Gap Analysis: Global Communications

Gap Analysis: Global Communications

Global Communications is currently among one of the telecommunication industry’s companies that is waning. Its stock has lost more than 50 % in value and Global Communications will face so challenges in making it appreciate again. Global Communications is also facing an increasing number of competitors. Global Communications has to look at all the current issues to try and find opportunities that may lie among them. Global Communications has to focus on choosing the right problems that will present the most opportunities to stay competitive and that are synced with the company’s goals.

Global Communications situational analysis shows that the primary issues and opportunities for them are their competitors and the stock’s depreciation. The management team has developed a strategic plan to secure the financial future for the business. The strategic plan has identified its primary issues and opportunities that will hopefully lead the company to becoming a competitive global firm.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Global Communications have developed a strategic plan but without consulting the union which has caused a veil of distrust. The union just recently agreed to a 20 % cut in education and health benefits so it has come as a surprise to the union that the company has plans in motion for layoffs and out-sourcing. The senior management team did not include the union when developing the strategic plan.

This would be a good time for the company and the union to enter into integrative negotiation. Integrative negotiation is used when an agreement can be found that is better for both parties than what they would have reached through distributive negotiation. Integrative negotiation calls for a progressive win-win strategy (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2004, p. 504).

Global Communication stock has dropped significantly within three years and the increase in competition has required GC to look into a new direction. In this kind of situations, Bateman and Snell (2004) might suggest nonprogrammed decisions that can be used for diversification into new products and markets. They have already implemented something like this by making the decision to do some outsourcing and laying people off without consulting the union. They have already made an alliance with a satellite company that will increase the products they are able to offer as well as partnering with a wireless company. Another thing they need to work on is their global marketing.

To find a new way to market their products Global Communicating should first look at their current marketing methods. This would be defined as the first step in problem solving by De Janasz, Dowd and Schneider (2002). To continue with this process the next step would be brainstorming which will give the opportunity for creative thoughts and ideas in how to approach global marketing. Once they have come this far they will need to organize the choices and then make some decisions on which are the best and most viable suggestions. Then implementation is the last step and should be incorporated when they have a solid focus on their new products and services they can offer globally.

For a company to be a smooth, efficient company, the communication system in place must do its job. Without a way to keep employees and the public informed the company would not be able to run effectively. Communication with employees at this time is very important, as there will be a great deal of changes in the near future.

First the senior management has to choose the best medium to communicate the changes that will be coming. According to Kreitner and Kinicki (2004), choosing the appropriate media depends on many factors, including the nature if the message, its intended purpose, the type of audience, proximity of the audience, time horizon for disseminating the message and personal preferences. The fact that the strategic plan has already leaked to the board members of the union shows that the time horizon for informing the employees is immediate. The sooner the management gets the message out on what is going on and why the better. They should also be quick to implement some of the ideas that were brought up at the meeting like implementing career counseling.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

There are four main stakeholders in this scenario, the Management that represents Global Communications, stockholders, the union and employees and the customers.

The customers’ main interests are the cost of doing business with Global Communications. Customers are also looking to see if the company is staying up to par in regard to technology and services. They want to be treated fairly and want the product to be reliable. Customers are what sustain a company and they should be provided with world-class customer service, which can keep customers even through hard times.

The union’s main concern is how the employees are treated and what benefits they receive. The union tries to be fair when negotiation but they must put the employees first. Global Communications is expected to be honest and loyal. Employees have been loyal in the past to Global Communications as they have always been rewarded for it but with the new strategic plan there is a conflict due to the outsourcing and layoffs.

Management has a priority to reduce costs yet increase services. They are focusing on becoming a global competitor and believe that outsourcing is the way to go to achieve this. For management to work effectively they must work together cooperatively and coordinate with each other when trying to make decisions that effect the company as a whole. The management wants discipline within the company and must communicate effectively to make sure policies, rules, and company ethics are well known and upheld.

Stockholders main interest is the price of the stock. They want to know who needs to be held accountable for the drop in stock prices as well as who will be the one to bring the stock back up. Stockholders value reliability in the sense that if Global Communications has a good product then they can rely on the stock increase again. This is also in line with having quality products and services.

The main ethical dilemma and conflict of interest is between management and the union when it comes to outsourcing jobs and laying people off. The union feels it has been very flexible in reducing costs by taking a 20 % cut in benefits but management has disregarded this and decided layoffs and outsourcing is a better way to cut even more costs. There was a major lack of communication between the two parties.

End-State Vision

Global Communication’s End-State Visions will provide the company a set of measures to focus on and how they were able to overcome their problems to reach a successful conclusion.

The company’s end-state vision is:

“Become a global competitor with our ability to provide new satellite and wireless services, and all of our old reliable services customers were accustom to at a rate that keeps us competitive but never forgetting that our customer service must be top notch. We need to reestablish and build our relationship with the union and our employees who are the backbone of the company.”

