Global Communications

Problem Solution: Global Communications

In today's world stakeholder communication and employee development place a severe test on organizational development. When proper communication avenues are not maintained, the problems that surface while manageable in the beginning can become disastrous in the long-term. Senior Management of Global Communications looked out for only the short-term, and suffered the consequences. Morale already depleted took another hit when the announcement was made for job cuts, reductions in salary, and overseas relocation. This also made an enemy of the Union, who vowed to fight these decisions. Senior Management wanting to control costs is a way to keep the shareholders happy, but seems very detrimental to the employees and the Union. Union Management considers this a total breach of trust, and will treat all upcoming negotiations very differently, if not as outright hostile. If management practices were more for the long-term and less impatient, they would have maintained a better relationship with all involved, and not wasted time on short-term gains. By implementing some low-cost morale boosting programs, Global Communications would be able to stem the inevitable employee backlash.

Describe the Situation

Issue and Opportunity Identification

There seemed to be many issues that came about as a result of the mismanagement of Global Communications by Senior Management. The problem that seemed to stand out the most though was the lack of communication with the union, which exemplifies their lack of planning and hasty decision model process. Senior Management seems to take the short-view of setting up new call centers overseas, but in the process sets themselves up for failure with a very unrealistic timeline of "transforming into a global corporation within three years." The plans include job cuts, but also workers who would need to be relocated, would also have to take a 10 percent pay cut. In this instance Senior Management sound like they are living in an "ivory tower." They do not seem to have a good idea (especially Nancy and Katrina) what the morale is like at Global Communications. When Katrina mentions how, "It's a nice reality check to get away from the 40th floor," I was wondering if she truly is that out of touch with the workers at Global Communications. I believe that they have unrealistic views on what the reaction will be by the union, but also they do not seem to have their priorities straight either. I do not think the most important part of the agenda should be creating a new set of values. And even then they do not involve the union, by excluding the union representative Maria from the planning of the new set of values till later. All the issues compounded together made for an enormous problem in the end by the union threatening to "take action both through the government and all other available resources."

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

By choosing to implement all three end-state goals for Global Communications, I believe that I will also have solved all the ethical dilemmas that I have identified in Table 2. This may be done by sacrificing a little bit more for one side or another, but to take care of all the ethical dilemmas I needed to err on the side of caution in order to take care of all the ethical dilemmas that have been forecast because of the dealings that have gone on in Global Communications. Addressing my third end-state goal of increasing morale at Global Communications, which I believe can be done at minimal cost and would address Nancy Everhardt's issue with Thriftiness, and with Sy Rodriguez's issue with Empathy. Implementing a program that increases morale in the company, while not costing much overall, as shown in Table 3 would help to retain those employees that Global Communications has chosen to keep. Then since they possibly will not be increasing salaries as much as hoped, employees would be much more likely to stay as opposed to before.

In end-state goal number one and two, by working closer with the Union, and Maria Antez, to better position Global Communications in the future as the seller of premium services to small business and consumer customers would be I believe a successful venture. By working closer together, the ethical and value dilemmas, as shown in Table 2, of Accountability to the Stockholders, and Integrity, Respect, Fairness, and Courtesy to the workers of Global Communications, the Union, and Maria Antez. I believe that by working with Union on a closer basis, that Global Communications would have a much more bright future. With a fractured working friendship between Global Communications and the Union, shareholders will probably start to sell off their shares of Global Communications, which will start to drive down the price per share of stock even further. If the Union does file grievances then that will force Global Communications to spend money that could be much better used, to defend themselves in court, and possibly have to pay hefty fines. If the Union decided to go on strike, and they were not forced to close the company, they would probably never recover the lost market share that would have been taken over very quickly in such a competitive market. This shows that Global Communications needs to deal fairly with the Union .I believe that if a member of Senior Management met on a weekly basis with the Union representative Maria Antez, then problems like this could be solved before they became a major problem. I also believe by working together that my solution of eliminating some call center positions, and replacing those workers with a voice-answering service, would be a more feasible alternative than moving them overseas. This would show the shareholders a united front to make Global Communications a more efficient and leader in their market, and repair the possible damage done by the mishandling of the situation by Senior Management.

Frame the "Right" Problem

Global Communications will realize significant growth in the small business and consumer customers across the United States by offering premium services to those markets in the way of various video services and a satellite version of broadband. One way of doing this is to take steps to ensure happier employees.

Describe the "End-State" Vision

In several years, I believe that Global Communications can become one of the leaders of the telecommunications industry in the United States. At that time, and only once Global Communications are firmly entrenched in the United States, could this company branch out into the international community more. We need to