Problem Solution: Global Communications

Running head: PROBLEM SOLUTION: GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS

Problem Solution: Global Communications

University of Phoenix

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Problem Solution: Global Communications

Introduction

The biggest problem Global Communications (GC) is facing in today’s world is the increased amount of competition. Local companies as well as international companies are all competing for the same business and GC is being forced to make some changes by marketing internationally. As a result of this win-lose situation, drastic cost cutting and layoffs are going to take effect. “The main characteristic of competitive conflicts is that the participants have a win-lose orientation. This is the belief that the conflicting parties are drawing from a fixed pie, the more one party receives, the less the other party receives” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2003, p. 394). In the past three years, stock price has dropped more than 50%. In an attempt to increase profitability, the company plans to grow locally by introducing new services to small business and consumer markets. The company also plans to reduce costs by outsourcing call centers to India and Ireland. The union opposed to the plan which instigated the conflict between the union and GC management team. There are number of things that could have been done to minimize the impact of the new strategy plan such as maintaining better communication, managing risk, planning for contingencies and being more skilled at conflict negotiation. “Communication is also a key ingredient in employee satisfaction and loyalty” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2005). Therefore, the more information a company can supply to the employees, the stronger the bond. This paper will address the strategies GC will need to employ to meet the goals of increasing profitability and realizing global growth. More importantly, this paper will introduce strategies that will make GC a truly great company. Good.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Some of the issues faced by GC include tremendous decrease in stock price, cut out competition, qualified employees being hired by other companies, Job cut and customer demand for technical advancement. Due to huge competition, GC realized in order to stay in market, they need to start by providing advanced communication services to their customers, and expand their business globally. GC’s stock price has dropped from $28 per share to $11 per share in about three years due to sharp decrease in profits. So, the executive team wanted to identify opportunities for them to return to profitability. Some of their options were to outsource their call centers to India and Ireland reducing operating costs by 40% and layoff existing employees.

The Technical Union representatives were not notified initially and they somehow heard about these plans prior to the meeting losing technical union trust. “Grapevine is the main conduit through which organizational stories and other symbols of the organization’s culture are communicated. This explains why rumor mills are most active during times of uncertainty” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2005). “Executives trying to eradicate gossip at work might as well try to change their employee’s musical taste” (Nigel Nicholson, 1998). GC created a conflict with the union by deciding to go with the new plan without negotiating with the union or employees resulting in I win, you lose concept. “A conflict is a process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party” (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2004). If the Union was consulted, they could possibly have helped the senior leadership team consider other ideas without drastic layoffs. “A well-defined problem is halfway solved” (Zikmund, 2003). Or, as credited to Albert Einstein, "the formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution." The employee layoffs will potentially make the company lose the reputation as a good employer. The competition could lure the best employees away from the company. Dysfunctional organizational politics has a significant impact on the mistrust between Global Communications and the Union. Okay, but you did not what to have a paragraph full of citations. You must be able to explain some concepts in your own words.

“Effective communication is vital to all organizations because it coordinates employees, fulfills employee needs, supports knowledge management, and improves decision making” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2005). The last major issue Global Communications encountered was their haste decision making. There are lots of people that are going to be affected by the decision, and not consulting with the Union and employees is going to cause morale issues, loss of productivity and revenue during this transitional time because it was hastily planned. “The resources at stake are expandable rather than fixed if the parties work together to find a creative solution” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2003, p. 394). GC can learn from Eastern cultures how to be patient when making such business decisions on outsourcing and reorganization in order to cut costs.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

With decline in stock price, management decided to increase revenues but did not involve one of its key stakeholders, the Technology Workers Union, in the decision process which was willing to negotiate and that group is now threatening to take legal action. “The advantages of group decision making include: a larger pool of information; more perspectives and approaches; intellectual stimulation; people understand the decision; people are committed to the decision” (Baterman & Snell 2004). With many workers faced with either job losses or a reduction in salary, employee morale is at an all-time low. The Union representative calls the board-approved plan unethical and a way of manipulating around current contract conditions. Dysfunctional organizational politics has a significant impact on the mistrust between Global Communications and the Union.