the strategies. Implementing some of these measures will surely go against the philosophy of the company. Many people will loose their jobs and others will face drastic reduction in their salaries. This revitalization of the company can have drying consequences from the stand point on how the company is view by the external sources.

As mentioned, Global is faced with stiff competition and financial woes that began to affect their stock prices. Global have the opportunity to rebound from this falling profits and to be a success in their industry. Sometimes managers are most likely to pursue objectives that are consistent with their preferences, sometimes these objectives are frequently not designed to be acceptable to groups external to the firm as in the case with Global outsourcing labor to foreign countries. This hot topic of outsourcing was not research previously by the company top managers but they believe this is the proven tool for the company financial recovery because of the cheap labor cost. There are other factors to consider when a company is thinking about outsourcing, like security, language barriers, cultures and time zones. These can significantly have a major impact on the company. This can be a wonderful opportunity for Global if all facets are researched and scrutinized

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Another driving force behind downsizing and cutting cost is outsourcing. Managers have found as they attempt to restructure their organization, numerous jobs can be performed elsewhere which enhance the company capability and effectiveness.

Increase in profits is always the driving force behind every organization, and when growth is threatened, companies have to find ways to stay afloat. As in the case of Global communication, economic pressure, globalization and competition is affecting the way they do business. Global have the opportunity to be a force in the market, with new technology and skilled negoiator. They can form new alliances and get the company back on track. Global Communication organization "as a leader need to be creative and adaptive in order to be competitive. If they have a problem to solve, they need to come up with a solution that best meets their goals and objectives. To avoid having to reinvent the wheel, they can look for ideas or best practices in many different venues". ( June Maul, EdD. Generic Benchmarking: For Solving Problems and for Life."

Global communication has the opportunity to benchmark the most successful companies in the outsourcing business. In order to do this they have to understand what is benchmarking and the major role it plays in the success of the business. "Benchmarking is simply about making comparisons with other organizations and then learning the lessons that those comparisons throw up." (United Benchmarking Code of Conduct). In practice benchmarking usually consist of regularly comparing aspects of performance with the best in a particular industry, identifying gaps in performance, "seeking fresh approaches to bring about improvement in performances." (Xerox Corporation) and following through with monitoring and implementing improvements. Comparing one industry with another can prove to be very helpful to see where the deficiencies in your own company are, and how to improve those areas to deliver the best products or services. In benchmarking a company can develop a whole new set of customer base; a company can realized where the supply is lacking and where the demand is greater. In the case of Global this can be an effective tool to help identify there internal strengths and weakness. No one really likes outsourcing, even well run initiatives. But most people are considered "part of the problem" if they raise objections or concerns. The challenge is how to intervene productively without experiencing collateral damage. If you are the boss, your authority opens the door. Your approach is simple: just ask intelligent questions and, based on the responses, require changes in the scope and approach. If you are a peer, your influence is through personal involvement, information and resources. If you are a subordinate, your path to influence is through supporting the effort by offering to be part of the team. Regardless of your vantage point, you have to be clear on outsourcing benefits, risks and best practices so that you can base your discussions on principles-rather than being positional and emotional". (www.trizjournal.com/leadership). Global communications was faced with an ethical delimit, on how to present this outsourcing strategy to its employees and union. GC needs to be consistent with the company corporate mission or strategy and try to preserve employee morale and minimize the external impact. One of the key elements in outsourcing is communication, and GC did not notify the union of its impending decisions. Firm's stakeholders are the individuals, groups, or other organizations that are affected by and also affect the firm's decisions and actions. Depending on the specific firm, stakeholders may include governmental agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and nonprofit organizations. Although numerous ways of viewing stakeholders exist, categorizing stakeholder perspectives into three broad categories helps elicit the basic underlying themes among these numerous views. These categories may include the separation perspective, the ethical perspective, and the integrated perspective. (www.referenceforbusiness.com)

The separation perspective suggests that, because managers are agents of the firm's owners--the shareholders--managers should always strive to act in the