Mba 510

The telecommunications industry has become one of the most competitive industries today. Global Communications (GC) is a company that is competing for the local and long distance markets and the internet. Within the last three years, the stock value has depreciated 50% from $28 to $11. The pressure from other telecommunication companies has caused GC to rethink their marketing strategy. In response, the GC management team has devised a plan that will allow the company to outsource its call centers to India and Ireland to reduce costs. The management team has also looked for opportunities to increase company profits and its marketability. GC has also developed an alliance with a wireless provider which will enable the company to provide better telecommunication services to its customers. However, with this new strategy of outsourcing, the company will undergo significant layoffs and will have to address this issue and other related issues as well with employees and the union.

This paper will examine the issues that GC is facing by using the Nine-Step Problem-Solving model. The issues and opportunities available to GC management will be identified and discussed. The stakeholder's views will also be examined and the result will be proposing and reviewing alternative solutions ultimately providing a solution to the problem and measuring the results.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

There are several issues and opportunities that GC will have to address. The first issue is that the GC management team failed to update the union on the new strategic plan. Because of this, the union feels that the new strategic plan to outsource is unethical and is a ploy to manipulate around the current union contract conditions. The lack of communication between the two has indeed hurt the company. This issue leaves the door open for the union to initiate employee walk offs in retaliation of job cuts. The union has also announced that they will try to stop the outsourcing approach through legal action against the company resulting in additional costs for the company.

The second issue is that in order to reduce operating expenses, GC will have to outsource its supports centers overseas which will lead to significant layoffs. The employees may view this idea as unethical. Employees that may stay with the company will have to relocate and take a 10% pay cut. This move would only be beneficial to employees with higher salaries. The affect will cause employees' morale to decline and possibly have lower production rates. Outsourcing overseas may also give the impression that the performance of current employees is not up to par. However, if the current employees are given the opportunity to learn the new technology, it could lead to customer service at its best and would also prove beneficial with no out-of-pocket costs to the company.

The alliance with the wireless provider may also be an issue for GC. Because of the increased competition with companies providing all-in-one packages, there is a higher chance that conflicts may arise. On the other hand, the alliance with the company will provide better services to current customers with the possibility of attaining new customers and allows GC to expand their global market.

The language barrier, that may arise when outsourcing overseas, is another issue that GC will have to address. The difference between the two different cultures may pose a problem for GC. Customers need to understand what they are being told by the call center and the language barrier may cause frustration if they do not understand. There is also the chance that the phone lines at the support centers may go down, ceasing the communication between call centers and its customers.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

The stakeholders involved in the scenario are the employees, the union, the shareholders, the management team. Each stakeholder has its own set of issues to focus on. Nonetheless, for GC to be successful and overcome its potential