Gap Analysis

First Global Communication must solidify its relationship with both the satellite provider and the wireless provider so they can start offering package bundles to their customers. Once this is accomplished a marketing plan needs to be put in place to globally announce these new products and packages.

To be able to provide these services at competitive prices, the company will need to cut costs and sustain itself on less. This need is being filled by outsourcing technical services to Ireland and India, which will reduce the costs of handling calls by nearly 40 %.

The communication process between the union and management needs to be fixed. The union has a strong influence on the employees and could cause many problems if an attempt is not made to repair the problem. Global Communications wants a strong workforce they can rely on and to do this the flow of information needs to be controlled as well as effectively disseminated.

Conclusion

The Global Communications situation has provided an interesting look into the current issues some telecommunication companies are currently facing. The company’s stock had depreciated by more than 50 % in a three-year period and there was tremendous economic pressure from Wall Street to have the company rebound to a more profitable share. Global Communication has seen its competition increase and cable companies introduce bundle packaging.

To try to compete with these services Global Communications has to grow by joining with a satellite and a wireless provider. If they focus on the new services they can provide and bundle packages, they will be come as competitive as the cable companies. To go beyond the cable companies, Global Communications will need to focus on their international business as well. Their global marketing strategies as well as their outsourcing will help them go in this direction.

Global Communication has to repair its relationship with the Union and try to work with them on helping employees with the change that will come due to the strategic plan the senior management has put together. They have to work on the communication strategy so that the union and employees are better informed.

References

Bateman, T. S., & Snell, S. (2004). Management: The new competitive landscape (6th ed.). New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

De Janasz, S.C., Dowd, K.O., & Schneider, B.Z. (2002) Interpersonal skills in organizations. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A. (2004). Organizational behavior (6^th ed.). New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

McShane, S. L., & Von Glinow, M. (2005). Organizational behavior: Emerging realities for the workplace revolution. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

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Table 1

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Issue	Opportunity	Reference to Specific Course Concept (Include citation)	Concept
Global Communications has developed a rocky relationship with the union with several mistakes they made one being that they did not ask for input from them when developing the recent plan. Part of the plan is to relocate and reduce salaries and this looks like undermining the contract they just negotiated with the union to reduce health benefits and education benefits by 20%.	Have an immediate meeting with Marie Antez and other union members for a brainstorming session to come up with other solutions that could lead to a win-win situation.	“Compromising is a give-and-take approach involving moderate concern for both self and others. Compromise is appropriate when parties have opposite goals,”(Kinicki & Kreitner, 2003, p. 500)	Handling Dysfunctional conflict by compromising.
Global Communication is facing a lot of competition, which has made their stock drop more than 50%. This has decreased the confidence of stockholders, which is putting pressure on management.	Becoming a global competitor by increasing new services and bettering old ones.	“Nonprogrammed decisions are novel and unstructured. [They cause] much uncertainty regarding cause-and-effect relationships. [It’s a] necessity for creativity, intuition, tolerance for ambiguity and creative problem solving. [This is good for] diversification into new products and markets,”(Bateman & Snell, 2004, p.67)	Non-programmed Decisions
Global Communication’s employees will feel that the company has let them down and may become angry when the layoffs or changes come about due to outsourcing. GC has not give their employees any warning of this plan.	The opportunity to communicate with employees in regards to the options they may face. Provide information on employees’ options to stay and move to other departments or encourage them to relocate with the thoughts of new experiences in new places and make sure employees are aware of severance for the employees that must be let go.	“Communication refers to the process by which information is transmitted and understood between two or more people,”(McShane & Glinow, 2005, p.324)	Communication

Table 2

Stakeholder Perspectives

Stakeholder Perspectives
Stakeholder Groups	The Interests, Rights, and Values of Each Group
Customers	The cost of doing business with GC and getting a good product for their money. Customers expect to be treated fairly and the product to be reliable.
Union/Employees	The Union focuses on the benefits and rights of employees. The Union tries to be fair in its negotiations. Employees want to keep their jobs and think their loyalty should be rewarded.
Management/Global Communication	Management’s interest is in cutting costs and making a profit. They also want to become a global competitor. Management relies on cooperation and coordination within its senior team
Stock holders	Want the GC’s stock to go back up. Their values lie in the quality of products and services GC is providing that will increase over value of the stock. They want to know who is accountable for the stock’s decline.

Table 3

End State Goals

End-State Goals

GC must solidify its alliance with the satellite provider and start marketing this new resource that GC will have.

GC has to partner with a wireless provider to be able to offer small businesses more ways to stay in contact and have anytime Internet access.

GC has to reduce costs to customers while at the same time becoming a company that can sustain itself on less.

GC will come up with a global marketing plan within the next quarter.

Repair relationship with the union and employees.