Gap Analysis: Global Communications

Gap Analysis: Global Communications

Global Communications is working to find the best way to implement their new business strategy, freshly approved by the Board of Directors. A great deal of time and effort has gone into the development of this strategy; however, it appears that the Global Communications executives have skipped several important steps in solving their problem (University of Phoenix, 2006, Problem Solving Based Scenarios). Essentially, it seems that the executives skipped the first three steps of the Problem-Solving Process (University of Phoenix, 2006, Interactive Problem Solving Aid) and failed to accurately identify all the issues facing their company and have not clearly identified what the company’s end goals are. As a result of skipping these steps, the Global Communications executives are left with an approved strategy which they are finding very difficult to implement. Now the company must find a solution which maximizes the benefit to all its stakeholders.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Global Communications is struggling to compete in today’s highly competitive telecommunications industry. The Board of Directors has approved the executives plan for outsourcing, globalization, and expansion of services in the local market. With this plan approved, the executives are locked into a pattern of Groupthink (Bateman & Snell, 2004). The only executive even attempting to play the role of devil’s advocate (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2004) is Sy Rodriguez, but when he is influenced by the other executives, he too falls into the trap of Groupthink.

Part of the plan approved by the Board is to outsource all the Global Communications call centers to India and Ireland. This has raised the issue of Union relations and how best to accommodate the current call center employees. The opinion among the executives is that these employees will either have to be let go or transferred to the Consumer segment at a 10% pay reduction. This distributive approach to negotiations (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2004) with Small Business employees creates a win-lose situation, with the employees at a significant disadvantage as they are not the ultimate decision-makers. The issue of distributive negotiations is pervasive in this situation and is a prominent in the negotiations with the Union. Even Maria Rodriguez, the Union Vice President, views the situations as win-lose and is not actively pursuing integrative negotiations (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2004), which would potentially create a situation that would benefit everyone involved.

Finally, the Global Communications executives are very concerned about communicating effectively with the employees. There is a great deal happening at the negotiations table and Global Communications, a well established organization with a high priority on employee loyalty, has an extensive and very active grapevine (McShane & Von Glinow, 2004). The executives must determine how and when to communicate with employees in order to foster employee confidence and stave off false rumors and possible panic.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

There are a number of stakeholders in the situation of Global Communications. The most important of these stakeholders are the Board of Executives, the Technologies Workers Union, the Global Communications Employees, and the Global Communications Shareholders. While each of these stakeholders is concerned with company profitability, the other interests of some of the parties outweigh their desire for profitability.

For example, the Union is relatively less concerned with profitability than it is with maintaining employment for all their current members. If the members are not employed with Global Communications, then their stake in its profitability is significantly if not totally diminished. The employees, some of them members of the Union, have similar values.

Conversely, the Board and the Shareholders place the heaviest emphasis on profitability. However, there are many factors that influence a company’s profitability. For major companies like Global Communications, there is extensive media and journalistic coverage of any major business dealings. This means that the organization’s loyalty to its employees, its financial solvency, its honesty and integrity in business partnerships, its fairness with customers, and even its social responsibility all impact the bottom line.

This is where the interests of all the Global Communications stakeholders meet. They all value the overall success of the company and its impact on them as businesses and individuals. This is where the negotiations begin and end and where the key issue of distributive versus integrative negotiations